Madras:
The RSS-built Vivekananda Rock Memorial will soon prove to be yet another reason for anti-Christian violence on the southern tip of India. Last year, the RSS, in league with the Hindu police of the TN gunned down six poor Christian fishermen in the Kanyakumari dt. and this year the RSS has already started the rehearsal at Nagercoil. The Rock Memorial and the Vivekananda Centre are the nerve centre of the RSS. The local fishermen had opposed this memorial at the very stage of construction. RSS has brought hundreds of Marwari youths from North India and it is these people who are doing all the mischief whipping up anti-Christian hatred among the poor backward class Hindus, mostly Nadars. Following last year’s bloody incidents and unable to contain the RSS influence, the State Govt. has rightly decided to build a bridge to the Rock Memorial. But the RSS with the help of rich temple leaders has been opposing this decision. Meanwhile, the Rock Memorial has created all sorts of problems to poor fishermen who are deprived of their livelihood because of the silting on coastal strip. Hotels and tourists have also made the area congested. The whole scenic beauty is gone. Formerly, Christians, Muslims and even foreigners used to visit this land’s end to enjoy the nature’s beauty, but now the RSS volunteers manning the area do not allow any non-Hindus. Even Dalits are being prevented. Fishermen have suffered permanent damage. Even the nearby church has suffered a lot. In view of this never-ending controversy over the Memorial, which is responsible for the police firing and deaths of many Christians, the heavy RSS concentration in the area, the fears expressed by the Dravida Kazagam, Left parties and many secular minded Hindus, why doesn’t the State govt appoint a judicial commission to examine the shifting of all the paraphernalia three miles away, even as it should immediately start building the bridge to the Memorial? Or will the MGR Govt. yield to RSS?
