Indian Christians and Indian Freedom movement

Indian Christians and Indian Freedom Movement

Indian Christianity played an important role in the early phase of the Indian National congress, Especially at the third session of the Congress (1887) where , out of 607 participant , there were fifteen Indian Christian delegates who actively participated in the deliberation . Some of the Outstanding Indian Christian delegates were Madhu Sunder Das of Orissa who addressed the Congress on the question of expansion of legislative councils, and N Subramanium who proposed a pleaded for complete separation of judicial and executive functions by government officials . The Indian Christian delegates continued their contributions in the four subsequent sessions of the Congress. Special mention should be made of Pandita Ramabai Saraswati and Kali Chandran Banerjee.

Here I will be briefly introducing some of the Christian Freedom Fighters

Panditha Ramabai Saraswati (1858-1922) was an outstanding Indian Christian woman. In the 1889 Congress session there were ten Christian delegates of which Pandita Ramabai Saraswati was one. She was one of the first Indians who championed the right of women to participate in national politics, eloquently articulating the pitiable history of Indian womanhood. Ramabai also played an important role in the third session of the National Social Conference in 1889 at which she supported a resolutioncondemning the practice of disfiguring the Hindu widows.

Kali Charan Banerjee is considered one of the great leaders and founders of ‘the movement for emancipation’. A writer of the third session of the Congress in 1887 noted, ‘Perhaps the finest orator in the whole assembly was Babu Kali Charan Banerjee, who is a Bengali Christian’.

·         In the 1889 session, he was responsible for a resolution demanding improvement in the educational systems particularly university education.

·         He was also instrumental in 1889 in protesting against the prohibition imposed by the government on teachers participating in political movements.

·         In 1896, Banerjee again presented a resolution demanding improvement in the educational system, especially the university education in the country.

Brahmabandhab Upadhyay (George Thomas), the ‘Hindu Catholic’ sadhu and theologian was a leading player in the Swadeshi movement, and he was prosecuted on a charge of sedition in 1907.

J.C.Kumarappa (original name John Jesudason Cornelius, 1892-1960) was a veteran Congress leader. On 9 May 1929 he met Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati ashram and that resulted in their becoming close associates. He was a strong supporter of Satyagraha, and encouraged Christian participation in the national movement.

Paul Ramasamy (b.1906) was another important Christian who took part in the freedom struggle. In 1930 he joined the freedom movement during the Salt satyagraha days. He picketed the Bishop Herber College, Thiruchirappalli. He was arrested and sentenced to six months of imprisonment and was kept at Thiruchirapalli and Alipuram jails.

In the freedom and pro-democracy movement in Travancore in the 1930s and 1940s, prominent Christian leaders like T.M. Varghese, A.J. John, Anne Mascarenes and Akkamma Cherian were pioneering forces. Philoppose Elanjikkal John (1903-1955) was another prominent member of the Travencore State Congress. Joachim Alva (1907-1979) was another outstanding personality in the history of the freedom struggle.