Recently, it was reported that the District Collector of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh reportedly confirmed that Christian pastor Bishop K Suresh Kumar, running the Christian missionary organization Harvest India was not a Christian but a Hindu belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
The Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) and the SC ST Rights Forum have written to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes seeking action against the pastor for misusing benefits meant for Scheduled Caste.
"Harvest India's President, Bishop Mr. K Suresh Kumar is not Christian, but a Hindu-SC", confirms Distirct Collector, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
We wrote to National SC Commission seeking action.
It's a Black day for SCs of the country and opens pandora's box for similar claims pic.twitter.com/NO96gFSUQv
— SC ST RIGHTS FORUM (@SCSTForum) September 3, 2021
Multiple complaints have been filed by a woman belonging to SC community and resident of Kollipara in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur District, alleging that Christian Bishop Kattera Suresh Kumar is holding a Scheduled Caste certificate to avail reservation benefits despite being a Christian Bishop, maintaining a big church, running several Bible colleges and awarding Christian theology degree through a large evangelical organization namely Harvest India.
Suresh Kumar and his wife also run a big Church named King’s Temple. As per their tax returns filed with US IRS, they run 10 Bible Colleges. Following this, an enquiry was ordered by the District Collector.
The complainant alleged that the District Level Scrutiny Committee had completely ignored the report of RDO Tenali submitted in the year 2014 in which the official had clearly stated that Mr. Kathera Suresh Kumar and his wife Ms. Thella Heny Christina are Christians and that Harvest India is a Christian organisation.
Filing an appeal against the decision of the district administration the complainant said that gross injustice has been done to the entire Scheduled Caste community in India as this case will become a precedent leading to lakhs of claims from Christian evangelists, clergy and Bishops into declaring them as Hindu Scheduled Caste in official public records thereby misuse of reservation benefits meant for genuine Scheduled Caste.
SC ST Rights Forum which has obtained the details of the complaint and subsequent decision of the district administration, has written a detailed letter to National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Ministry of Home Affairs to intervene in the issue.
The Forum has contended that since Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar has claimed himself to be a Hindu and has been declared as such, it amounts to cheating of thousands of Christian donors who have donated to Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar’s evangelist organization Harvest India ( FCRA- 10260176 ) on the belief and claim of Bishop Suresh Kumar and his wife that they are devout Christians, running a Christian evangelist organisation involved in evangelism, church planting, conversions to Christianity and training of pastors through 10 Bible Colleges.
The SC ST Rights Forum has requested the NCSC and MHA to initiate criminal proceedings against Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar and his wife Heny Christina for cheating citizens of other countries and projecting themselves as Christians, collecting millions of dollars over a number of years.
It has demanded that all assets created out of donations from abroad be declared as ‘proceeds of fraudulent misrepresentation’, bank accounts of Harvest India frozen and the FCRA permission suspended immediately.
A Fake Hindu
Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar has, by his words and actions, held out to the world at large that he is a Christian Bishop. Even in various newspaper reports and in a number of appreciation certificates given by various government officials like District Collectors, he has been referred to as ‘Bishop.
In the official newsletters of Harvest India published periodically and sent out to donors by Bishop Mr. Suresh Kumar and his team, the objective of their organization is stated at the top on the first page as ‘TO CARRY CHRIST’S COMPASSION TO EVERY VILLAGE IN INDIA’.
Despite overwhelming evidence that Bishop Suresh Kumar is a Christian as per law and as per the eyes of the world, he has been declared as a ‘Hindu’. By his own words, actions and deeds, Mr Suresh Kumar has projected himself as a Christian and a Bishop and under the Doctrine of Estoppel, he cannot deny this truth.
Selective Consideration Of Evidence By District Administration
SC ST RIGHTS FORUM has present the details of evidence submitted by complainants in support of their claim that Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar and his wife were Christians, before the District Level Scrutiny Committee which was completely ignored.
The complainants have alleged that while considering her complaint, the officials of the Guntur District Administration, Andhra Pradesh and members of the District Level Scrutiny Committee have selected evidence with a pre-concluded decision to declare the Christian Bishop Mr. Kathera Suresh Kumar as Hindu-SC.
She alleges that they have taken evidence from the Date of Birth Certificate of Bishop Suresh Kumar and up to his College Education and stopped there. Had the committee gone backward, from 2021 towards his date of birth and considered all the evidence submitted by us, Bishop Mr. Kathera Suresh Kumar would have been declared a Christian, SC ST Rights Forum also noted.
The Forum further said in its complaint that the committee has not conducted any inquiry into a massive Church named ‘King’s Temple’ constructed by Bishop Suresh Kumar in Garuvupalem village, Tenali Mandal, Guntur District where the grave of his deceased mother whose last rites were performed as per Christian customs is still in existence.
The DLSC has completely ignored evidence regarding the 10 Bible colleges being run by Bishop Suresh Kumar (as claimed in his tax returns filed with IRS, Govt. of United States of America / newsletters/video presentations /interviews/ social media posts).
“The DLSC has given huge importance to Bishop Mr. Suresh Kumar’s vague testimonies and artificially manufactured evidence of other people vouching that Bishop Suresh Kumar is a Hindu. While there is substantial evidence that Bishop Suresh Kumar is a Christian, the committee has completely ignored the fact that Bishop Suresh Kumar could not produce a single photograph/video/social media post of his visiting any temple, performing pooja, or celebrating any Hindu festival. While we have produced a huge volume of evidence of his preaching of the Bible, participating in Crusades, giving out theology degrees to Christian pastors. Yet the wise men of the DLSC have completely thrown overboard evidence submitted by us.”, a representative from the SC ST Rights Forum informed The Commune.
Harvest India’s Accounts
‘Harvest India’, the organization to which Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar is the president, received crores of amount from Foreign Church organizations for Christian religious activities, preacher and priest training programs and other Christian religious functions. The same has been mentioned in the FCRA Returns filed by Harvest India with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for the financial years 2007-08 to 2013-14.
However, the District Level Scrutiny Committee has chosen to ignore this important point and took the statement of Bishop Kathera Suresh Kumar’s statement that Harvest India is not at all a Religious Organization.
Below are the details of funds received by the ‘Harvest India’ Organization represented by Bishop Kattera Suresh Kumar from Foreign Christian Evangelical Organizations to perform various Christian Religious Activities in India.
SC ST Rights Forum has said that it will be a dark day for the entire Scheduled Castes Community of the country if a Christian Bishop running an evangelist organization, 10 Bible Colleges and a big Church is declared as a Hindu and SC and has demanded for high-level investigation into the entire episode.
This article was originally published in Nijam Today and has been edited and published in The Commune.