a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

elonging to this land. The concept of "minority" and "majority" is from the West,
which has been forcing its ways on the people all these days….’ 30
Pentecostals in Rajasthan, like other Indian Christians, argue that they are facing
discrimination on the basis of religion. According to Jaswant Rana, who serves as
the founding patron of TCWSI and also as the Minority Representative of FFCI,
tribal Christians lose their privileges and rights purely on the basis of religion.
Once a tribal man or woman becomes a Christian his or her tribal privileges are
denied. 31 This is not an exclusive problem of Pentecostals in Rajasthan, but a
common issue faced by all Christians. The leaders of All India Christian Council
(AICC) raised the issue of discrimination shown to the religious minorities and
Dalits in India at the anti-racism World Conference at Durban in 2001. They
submitted a memorandum to the representatives of the United Nations (UN)
explaining how the majority is harassing the minority groups like the Dalits,
Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs. They blamed the RSS and Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) 32 and argued that ‘Hindutva pariwar’ 33 is a threat to
religious minorities and Dalits. The AICC leaders complained that a ‘hate-
campaign’ is being conducted against the minorities in the country and requested
an enquiry by the UN and other international bodies into the conduct of such
religious groups. Christian leaders consider this a ‘great achievement’ as they
30
Sunny Sebastian, ‘India does not have any Minorities: RSS Chief,’ The Hindu, 17 March 2004,
under ‘National,’ http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/17/stories/2004031704511400.htm
(accessed 13 Nov 2006).
31
Jaswant Rana, interview by author, 15 May 2006.
32
VHP is another Hindu NGO
33
The collective group of all Hindu militant organizations such as RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP and
Shiv Sena is known as Sangh Parivar or Hindutva Parivar. In this study, both are used
interchangeably with the same meaning, unless otherwise mentioned.
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