Dialogue  April-June, 2015, Volume 16 No. 4

Missionaries and the Naxal Movement in India

Sangit Kumar Ragi*

Questions are often asked if there is an understanding between the Maoists and missionaries and the NGOs which have been working in the remote tribal areas for the sick, illiterate and poor. Do they actually lend a helping hand to the Maoists and their cause? Does the Western world which is so hostile towards the Islamic extremism and highly critical of communism, ignore the left extremism and provide strength by funding the same through the Non-governmental organizations working in the remote forest areas? And do they do so consciously because Maoists have been generous to the Christian missionaries, whose welfare and charitable activities, as well as the evangelical programmes, are primarily located in the tribal belts? These are the questions and many more which have been subjects of debate for long in India. While the right wing organizations have been accusing the missionaries and Maoists of having both covert and overt linkages, depending on the situation. The Christian organizations reject such premises and attribute them to a conscious campaign designed to denigrate their charitable work.

        In fact, these questions among the right wing organizations gained currency when Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, a Hindu social and religious worker in Kandhmal, Odisha, was killed along with four of his associates by 30 odd assailants on the evening of 23 August, 2009. The chargesheet filed in the case reveals that this was meticulously planned and nearly 150 people were involved in it. The chargesheet unravels that locals as well as outsiders participated in accomplishing the task. The CID Inspector General of Police, Arun Ray endorsed it by saying that the murder was a highly ‘professional job’ in which “the initial plan was hatched by someone else.” It was carried out by the Maoist outfit of Odisha. The actual planning to kill Saraswati was done by a separate group, while another group trained the group of killers. One group did not know what the other group was doing.”1 Swami was a highly respected person in the area among the poor people and tribals as he was engaged in a number of charitable activities, such as medical facilities, schools and other utility centres for the sick and poor in the region for several decades. He himself was a Dalit by caste. More importantly, he was an ardent advocate of protection of tribal rights on their land and their culture. And thus there was no reason for any animosity against him, except for the fact that Swami was a crusader against the conversion of the tribals to Christianity. He considered it as an assault on the cultural values and the belief system of the locals and therefore always stood against the religious conversion of tribals. He also launched a campaign of reconversion.

     Needless to say, Swami Lakshmanananda was the target for the missionaries who found him a big obstacle in their conversion exercise. This became evident when a few days later Sabyasachi Panda, alias Sunil, Secretary of the CPI (Maoists), Odisha, told the journalists that the Swami was killed by the Maoists, as the Swami was engaged in hate campaign against the other religious denominations, mainly against the Christians.2 He also announced that such murders would multiply in time to come, if the Sangh Pariwar organizations do not desist from anti-missionary activities in remote tribal areas. He specifically named Lal Krishna Advani, Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia being on the ‘hit list’ of the Maoists. Realising the fact that such statements would be damaging the credentials of the Maoists, other leaders of the organization issued a statement of denial. By then it was clear that while Maoists executed the task of murdering the Swami and his associates, but the motive and planning was of others.

       In fact, right from the beginning, the Sangh Pariwar took the news with surprise and disbelief that the Maoists were the mind and force behind killings of Sawmi Lakshmanananda. It was primarily because the Sangh Pariwar had pinned their suspicion from the very beginning to the Christian missionary active in the State, particularly on a Christian leader R. K. Nayak of the Congress party from the State. VHP openly alleged that the plot to kill the Swami was “hatched in the presence of Nayak.”3 Nayak was a former bureaucrat and a Christian and the Chief patron of the Pana-Christian community in the State. A member of the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha, Nayak is also a Dalit Christian face of the party in the State. It is alleged that it is the pana-Christians which constitute the dominant proportion of the Maoists cadres in the Kandhamal district. The church whose influence was almost negligible in the State of Odisha found the Maoists helpful in countering the Hindu organizations. The Maoists claim of annihilating Swami Lakshmanananda was a big surprise, particularly its linkage with the Christian missionaries in the area. 

