Rev. Fr. C. Joe Arun, SJ, has recently been appointed as the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Minorities Commission, a move that has generated significant debate and controversy. Fr. Joe Arun, who is currently the Director of Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), replaces senior Congress leader Peter Alphonse in this prestigious position.
However, his past tenure as the Secretary of Loyola College, Chennai, from 2010 to 2012, has been marred by controversies that continue to cast a shadow over his new appointment in the minorities commission.
Fr. Joe Arun is the only Loyola College secretary to have served a two-year term instead of the customary three-year tenure. According to sources within the college, he was relieved from his position before completing his term due to serious allegations of financial corruption and deviations from Jesuit core tenets. These allegations have never been officially substantiated, but they have left a lasting impact on his reputation.
The newly-appointed chairman of the state minorities commission has been known for his outspoken views and controversial actions throughout his career. He has been vocal in his support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a stance that has drawn both criticism and support from various quarters. During his tenure at Loyola College, he was instrumental in organizing a media interaction with Seeman, the head of Naam Tamilar Katchi, who made inflammatory statements about the situation in Sri Lanka. This event was part of a broader pattern where Loyola College, under his leadership, provided platforms for fringe political outfits advocating for a separate Tamil Nadu.
In November 2018, while delivering a lecture at the National Conference on “Excellence in Higher Education”, Joe Arun said “The State Government of Tamil Nadu, asked me to revise the syllabus [for] Standard 1-12 Social Sciences. I was one of the mentors to design. If you go and today you see 1st Standard students, Social Science textbook [sic], there’s plenty of Jesuit ideology have been injected into it. And nobody knows. More and more are inserted there. And you’ll see only pictures in the first standard textbook, only pictures.”
During the 2018 Christmas celebrations organized by Christhuva Nallenna Iyakkam, led by Inigo Irudhayaraj (elected as MLA in 2021 on a DMK ticket), DMK President MK Stalin, senior leaders KN Nehru and Anbil Mahesh, and controversial Christian priest Ezra Sargunam, presided over the event. During the celebration, Joe Arun made a biblical prophecy, declaring MK Stalin as the godsend to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Narrating how the period before Jesus birth was a dark time, Joe says “According to me, Jesus who was born then… the period of his birth, someone with the fortitude and capabilities like a sun (DMK’s symbol) will rise. Who told this? Isiah. Who is saying? First Book of Maccabees. During the dark times he will be born, Isiah says, during the dark times, how will he be born? Not as someone who has capabilities, not as someone with wealth, but a man will be born who has the fortitude. Who will send him? His father (Karunanidhi) will send him. He will be born. He will be born and he will rule us. And we’ll be there in that regime.”
Fr. Joe Arun’s actions and affiliations have sparked intense debate about the role of educational institutions in political discourse. Some have seen his willingness to support and provide platforms for controversial and fringe ideologies as a commitment to free speech and open dialogue. However, others argue that it has promoted divisive and destabilizing ideas, particularly within the sensitive and diverse environment of a college campus.
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