Last week, based on specific intelligence inputs, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate officials raided 28 premises of “Jesus Calls” and “Karunya” group of educational institutions, managed by the evangelist Paul Dinakaran.
Paul Dinakaran is one of the most aggressive and influential evangelists in India, and is an expert in employing any means necessary to convert Hindus to Christianity. However, since the advent of the Modi government in 2014 and amid increasing pressure from the public to counter such missionary activities, several steps have been taken to strengthen and amend relevant laws to control evangelical Christian organisations.
There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds of crores of rupees and several kilograms of gold were confiscated by the IT and ED officials after the raids. Dinakaran’s evangelist organisation may have also diverted crores of rupees, received from Canada and other sources, to the farmers’ agitation in the national capital and to a certain political party in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, popular Tamil Daily Dinamalar published a report quoting leading lawyer Rangaraj of Coimbatore. “Karunya University” which is functioning from the 1990s, has been trying to carve out a “Mini Vatican” in Nallurvayal village near Coimbatore, according to Rangaraj. There are concerted efforts made by Paul Dinakaran in the village to convert it into a “mini Vatican” by means of cheap gimmicks such as miracle-healing, i.e. making mutes speak, the blind see and the lames walk. All this is done to bear a lot of influence on the common man.
The evangelists have allegedly also tried to manipulate the voters’ list in some districts of Tamil Nadu to ensure the electoral victory of the candidates put up by the university.
One such allegation concerns the gram panchayat elections of Madhavarayapuram village. However, this strategy failed after a dispute broke out between the university’s students and the management, and later, a case was filed in the Madras High Court. This resulted in the voter list being redrawn, and the gram panchayat was saved.
The evangelists also tried to disenfranchise about a thousand vanavasis in the village, who are eligible for reservation in the elections.
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