LEADERS OF THE NEW INDIA WILL WELCOME THE MISSIONARIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 19, 6 February 1948, Page 3

LEADERS OF THE NEW INDIA WILL WELCOME THE MISSIONARIES

(Contributed by the Ministers’ Association)

Dr. Stanley Jones says:— I went to Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, the strong man of the Congress and asked him what part the missionaries can play, if any, in this new India. I told him that I was going to the Kodaikanhl and the Land our Conventions which were important missionary centres and I wanted some word to bring to them from the highest sources. He very thoughtfully replied, “Let them go on as they have been going on—let them serve the suffering with their hospitals and dispensaries, educate the poor and give selfless service to the people. They can even carry on their propaganda in a peaceful manner. But let them not use mass conversions for political ends.” “If they do this then there is a place for them in the new India?” I asked.

“Certainly,” he replied. “We want them to throw themselves in with India, identify themselves with the jeople and make India theiir home.” This was quite clear and straightforward and from the man who has to do with the question of who shall or shall not come into India, for he is the Home Member. I then saw C. Rajagopalachariar and asked him the same question. His reply was that “While I agree that you have the right of conversion, I would suggest that in this crisis when religion is dividing us, it would be a better part of your strategy to dim conversions and serve the people in various ways until the situation returns to a more normal state. If you are willing to do that thdn I would suggest that instead of ‘Profess, practise and propagate,’ as suggested in the Committee, it should be “Believe, worship and preach.’ ” I further asked, “Will the missionaries be tolerated or welcomed as par-tners in this new India?” His reply was “If they take some of the attitudes I suggest, then they will not only be welcomed, they will be welcomed with gratitude, for what they have done and will do.”

The third man I saw was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the gracious head of education in the Central Government. I asked him whether missionaries could be tolerated or welcomed as partners in the making of this new India.

His reply was “Do not use the word ‘tolerate,’ there is no thought of that. You will be welcomed. There is no point at issue with the missionaries, except one point: at the place of mass conversions where there is no chance of heart. We believe in the right of outer change where there is inner change, but when masses are brought over without any perceptible spiritual change then it arouses suspicions as to motives. But apart from that we have no point at issue. You will be welcomed gratefully for what you have done not only for India but for other parts of the world such as the Near East.” The fourth man to whom I went was the man whom Gandhi calls “the uncrowned king of India,” Jawaharlal Nehru, and when I asked him whether missionaries will be tolerated or welcomed as partners in the making of the new India his reply was, “am not sure as to what is involved in being looked on as partners. But we will welcome anyone who throws himself into India and makes India his home.”