         In fact, there are several common issues on which both the Maoists and missionaries find it necessary to come together. They both hate the ideology of Hindutva and its idea of a nationhood. However, to both, the reasons are different. While the Christian missionaries find the ideology of Hindutva anti-thesis to pluralism and consider it aimed at ‘monolithization’ and hegemonization of the non-Hindu communities. Though the proselytization projects which they promote aggressively is the same, the Naxals do not like the idea of centralised powerful State as advocated by the rightist organizations. Secondly, the right wing organizations are the biggest critiques of the Naxal movement. While they acknowledge the social and economic deprivation of the people and accept the need for the improvement of their living conditions and meeting their political aspirations they want the State to display its will and physical might to crush Maoists.  It considers that the Maoism is not just an alien ideology but also at work in India with the support of foreign powers who want to destroy the social and cultural fabric of India. Thirdly, right wing ideology also is very averse to the communist framework, including the Maoists, in regards to managing economic activities in the society. While the Maoists advocate of eradication of the private capital of all shades and accord no role for it in the society, the Hindu right have not been averse to it. Though they also support State ownership, but do not discount the productive capacity of the liberal market system. Hence, the communists consider them as part of the bourgeoisie. Fourthly, while the Hindu nationalists treat Hinduism and Hindu culture as the core of the Indian nation and cornerstone of Hindu civilization, Maoists are dismissive of religion as a false consciousness and find it a conservative construct of bourgeoisie, which use it for exploiting the poor by diverting them from real economic deprivation. This brings them to two different world views in which the West becomes common denomination for opposition but for different reasons altogether. Maoists oppose the West for its economic imperialism whereas Hindu nationalists, besides opposing the economic exploitation, are also opposed to cultural and religious imperialism of the West. That is the reason that they are so opposed to the evangelical activities of the missionaries in India.

       Take for example the issue of Kashmir and separatist activities going on in different parts of the country. Hindu Nationalists have been uncompromising on the centralised and powerful Indian State, which is disliked by the Maoists, who support the self-determination campaign of several supposed nationalities. For example, while the BJP and all other right wing organizations want the abrogation of Article 370 and thereby full integration of the State like any other States of India with the Indian union, Naxals support the terrorists and separatist activities in the valley and talk almost in the same language which the terrorist use against the Indian government. No wonder, that people like Gautam Navlakha and Arundhati Roy keep on saying it publicly that India has kept Kashmir as a colonised land, which deserves freedom in all respects.

What is common between the missionaries, the Marxists and the Maoists is the denunciation of Hindutva as a backward conservative ideology. It suits the missionaries in their campaign against the native religions and fits into the scheme and rationale behind converting the indigenous population. It is interesting to see that while the Maoists have been quite vocal against the Hindu nationalists on the religious and cultural issues, they are silent and mute on the aggressive agenda of cultural and religious homogenization of Christian missionaries and  religious conversion of other sects into Christianity. Missionaries’ aversion to the ideology of Hindutva is not without meaning. In fact, in the last two decades, the ideology of Hindutva has been aggressive against the missionaries on the issue of conversion of poor Hindus in the remote rural areas and the tribals in the forests. Again, the demographic considerations have been at the heart of this thinking which works on the premise that relative decline in the demographic strength of the Hindus would also lead to balkanization of the country. This argument has been core of the Hindu Nationalist ideology, which seeks the preponderance and dominance of Hinduism both in numerical and other terms.

