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‘Negating atrocities against Hindus’ — why RSS is doubting Thomas as BJP courts Kerala Christians

Calling BJP moves to woo Syrian Christians 'purely political', some in Sangh circles have cast doubt on community's traditional origin story of St Thomas visiting Kerala in 52 CE.

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New Delhi: During his two-day visit to Kerala starting Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet a delegation from the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. This comes amid the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) push for outreach to Christians in the state, but in the backdrop are differences between the party and its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), over the figure of St Thomas the Apostle.

St Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, is traditionally believed to have arrived in India in 52 CE, and the Syrian Christians of Kerala trace their origins to those he converted. But the historicity of this account has often been called into question. 

When Kerala BJP vice-president A.N. Radhakrishnan visited the St Thomas International Shrine at Malayattoor in Ernakulam district — where the apostle is thought to have left a footprint — on 16 April, it triggered a controversy. Some in the Hindutva camp criticised the move, saying that it negated alleged Christian atrocities against Hindus, although the RSS has officially remained tight-lipped. 

The RSS has had face-offs with the state’s Christians in the past, one notable incident being the confrontation over the Nilakkal church in 1983. After the apparent discovery of an ancient stone cross just 200m from a Hindu temple at Nilakkal in Pathanamthitta district — an important halting place on the Sabarimala pilgrimage route — Christians had begun worship and moved to construct a church in the area.

The Catholic Church asserted that this had been the site of one of the churches founded by St Thomas, but the Sangh Parivar strongly opposed the claim — calling the discovery fraudulent — and organised a major agitation. The state government eventually allotted land for the construction of a church 4 km from the temple.

Speaking to ThePrint, a senior RSS functionary claimed the BJP’s moves were purely political and that there was no historical evidence of St Thomas visiting the state. 

BJP leaders in the state, however, say they’ve decided to go with the general belief of the Syrian Christian community, and don’t want to get into the dispute over St Thomas. “We don’t want to talk about it,” said state BJP chief K. Surendran.


Also read: BJP wooing Kerala cardinals. But Christians say they never take voting cues from church


‘Negating atrocities against Hindus’

R. Sanjayan, director of the Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram — a Thiruvananthapuram-based think tank linked to the RSS — said, “There is no evidence of St Thomas visiting Kerala; even the stories of his visits to India are based on half-historical facts. The myth of St Thomas was created by the Leftists to promote a false narrative and thereby establish that he was killed by Hindu priests.”

“They also aim to negate the atrocities meted out to the Hindus by Christians who, led by the Portuguese, demolished temples and forcibly converted the fishermen community. So, the issue around Saint Thomas is an academic controversy. But we have nothing to say about the local politics.” 

“The only available story with some historical references says that he travelled to the western part of India, near Afghanistan, where he was killed by the rulers for conversion activities. However, that is also not foolproof. If one says that Saint Thomas lived in Kerala, then where is the evidence? The Christians demolished one of the old temples, Kapaleeshwarar Shiva temple, and built a church there. Nobody wants to talk about the atrocities meted out to the Hindus,” he added. 

An apocryphal Christian text, the Acts of Thomas, claims the apostle was killed in what is now Afghanistan. However, Syrian Christians in Kerala have traditionally held that he died in Mylapore, now part of Chennai. 

There have been claims that the Portuguese demolished the original Kapaleeshwarar Temple in the 16th century to build the St Thomas Basilica in Chennai, with the present-day temple of the same name in Mylapore having been built later. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior RSS functionary said, “There are several historical references that say St Thomas never visited Kerala. Many Christian theologians have refuted this claim by the Syrian Christians in Kerala. BJP leaders are visiting the shrine as part of their political balancing act. But there is no history in it, this is fictional.” 

‘Why do we need to have such a negative approach?’

BJP leaders, however, don’t wish to get into the St Thomas issue. “There are so many positive things happening in Kerala. Thousands of Christians are joining, and dozens of senior priests are now aligned with us. Why do we need to have such a negative approach and why do we even discuss St Thomas,” asked state BJP president Surendran.

According to Kerala BJP vice-president K.S. Radhakrishnan, “There is no difference between the RSS and the BJP. The RSS believes in some specific ideas. But Christianity in Europe or Christianity in north India are different from the Christianity in Kerala. The Syrian Christians in Kerala share the same heritage and cultural values as us. The St Thomas church here is a unique church and the community believes that he visited Kerala in 52 CE.”

“They are aligned to us and they want to meet PM Modi. We have made all arrangements for the meeting as PM Modi agreed. They would meet the PM in the evening,” added Radhakrishnan, a former vice-chancellor of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and ex-chairman of the Kerala Public Service Commission

C.I. Issac — a historian who is vice president of the RSS-linked Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) — believes that while St Thomas never visited Kerala, there’s nothing wrong in the BJP’s move

“There is no historical fact to support the general claim about St Thomas. But we understand that it is the BJP’s political need and PM Modi is a secularist. So there is nothing wrong,” he said. 

(Edited by Rohan Manoj)


Also read: Modi image, Syrian Christian base can help BJP in Kerala. But leadership crisis a spoilsport


 

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