Niyogi Committee report on Christian missionary activities

"The true history of the agrarian agitation in Chhota-Nagpur has yet to be written. The task has so far been attempted by partisans only. Munda children of the German Mission are even now sedulously taught the gospel of hate in the class-room of their schools. One of the school text-books entitled ‘Nelem Odo Senem’-Look and Walk-Which was published by the Munda Sabha of the G. E. L. Mission, Chhota-Nagpur, in 1909, tells how the ancestors of the Munda reclaimed the jungles and converted the country, by their labour, into a smiling garden. It tells the Munda boy how his forefathers successfully drove away all wild animals from the country and also how enemies who were worse than the wild enemies came in as inter-loppers and robbed them of the fruit of their toil. In further states that in spite of various laws framed by the English to restrain these foreigners, as are still being despoiled by Hindus and Mussalmans. The schools in which these doctrines are inculcated are largely subsidised by our Government.”"

"There is no doubt that the great success of the Christian missions in obtaining converts is due largely to the secular benefits which the Mundas, thus, obtained."

"The missionaries made no secret of the fact that their principal motive in stirring on behalf of the Kols was to preserve and extend the influence of their Mission with their people."

"An elaborate memorial has now been received bearing the signatures of all the German missionaries. It contains many passages or expressions which make me fear that the Kols having embraced or intending to embrace Christianity expect to have their rights (real or supposed) vindicated by their priests and pastors. It would almost be inferred from one passage in the memorial that in some instances they are dissatisfied with their change of religion because they do not and that it leads to social advancement. It so happens that the rights which the Kols claim in the land are being investigated under an enactment especially passed and by Tribunal appointed for the purpose, therefore, it is very undesirable that any extraneous agitation should arise, the benefits asked for by the memorialists’ impressively on behalf of the Kols could be conceded in full only by depriving other classes-Hindu and Mohamedan-of something which they now enjoy."

"An unquestioned fact that many of the latter (Kols) embraced Christianity merely in the hope of obtaining possession of lands to which they rightly or wrongly laid claim."

"The religious movement among the Kols in the direction of. Christianity has been at once a consequence and a cause of their disputes with their landlords."

"During our national struggle in 1857, the Tribal people of Chhota-Nagpur and adjoining areas had shed their blood as any national of other part of the country. But the history also speaks that the Christian converts who were made of the same blood and flesh of the tribal community to which they had belonged only a short time before, had taken pride in fighting for the British Government, Dr. Richter has described this: “At Chhota-Nagpur, the German. Missionaries offered 10,000 Kols as auxiliary troops…… But for any one with eyes to see, it was as clear as daylight that in the native Churches there was a class of people whose interests were coincident with those of the Government, and upon whose good faith, reliance could be kept absolutely.”"

"Christian missionaries made sure to buy up and destroy all copies of the Niyogi Committee Report... Nehru did the needful to make sure it remained without political effect, but the missions were worried about being exposed in such convincing detail. In my country among others, the Jesuits collected money to 'save the mission', meaning to bribe key politicians and magistrates... and to buy up stocks of the report. Even in the library of the Theology faculty of the Catholic University in Leuven, the only available copy of the report has disappeared."

"The Niyogi Committee was a fact-finding committee in the tribal belt of eastern-central India in the 1950s which criticized the missionaries for disturbing the social life of the tribals with their proselytization."

"Despite the inferences of the Niyogi Report, the Aborigines are capable of recognizing the inner harmony between their beliefs and the Christian faith. It is their monotheistic faith, as we have noted, and their belief in reward and punishment for good and evil deeds, that have prepared them for a, natural assimilation to the Christian faith."

"A. Soares: Truth Shall Prevail, p. 267. quoted in Elst K. Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple, 2002. chapter 9"