       Vivekananda argued that going out of one Hindu from its fold means addition of one more enemy to the strength of Anti-Hindutva forces.4 RSS and its sister organizations have been opposing the conversion because they hold that it would give rise to de-hinduaization of the nation. It will consequently also lead to decline of the Hindu civilization in the wake of increased political strength of the non-native religious denominations. There are several States in India which corroborate this framework of the right wing organizations. For example, Nagaland was once a land of the tribal dominant area. The consistent religious conversion has brought the Christian population from 7 per cent in 1931 to nearly to 89 per cent in 2001 in the State. This has resulted also in dominating influence of the Church in the polity and society and the latter has started pressurising the political system for concessions. The same is the situation in some other States of India like Kerala and Meghalaya. Meghalaya today has over 80 per cent Christian population. And this percentage has come at the cost of native tribes who were encouraged, allured and aggressively converted to Christianity. Missionaries always would claim that ‘low caste Hindus willingly convert to Christianity to escape the stratified oppressive caste system in Hindu society.’ But the matter of fact is that allegedly they are allured, bribed and sometime even by deceit. They use all tactics to multiply the numerical strength and charitable institutions are one of the few but most important instruments in the mission. Needless to say, conversion has created a great fissure in the indigenous society. Right wing Hindus allege that this is purely a religio-cultural design of the missionaries for the political dominance. The influence of the Church in some States has been found to be significant. It is argued that the Baptist Church is the main force behind the unrest in Nagaland. The National Liberation Front of Tripura is fully backed by the Baptist Church which is headquartered in the USA.5 This was admitted by the Chief Minister of the State.6 Nagmanlal Halam, Secretary of Noapara Baptist Church was arrested with huge amount of explosives. It is an aggressive Christian group which aims to convert every inhabitant of Tripura to the Christianity. The Baptist Church in Tripura was established by the missionaries from New Zealand almost 70 years ago!

       By late 50s, the RSS realised that the Sangh won’t be able to stop the desertion of the poor tribals to the Christian faith unless the basic needs of underprivileged Hindus are fulfilled and their cultural and economic rights are protected against the possible onslaught from outside. The major strength of the Church was the education, health and food facility which was possible because of huge amount of money coming from the Christian World in the West for the charitable and evangelical purposes. RSS realised that it was essential to reach out to the forest and tribal belts and work for these communities, if at all it intends to stop the further vivisection of Hindu society. RSS encouraged the Hindus to come out with the organized network of workers dedicated to work in the tribal areas. Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram was constituted in the heart of Jashpur Nagar, presently in Chhatisgarh. Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram reached out to people in cities to collect funds and used the resources for charitable and welfare works in the tribal areas. It highlighted the threat of the missionaries’ activities and convinced the Hindus in cities, why it was essential to minimize the missionaries influence in the region. It appealed the people to donate fund for running school, hostel for the children, medical facilities and protecting the rights and cultural wealth of the tribal people which was under assault from Christianity Missions. It succeeded in its mission in several States where missionaries were already at work. Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram not only opened educational and health centres but came out openly for their property rights. This resulted into declining influence of the Christian missionaries where Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams opened its work. Missionaries at work therefore understand it well that unless the RSS and its ancillary organizations are defamed and discredited in the region, their evangelical work will suffer. RSS posed a major challenge to them. As a result, the missionaries have been highly critical of RSS and its affiliates and have been supporting all those measures and people who could possibly take on the Sangh Pariwar. During the freedom movement even Gandhiji opposed conversion and those engaged in it.7 

      The Constitution, though provides extensive range of freedom of expression and right to religion which includes the right to profess, practice and propagate religion of his choice, but it does not allow conversion by means of deceit, allurement etc. Supreme Court in several of its judgements has declared the forced or allured conversion as illegal and unconstitutional. Recently, while dealing with the case of appeal filed by Dara Singh who got a rigorous life  imprisonment for killing of Graham Staines and his son in Odisha by Orissa high Court, the Supreme Court reiterated that there is no justification for interfering in someone’s belief through force, conversion or false premise that "one religion is better than another.” In other words, the court considered conversion as exclusivist claim that goes against the basic tenets of the Gandhian vision of coexistence. But as usual and as predicted, the All India Christian Council leaders were critical of the comments of the Supreme Court.8 The matter of fact is that whenever a State came out with a law which prohibited conversion by fraud or allurement, it was opposed by the Christian missionaries as they found such laws working against their evangelical designs. Madhya Pradesh Government, taking cue from Justice Niyogi Committee Report9 which severely indicted the role of Christian missionaries, came out with an Anti-conversion law in the State.

