Speaking to reporters at a joint press conference here on Monday, Most Rev. A.R.G.S.T. Barnabas, Bishop of Tirunelveli CSI Diocese, Balaprajapathi Adigal of Ayyavazhi sect and Buddhist monk Mourya Buddha, member of Tamil Nadu State Minorities’ Commission, said Mr. Ravi, while addressing a function held at Raj Bhavan on March 4, made disparaging remarks against Bishop Caldwell.

Showing Bishop Caldwell’s original doctorate degree conferred by University of Glasgow in 1856, which is being preserved in Kodaikanal in a metal cylinder, Most Rev. Barnabas said the Governor, without knowing the facts, was indulging in mudslinging as part of his only mission of demeaning Tamil, Tamils and Christian missionaries, who took education and healthcare to the doorstep of the deprived.

“After Bishop Caldwell reached India in 1838, he dedicated his life for learning Tamil between 1838 and 1841 as he was in Chennai and left for Idaiyangudi in Tirunelveli district in 1841. Besides his doctoral degree, Bishop Caldwell learnt and mastered Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, which empowered him to pen ‘A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian family of languages’ in 1856. After understanding the history of then Tirunelveli district [encompassing Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi and a portion of Virudhunagar districts], he wrote ‘A political and general history of the District of Tinnevely’, ‘Records of early history of the Tinnevely missions’ (in 1881) and ‘Lectures on Tinnevely  missions (in 1857). However, Mr. Ravi, as part of his uncontrolled mudslinging has spewed venom that Bishop Caldwell had not completed his schooling,” said Most. Rev. Barnabas, who also showed the original certificate given by Queen Victoria nominating Bishop Caldwell as honorary member of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Most Rev. Barnabas said the CSI Christians, along with the Bishops, would stage a massive protest at Valluvarkottam in Chennai on March 13 to condemn the “motivated slur” on Bishop Caldwell by the Governor.

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