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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENNAI 000100 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF SOCI IN
SUBJECT:  BHARAT BALLOT 09: "FORCED CONVERSIONS" FUEL POLITICAL 
DEBATE IN KARNATAKA 
 
REFS: A) CHENNAI 98, B)CHENNAI 25, C) 08 CHENNAI 350, D) CHENNAI 
326, E) NEW DELHI 2513 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Political conversations in Karnataka are peppered 
with references to "forced" or "forcible" conversion.  Although the 
term has been defined in various states' legal statutes and 
interpreted by the Indian Supreme Court, different religious 
communities in the state -- particularly Hindus and Christians -- 
continue to understand and use the term to mean different things. 
The state's more conservative Hindu groups see "forcible 
conversions" of Hindus by Christians as an alarming, offensive, and 
pervasive ongoing practice.  Christians, on the other hand, find the 
concept baffling, contending that it is not logically possible for 
anyone to be "forced" to convert to their religion.  These different 
interpretations have concrete political consequences.  Much 
Christian charity work -- a central component of Christian churches' 
activities in India -- is interpreted by some Hindu groups in 
Karnataka as offering illegal inducements to lower-caste Hindus to 
convert.  While Christian groups strongly dispute this assertion, 
this interpretation of "forced conversion" provides political fodder 
to some groups in Karnataka, contributing to the violent 
religion-fueled outbreaks that have rocked the state over the past 
year.  End Summary. 
 
Conversion:  a hot topic in Mangalore 
------- 
 
¶2. (U) The city of Mangalore, Karnataka (350 km west of Bangalore, 
on India's southwest coast) has seen several outbursts of 
religiously tinted violence.  We traveled there in mid-March to 
explore the possible sources of this violence and discuss the 
upcoming parliamentary elections.  In conversations centering around 
the elections and the violence the city has witnessed over the past 
six months (particularly the attacks on Christian churches in 
September 2008 and the January attack on a local pub, refs B and E), 
we found our interlocutors of various faiths repeatedly returning to 
the subject of religious conversions as a controversial and 
important social and political issue in the region.  Mangalore's 
peculiar economic and demographic realities (particularly its 
sizable Christian population -- ref A) amplify the importance of 
this subject for local politics. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The political discourse in Karnataka reached a particularly 
fevered pitch just after the September church attacks, with the 
state's top politicians, including Chief Minister Yeddiyurappa 
decrying "forcible conversions" and making public statements 
suggesting that the practice had inflamed passions to the point that 
it had encouraged the violence (ref E).  Home Minister Acharya said 
much the same thing in a meeting with the Consul General ten days 
after the attacks (ref D). 
 
The legalities of "forcible conversion" 
-------- 
 
¶4. (U) Dr. Sandeep Shastri, Director of Bangalore's International 
Academy for Creative Teaching, explained to us that although India's 
constitution allows for the "propagation" of religion, India's 
Supreme Court has ruled (particularly in a landmark 1977 case) that 
"conversion" is not necessarily a protected religious practice.  He 
explained that the Court's general test of whether or not a 
conversion is "forcible" is whether it is the result of "inducement, 
allurement, or coercion." (That specific phrase comes from 
Maharashtra's 1968 law outlawing "forcible conversion," which was 
upheld in the 1977 ruling.)  He also told us (as did several other 
interlocutors) that Indian courts have never successfully prosecuted 
anyone for engaging in "forcible conversion," but a few contacts 
said that they believed there were some ongoing cases elsewhere in 
India (i.e, not in Karnataka). 
 
Christians scoff at the concept . . . 
--------- 
 
CHENNAI 00000100  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Our Christian interlocutors (mainly Roman Catholics and 
evangelicals) openly ridiculed what they viewed as the logical 
impossibility of "forcible conversion."  They told us that becoming 
Christian requires a person to make an individual, conscientious 
choice to accept and follow the tenets of Christianity and that any 
choice made under duress or false pretenses violates the very tenets 
of the faith.  Our Roman Catholic interlocutors (including 
Mangalore's Bishop and the Principal of Mangalore's most prestigious 
college) told us that their church had little interest in promoting 
conversions of any sort, and emphasized that institutions associated 
with their religions (particularly schools and hospitals) studiously 
avoided activities that might be perceived as encouraging conversion 
and served people of all religions. 
 