      The scenario however changed in post-90s when Hindutva movement emerged as a powerful voice at the national level and it successfully exposed the alleged secular premise which on the one hand allowed the Christian and Muslim minorities to go along with their politico-religious agendas and was opposed to political and religious consolidation of the Hindus. Though the Ayodhya movement intended to build a temple at place of the controversial structure, but it also contained an ideological framework. The opposition to the missionaries increased as Hindutva asserted against the conversion which it considered as a political agenda to deplete the numerical preponderance of the Hindu society in tribal areas. Needless to say, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, RSS and its other bodies became the prime targets of the missionaries and they became more aggressive in their propaganda against the Sangh Pariwar. No wonder, Swami Lakshmananand fell victim to this design of the missionaries. And it was not the first attempt on his life. Earlier also he was attacked which had unleashed a major Hindu-Christian riot in Kandhmal.

Maoist not Targeting Missionaries

It is surprising to note that while the Maoists claim to be opposed to the conservative ideology and pro-market stand of the BJP, they do not apply it to the Christian missionaries who have been downright supporters of the same forces. The money that comes for the missionaries is the money from the capitalist west. Missionaries are not the supporters of non-market ideology. Secondly, they too are driven by the conservative ideology at the heart of which lies use of religion for political purposes in the end. It is not a hidden secret now that the Church has a worldwide network to this effect and they pump in millions of dollars to execute it. Thus, the whole exercise of religious conversion is an exclusivist doctrine threatening religious and social harmony in the country. Maoists claim to oppose such ideology in principle. They do it also and leave no occasion to attack the Hindu organizations, but when it comes to missionaries they look the other way.

     No wonder one does not find any clash between the Maoists and the missionaries. In fact, it is difficult to find an example in which the missionaries have been targeted by the Maoists. When Alex Paul Menon, the district collector of Sukma in Chhattisgarh was kidnapped by the Maoists, a former IB chief predicted that the Maoists won’t kill him or hurt him because he is a Christian. He held that in the tribal area lots of young tribals are converting to Christianity in the hope of help from missionaries in their personal and family growth, and the Maoists won’t like to annoy their primary constituency in the tribal belts. The Christian world is not affected by the Maoist or left extremism and therefore they are not against them as they are against the Islamic extremism. These countries ignore the larger conspiracy theory and hold that expansion of Naxal movement is primarily due to the failure of Indian State, which is true as well but partly only, on the socio-economic fronts. 

        Despite the fact that the missionaries work against the native culture and religion and are engaged in cultural aggression, Maoists do not turn their guns towards them. On the contrary, they are very harsh towards the activists who work in the forest areas for the tribals. Earlier Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalanand Sarswati was also served with a threatening letter from the Maoists on the ground that he was spreading message of communalism and dividing the society. An FIR was registered with Sea Beach Police Station by the disciples of the Swami who has been against the conversion of the Hindus in the country and he always took a bold stand against the missionaries.10 

       Christian missionaries argue that it is all because the missionaries have been working for the poor and sick, illiterate and deprived in the remote areas. Their objective is not very different from what the Maoists want; an exploitation free society in which the tribals could enjoy their social, economic, political and other rights. In an interview to a Catholic Weekly, Sathyadeepam, published from Kochi, in May, 2009 Bishop Soreng held that ‘the Maoists are sympathetic to the Church’ and have been supporting the missionary activities in the area.11  Another Bishop from Hazaribagh, Charles Soreng held that both Maoists and the church are waging battle against the same social evils.12 He held that the Maoists are good and honest people and they are fighting for the rights of the sections of the society which is deprived and is not in position to get even the minimum required for the dignified human life. They are fighting against the greed and the corruption that pervades the entire tribal areas, besides government apathy to these people. He held that the Naxals are the honest people and are fighting for the justice for the poor and outcaste people. This is the argument that the Maoists advance in response to the questions that why are they engaged in violence. In fact, it is rare to find the missionary related organizations that have come forward to condemn the violence perpetrated by the Maoists in the tribal areas despite the fact that the Maoists on occasions have also raided the church for the sake of money.

