Reply to John Dayal

Mr. John Dayal, President All India Christian Council asked me the following questions:
who pays you, pnb
sorry i had to ask because of your statement
this is my frst and last personal barb at you
god bless you
john dayal
ps: everyone and his uncle are invited to inspect my bank accounts, my home almirahs and my income tax


Here’s my open reply to him
Dear John
Many in Bangalore know who pays me. So does my conscience. I've been in this city's public life for the past 45 years, as a bank employee, trade union activist, Communist fellow-traveller, small-time free-lance writer, and now into (‘the business’of) promoting inter-religious dialogue, religious tolerance etc. inspired by the life and work of the late Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha, the "Christian prophet of religious pluralism".
I have received not a single paisa from any foreign or Indian organisations. BIRD runs its work with small individual contributions from it well-wishers. I am presently working as part-time public relations manager at the Hindustan Aviation Academy, Marathahalli, Bangalore. And I live in a rented apartment and have from one apartment/house about 15 times in the last 14 years since my retirement from ANZ Grindlays Bank in 1995. My daughter looks after me and my wife at present.
I receive a paltry sum of Rs. 2800/- from the bank and Rs.10,000/- from my present employer. I spend this money for my medical expenses, telephone charges for the work of BIRD etc. I do not travel outside Bangalore. I have not yet been able to visit my bed-ridden widowed elder sister in Kerala because I cannot afford to do it with my limited income. Her husband was a senior well-respected presbyter of the Church of South India, Central Kerala Diocese. He died two years ago.
But, people like you - especially the neo-Christian saints and saviours - are past-masters in concealing their incomes and expenses, while travelling around the world to spit venom against Hindus, their Gods and goddesses, their rituals and seeking funds from the naive fundamentalist Christians in the western countries for bringing the light of Jesus into this Area of Darkness - my motherland India.
Be that as it may, don’t you remember the challenge I threw at you to join me for a peace mission to Khandamal last year? You wriggled out of it. You had no guts.
Self-styled and unscrupulous leaders of Indian Christian community like you , Sajan George and others have been using ordinary Christians as cannon fodder for their narrow and selfish ends. (Incidentally, is Sajan George a medical doctor?) You claim to be spokesmen and defenders of the Christian Faith and the Indian Christian community spread distress and division and to all appearances, enjoy the grace and favour of the Central Government. This encouragement helps the growth of powerful elements of separatism and disunity.
One last point. Many of those who were behind forming BIRD and encouraging dialogue between RSS and Christians in Bangalore were and still are some of your close friends. During the NDA regime we could intervene through the personal contacts I had built up with the RSS/VHP/Bajrang Dal leaders from the days of Indira Gandhi’s infamous Emergency days (1975-77) and help IAN STILLMAN and Fr. Harry Stocks to a large extent – the former’s release from jail and the cancellation of the latter’s expulsion from India on charges of alleged conversion activities. That is another story.
May God bless you, John.
P.N.BENJAMIN