¶6. (SBU) A pastor from the evangelical "New Life Fellowship" 
admitted that evangelicals were aggressive proselytizers, but 
emphasized that it was simply not logically possible for any 
Christian to "force" anybody to convert to Christianity.  He also 
emphasized the importance of "sharing the faith" as a central tenet 
of evangelical Christianity.  All of our Christian interlocutors 
told us repeatedly that there had not been a single case of "forced 
conversion" ever demonstrated in an Indian court, and emphasized 
that local Hindu zealots used the term simply to fire up their 
political supporters. 
 
. . . While Hindus take offense 
-------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Dr. Madhav Bhandary, Zonal Chief of Mangalore for the 
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (a Hindu nationalist organization 
usually referred to simply as the RSS) began his conversation with 
us by explaining that Hinduism was not a religion, but a "dharma" 
that encompassed all of India's religions and its people.  (He said 
that the English language has no good translation of "dharma," but 
that understanding it as "a way of life" was a reasonable 
approximation.)  Because Hinduism is so all-inclusive, he argued, an 
Indian choose any number of religious paths (including Christianity 
or Islam) while necessarily remaining firmly within the Hindu 
dharma.  Attempts to convert someone, he said, threaten local 
culture and give offense because the very concept of conversion 
suggests that the Hindu dharma is incomplete or unworthy.  He also 
said that religious minorities like Christians and Muslims were 
welcome in India, but that they needed to observe certain Hindu 
traditions, such as the wearing of a thread around the neck of a 
bride during her wedding, and recognize the sensitivities of the 
majority. 
 
¶8. (SBU) We heard similar views from M.B. Puranik, President of the 
Mangalore Division of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), who described 
his organization as helping to promote and protect social and temple 
life for Hindus.  (Both the VHP and RSS belong to a family of Hindu 
organizations known as the Sangh Parivar, which also includes the 
Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP)   He emphasized that everyone born in 
India is a Hindu, and that India is the only place where Hinduism is 
protected.  Other religions, he stressed, "have many countries to 
call home, while Hindus have only India."  He argued that 
conversions were therefore a threat because they risked upsetting 
the country's demographic balance, thereby weakening Hinduism's only 
homeland. 
 
Other Hindu complaints 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Both Bhandary and Puranik complained about Christian 
proselytizers, particularly the evangelical groups they referred to 
as "New Life."  (A New Life pastor explained to us that Hindu 
critics in Mangalore tend to refer to all of the more than 25 
evangelical congregations in the city as "New Life" churches, 
although there is technically only one.)  They said that 
evangelizing missionaries routinely and openly denigrate Hindu gods 
 
CHENNAI 00000100  003 OF 004 
 
 
and religious practices in their preaching as part of their attempts 
to convert people in and around Mangalore.  Puranik also lamented 
that these Christian groups had weekly opportunities to gather and 
reinforce their message, a form of iterative support alien to those 
promoting the Hindu way of life who must therefore find other ways 
of spreading their information. 
 
¶10. (SBU) A senior state bureaucrat told us that Christian churches 
are spreading rapidly throughout Karnataka, creating the perception 
that this phenomenon is disturbing the demographic balance in the 
state.  He also said that even many people who refer to themselves 
as Hindus still attend regular church services, making it difficult 
to fully understand how widespread this trend is.  This, he 
explained, is because lower-caste Hindus enjoy government quotas for 
employment and other benefits, but lose them after they become 
Christians.  (The GOI established these benefits and programs to 
help those historically discriminated against in the Hindu caste 
system and does not recognize Christianity or Islam as having 
castes.)  He emphasized that the perception of a rapidly growing 
Christian population is causing significant unease in the state, 
particularly among more conservative Hindus. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Bhandary and Puranik also both emphasized the 
offensiveness of a publication ("Satya Darshini") that "New Life" 
missionaries were distributing in Karnataka prior to the September 
2008 church attacks.  They said that the pamphlet was a particularly 
offensive diatribe against Hindu religious practices and gods that 
inflamed passions and led to the attacks.  (The "New Life" pastor we 
spoke with strenuously denied that his congregation had anything to 
do with the publication or distribution of "Satya Darshini" and 
claimed that it had been in circulation throughout India for more 
than a decade.)  Puranik expressed remorse at the attacks on 
churches, emphasizing that "the elders" would never have approved 
such violent activities, but noted that the episode showed the raw 
emotion of Hindu youth in the face of blatantly offensive behavior 
by proselytizing Christians. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Puranik also leveled criticism at the government for 
failing to serve the population adequately.  This failure, he 
argued, allowed Christian groups to offer services, especially in 
health and education, which present potential inducements, 
particularly for the poor.  (Both Puranik and Bhandary are heavily 
involved in providing basic services; Puranik runs multiple 
educational institutions and Bhandary is a medical doctor currently 
working for the Mangalore city government as the chair of its Urban 
Development Authority.) 
 
Inducements and allurements aplenty 
--------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) A professor at a secular university (with no obvious 
affinity for any particular religious tradition) told us that the 
government's failure to provide adequate basic services was an 
important factor in the tensions between religious communities in 
the region.  He specifically noted that Hindu hospitals and schools 
are in direct competition with Christian ones to serve the poor and 
uneducated, who are generally perceived as the most likely source of 
potential converts to Christianity.  This sense of competition, he 
argued, fueled tensions and caused many Hindus to perceive Christian 
efforts to provide health and education services as little more than 
tools to induce the unwitting down a path towards conversion. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Several Christians we spoke with admitted that many of 
their works of charity may be perceived by critics as "inducements 
or allurements."  (No one we spoke with mentioned coercion as a 
proselytizing tool used in the region.)  They disputed this 
characterization, emphasizing that Christian churches around the 
world consider providing services to the poor as a critical 
obligation of their beliefs and not as a propagation tactic, but 
recognized that it might be difficult for some non-Christians to 
differentiate. 
 
CHENNAI 00000100  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶15. (SBU) The "New Life" pastor explained to us the dilemma this 
presents to Christians.  From his perspective, if a needy woman 
asked him for money to send her daughter to school, he would give it 
to her not because he is trying to convert her, but simply because 
he is a compassionate human being.  Critics, however, could accuse 
him of offering inducements, he noted. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Similarly, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Mangalore told us 
that even traditional institutions run by his church (like 
hospitals) were receiving increasingly frequent complaints from 
Hindu critics that they ought to only be serving Christians.  He 
also related several recent incidents where the church's hospitals 
and ambulances have been attacked by Hindu thugs for offering 
services to non-Christians.  He argued that these perceptions of his 
church's good works in the region were a new phenomenon, and a 
distinct change from earlier views, which had seen the church's 
involvement in these services as a useful contribution to society's 
advancement. 
 
Comment:  The importance of grammar 
------- 
 
¶17. (SBU) One thing that became clear in our conversations in 
Mangalore was that Christians and Hindus used the verb "convert" in 
different ways.  For the Hindus, the verb is transitive, connoting 
an action performed by one person towards another:  person A tries 
to convert person B.  (This is also how India's Supreme Court used 
the term in its 1977 decision.)  For Christians, however, the verb 
is intransitive, suggesting a personal decision: person A wants to 
convert to Christianity.  This grammatical distinction has serious 
implications.  The Hindus we spoke with tended to understand 
conversion (whether "forcible" or not) as something that Christians 
do to other people, necessarily violating the religious freedom of 
the "target" individual.  This, in their view, necessitates action 
to protect presumed unwitting individuals from the allurement and 
inducements offered by Christian proselytizers. 
 
¶18. (SBU) Legitimate differences in theology and friction generated 
from a clash between modernization and tradition may explain the 
inter-religious tension in Mangalore.  These factors alone, however, 
probably do not provide the entire explanation for the violent 
incidents the city has witnessed over the past several months.  An 
important factor is undoubtedly the fact that some Hindu chauvinists 
are using the perception that Christian groups target Hindus for 
religious conversion to whip up political support.  It is not yet 
clear whether these political strategies will succeed in attracting 
more votes than they drive away, but it is unfortunate that 
Mangalore's different religious communities seem to have difficulty 
in finding common ground. 
 
SIMKIN