Missionaries at Work in Other Countries: Fuelling Fire and Conflicts

It is claimed that the missionaries have used violence in some countries to defame the native religion and then fishing in the troubled waters. Sri Lanka and Burma are examples of it. They worked to weaken the native society as this provides them the opportunity to take advantage of the situation in form of converting the people. Karen rebels in Burma and Tamil Tigers were also supported by the Church. Both Maoism and missionaries find the troubled societies as the fertile ground for their activities, though their missions and ultimate objective is different. It is no more a secret that the missionaries, apart from China, played crucial role in empowering the Maoists in Nepal. Pushpa Raj Pradhan, a journalist and editor of ‘Peoples Review’ wrote that the missionaries fund the FM radio to propagate the Christian views as they want to transform a Hindu State of Nepal to a Christian State.13 Given the strong roots of Hinduism pervading the Nepalese society it was common for both the Maoists and the missionaries to declare Nepal as a secular State. While monarchy was the target of the Maoists behind this campaign, for missionaries it was altogether a religio-political design for future because Monarchy was against the Christian missionaries in the country.

       In Nepal, the European agencies pumped around 10-15 billion dollar every year for the promotion of Christianity in the country. The story of how the Christian Aid, an organization influenced a ministry in the Nepalese government and reached out to the Magars Community, members of which are primarily engaged in basket weaving and blacksmith, and how they convinced the Maoists to their cause reveals it clearly that the missionaries use the funds supplied by the European      Christian nations for the conversion.14 

       Nepal though has been a Hindu nation but its Constitution did not contain provision which could discriminate against any religion. The transition to constitutional monarchy that materialised in 1990 though declared Nepal as Hindu Kingdom, but it did not pronounce Hinduism as State religion and also ensured religious freedom to all. Of course, it banned the religious conversion, a provision which has been consciously at work since 50s. US Department of State’s report on religious freedom broadly titled as ‘International Religious Freedom Report 2007’ reported that in Nepal there had been religious tolerance and no religious community was deprived of its right to religious freedom. But this was not good enough for missionaries and they worked with the Maoists to declare Nepal as a secular country. Prachanda, the leader of the Maoists openly declared a massive gathering of Christians at Open Theatre that those ‘who would oppose secularism would be kidnapped.’ Prachanda himself is a Christian.15 

       It is not without reason that Christianization has been described as the third force of colonialism, the other two being capital and military strength. J. Goonetilleke, a Buddhist intellectual from Sri Lanka argued this point and noted that all the aristocratic families in Britain had a lord, a Bishop, a businessman in the city and a landed proprietor. The Church had a deeper penetration among the aristocracy and it had also financial interests in the colonies. No wonder, the missionaries supported the British government against the independence movement in India. Jomo Kenyatta, a late Kenyan leader depicted it very precisely how the fate of Kenya changed due to conversion and massive evangelical campaign. He said “when the white man came he had the bible and we had the land. Then he said ‘let us close our eyes and pray.’ When we opened our eyes we had the bible and he had the land.”

