VSK TN
- Church – Secularism
- Swami Agnivesh dies, Catholics mourns
Key Points:
- Church groups in India on September 11 joined activists, academics and politicians to mourn the death of Swami Agnivesh, who is considered the country’s most renowned secular and democratic sanyasi. The once professor of Kolkata’s St Xavier’s College was 80 at the time of his death.
- John Dayal, spokesperson of the All India Catholic Union, saluted “one of the bravest men I have met as a journalist and as an activist.” In a condolence message, the Catholic lay leader hailed Swami Agnivesh for retrieving “the sanctity of the ochre/saffron robes from hijackers posing as nationalists, challenged them on their turf, and defeated them more often than not.”
- Dayal, who claims to have known Agnivesh for more than four decades, noted that the ascetic as a political activist, a minister in Haryana, a campaigner against bonded labor and child rights, as a fighter against the Sangh Parivar (rightwing Hindu groups).
- The Indian Catholic Press Association mourned the “passing away of a great Indian and a true human who was a relentless fighter for justice and human rights.”
- In a condolence message, president of the association, Ignatius Gonsalves, says Agnivesh’s life and legacy not only inspire but challenge all those cherish the great leader had championed. “This is particularly true of people in the media,” he added.
- Anto Akkara, a veteran journalist, said Agnivesh had stood “like a rock behind the campaign for truth and justice for Kandhamal.” Kandhamal, a district in the eastern Indian state was the scene of monthlong anti-Christian persecution in 2008.
- Agnivesh’s death was also mourned among others by Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor, senior lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi.
- While Tharoor expressed shock and sadness over the death of a “man of vigor and conviction,” Sathyarthi hailed Agnivesh as crusader against bonded labor.
- Bhushan described Agnivesh’s death as “a huge tragedy” and added that the ascetic as “a true warrior for humanity and tolerance. Among the bravest that I knew… willing to take huge risks for public good.”
- Jesuit Father Felix Raj, vice chancellor of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, said the activist sanyasi had taught in the college during 1964-1969. “Swami Agnivesh was truly “ a man for others”…A sanyasi in the Arya Samaj Order, he stood tall, both on the national and international stage, as an educationist, a philanthropist, a philosopher, a spiritualist, most of all as a humanist,” Father Raj said in his condolence message.
(mattersindia.com, 11 September 2020) (News Link)
- Church – Education
- Christian backed Schools trigger students to oppose NEP
Key Points:
- Christians backed educational institutions are working against new education policy. Teachers exchange information to students through whatsapp to oppose the NEP. Christian school teachers of Ignis Loyala Convent School in Palayankottai, Tirunelveli have called for putting rangoli in front of doorsteps opposing NEP.
- In 2016, minority run schools in Palayamkottai staged protest in Nellai Palaynkottai Jawahar Stadium. Calling the students to fight against the Government is reprehensible. We urge the Government to take appropriate action against the teachers and school, stated VHP District President Arumugakani.
(dhinasari.com, 13 September 2020) (News Link)