How Missionaries Support the Ultras

In India also the missionaries have been found to be behind several unrests in the tribal India from the North-East to the tribal belts of Central and Eastern India. There are two important ways which missionaries use to help and support the Maoists. First, there have been instances of Churches directly funding the Maoists. A per cent of money that comes from outside for the missionary purposes goes to the Maoists. Possibly due threat from the Maoists as well as due to realization that they are helpful in their cause in the long run. Secondly, there are hundreds of NGOs who work in the tribal areas. They are funded from outside, especially from the West. These NGOs are engaged in the charitable activities in the tribal belts. But at the same time, their charitable activities also became the source of support to the Naxals out of fear or license to work without hinderance. In case of causalities, Naxals find them as reliable destination for the medical treatment. Their medical and mobile vans provide the treatment to the injured Naxals. Recently, Chhattisgarh police confirmed that International NGOs have been helping the Maoists in the guise of humanitarian aid. The district SP of Dantewada claimed that the doctors of these two international organizations were engaged in treating the Maoists without informing the police. The police came to know of it when two Maoists were arrested from a pharmacy with medicines worth 6ooo dollar. It is these arrested people who revealed that the doctors of MSF and ICRC were treating the Maoists.16 MSF India head held that the organization does not involve in political ideology and its works are limited to providing medical treatment to any sick person.

      In fact, it is difficult for the police and administration to nail them because they are part of the society in which the Naxals operate. And therefore, each time when such activists are arrested by the police the latter is charged of violating the human rights and working against the basic tenets of humanity. There are over 2 lakhs NGOs working in India and there are hundreds of NGOs which are working in the Naxal infested tribal areas. In Chhattisgarh alone, few years back, 300 NGOs were found illegally working without the knowledge of the State.17 And most certainly, many of these NGOs have direct links with the Maoists. They just have not only soft corner for them but also come out in ‘open support of the guerrillas.’18 In case of security forces, offensive against the Naxals they organize protest rallies and mobilize the public opinion.

    As per an estimate, nearly Rs. 12000 crore is invested by the missionary organizations and their associated NGOs working under different names and for different purposes in the tribal areas of central India.19 This money comes from the west and it is certainly mobilized by the evangelical organizations in the European countries.

      No wonder, Christian missionaries have very soft attitude towards the Maoists. In April 2010, father Xavier Manjooran, a member of the ‘Adivasi Maha Sabha,’ of Gujarat accused the government of treating tribals as terrorists, even though they are just demanding their legal rights in the system. His reference was to the attitude of the Gujarat government, which came out heavily on the Maoists activities in the State. Adivasi Maha Sabha is an organization which works for the tribals and is controlled by the missionaries.20 The clue to this also comes from the Maoist Information Bulletin itself. In its December 2009 edition it carried a letter on page 30. In this letter, the government of India mentions of need for planned offensive against some of the organizations working in 10 different States. Gujarat Adivasi Maha Sabha was one of them which certainly establish the links of the missionaries with the Naxals.

       There are several such instances in the past when the people from the Church have been arrested for possible links between the Maoists and the missionaries. A pastor Roshan, from Jehanabad in Bihar was arrested by the State police for his linkages with the Maoists.21 It would be wrong to draw a linear equation between the Maoist links with the Christian missionaries in general. But several instances in the recent past and the pattern of violence suggest that while the Maoists are harsh and violent towards the Hindu nationalists, they are soft towards the Christian missionaries. And this soft attitude is consciously crafted to mutual advantage.

Notes

1. “Net Closes in on Cong MP for Orissa Swami’s Murder”, Indian Express, Dec 27, 2008.

2. Farzand Ahmed “VHP, BJP leaders on Maoists’ hit-list in Orissa, Bhubaneswar, October 18, 2008. For details see:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/VHP,+BJP+leaders+on+Maoists’+hit-list+in+Orissa/1/17998.html. http://groundreport.com/orissa-maoists-were-hired-to-kill-swamiji/. Also see, “We killed Swami Laxmananda: Maoist leader, www.rediff.com October 05, 2008.

3. Indian Express, Supra 1.

4. Swami Vivekanand, “On the Bounds of Hinduism” Prabuddha Bharata, April 1899. Also see: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/     
   The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_5/Interviews/On_The_Bounds_Of_Hinduism.

5.”Church Backing Tripura Rebels”, BBC News, South Asia, 18 April, 2000.

6. Ibid.

7. Gandhi, Mohandas, Harijan, 3 April, 1937. For similar arguments also see, Gandhi in Harijan, 6 March, 1937, Harijan 18 July
   1936. Young India, 19 January 1928. In all these articles Gandhi has condemned the proselytization by the Christian
   missionaries. 

8. Carvalho, Nirmala, “Christian leaders denounce dangerous Supreme Court comments on the murder of Graham Staines” AsiaNews.it, 24 January 2011. Also see, Dayal, John . “A Bit of Cancer Remains in Supreme Court’s Judgment on Dara Singh”, The Milli Gazette, Published Online: Mar 17, 2011, Print Issue: 16-28 February 2011.

9. Justice Bhawani Shankar Niyogi committee comprised of six members. It was constituted in 1954 by the government of Madhya Pradesh in response to protest movements of the Bhartiya Jan Sangh against the fraudulent conversion of poor Hindus and tribals of the State. The committee gave its report which was published in 1956. The committee made intensive tour of the State, met over 11000 people from all walks of life and prepared a report which seriously indicted the Christian missionaries. It also suggested for banning the illegal conversion.

10. http://www.odishatod...3587327918.html By Anurjay Dhal.

11. The Pioneer, Kochi, 28 May 2010.

12. Ibid.

13. Golder, Evan W. “Maoists and the church: Strange bedfellows in an emerging new Nepal”. Globalministries.org, May 10, 2008 http://globalministries.org/news/sasia/maoists-and-the-church.html. In the election of Nepal for the constituent Assembly which took place on April 10, 2008 The Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoist) and National Council of Churches of Nepal (NCCN) were together. NCCN is a partner of Global Ministries which is organization of Christian Church. Also see, http://indianrealist.com/2010/05/28/ “Maoists are the Creations of the Church to take Control of Tribal Areas”. Shrivastava, Arun, Global Research, October 11, 2012 “Towards a “Colored Revolution” in Nepal? Foreign Interference Triggers Political Chaos”.

14. http://www.christianaid.org/Missionaries/UPI/Magar.aspx.

15. Nepstime.com, 4 February, 2011, Dirgha Raj Prasai.

16. Sethi, Aman “MSF, Red Cross aiding Maoists, claims Dantewada police”, The Hindu, January 20, 2011. Also see, Bagchi,
     Suvojit “Red Cross and MSF accused of helping India Maoists” 2 BBC Bengali Service, Delhi, 21 January 2011. 

17. Thaindian News, 31 October 2010.

18. Maoists raising money through NGOs, says IB”, The Deccan Herald, New Delhi, Nov 23, 2013. Khan,   Sahar. “Essar faces probe for funding NGO linked to Maoists”, Indiatoday.in, Sept 22, 2011, for details see,  http://indiato

day.intoday.in/story/essar-faces-probe-for-funding-ngo-linked-to-maoists/1/152268. Chaudhuri, Sumanta Ray “Maoists infiltrate NGOs to expand support base in Bengal”. DNAIndia.com, Sep 18, 2007. Also see,  http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-56-ngos-raising-funds-cadres-for-Naxals-in-state-1156453. See also, “NGOs funding Naxals”, Naxal Terror Watch, Sunday, March 18, 2007. For similar comments see the report  of Vyas, Sharad “Foreign funds help Naxals to contest polls.” The Times of India, Bombay, May 27, 2013.

19. The estimate is based on the account interpretation by Prof. R. Vaidyanathan and the Financial Expert Sanjiv Nayyar. Both have admitted that it is difficult to decipher the exact amount of money pumped in under explicit head of conversion as it is done through NGOs involved in charitable activities. For detail see, “interfaith Dialogues and Inculturation: The Real Face of the Church, Thamizhchelvan, Satyapravah, 10 Dec, 2011.

20. OffStumped Blog, April 7, 2010.

21. ANS New Release 15 March, 2010.

____________
*Dr. Sangit Kumar Ragi, Associate Professor, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi.