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‘Release Us from Bondage of Your Landlordship’- A ‘Open Letter’ to Bishop from 270 SJN Residents

Enough is Enough! A Final Appeal to ‘Release Us from the Bondage of Your Landlordship and to Grant Us Our Rights Over Our Lands in the Jeppu Compound- A ‘Open Letter’ to Bishop from 270 St Joseph Nagar and Maria Nagar, and in that vicinity.

Christ our only Lord, never intended that his disciples lord-over his followers. But on the other hand, he sent them forth as their servants to serve them and lead them by example – by living a life of sacrifice, penance, poverty, love and charity.

The Son of God was born homeless, in a manger, never owned any properties, and certainly was never a tyrannical/oppressive landlord, whose greed for lands, accumulation of wealth and properties would blind him to all tenets of Christian charity, love and compassion.

Mangaluru: Addressing the media persons during a press meet held at Mangalore Press Club, Eric Ozario, the Advisor for the Jeppu Parishioners’ Association said, “The residents of the 270 houses in the Jeppu Compound whose forefathers were lower caste Hindus and Dalits converted to Christianity, most of who have been residing there for the past 130 years, have been fighting for their rights of ownership of their lands and properties for many years now. The Diocese of Mangaluru, represented by the Bishop, claims ownership to this government land, occupied by the foreign missionaries to rehabilitate these converts”.

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Ozario further said, “THough the Diocese has no Title Deeds to substantiate its claim, it has been exercising authority over the Jeppu Compound-evicting natives, selling plots to outsiders, building Commercial Complexes and Apartments, leasing out, renting-out properties, and pocketing crores in the bargain. Now because through RTI we have unearthed valuable information regarding the illegal property deals of the Diocese, the Diocese has issued “Quit Notice” to two RTI activists, (namely Valerian Texeira and Victor Pais), native converts. Today, every resident is up in arms”.

“They seek an end to the constant harassment they have been experiencing at the hands of the Bishop and Diocese. In an “OPEN LETTER” ( full contents below) to the Bishop, we have historically traced the atrocities committed and have given an ultimatum to grant us our rightful ownership of our lands. We will fight till we get justice no matter what. This is our land, and we should have full rights over it- and no one else. On Monday, 12 February, we have arranged a meeting with MLA J R Lobo, where nearly 500 residents will participate in the meeting. We are hoping for the best until justice is served” concluded Eric Ozario. Wilson Baptist and Sathish Fonseca- President and Secretary of the Association respectively, Valerian Texeira and Victor Pais, both RTI activists were also present on the dais during the press meet.

FOLLOWING ARE THE STATEMENTS MENTIONED IN THE OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF MANGALURU:

His Lordship,

Sub: A final appeal to release us from the bondage of your landlordship and to grant us our rights over our lands in the Jeppu compound.

Just 2 preliminary reflections, before we begin –

Christ our only Lord, never intended that his disciples lord-over his followers. But on the other hand, he sent them forth as their servants to serve them and lead them by example – by living a life of sacrifice, penance, poverty, love and charity.

The Son of God was born homeless, in a manger, never owned any properties, and certainly was never a tyrannical/oppressive landlord, whose greed for lands, accumulation of wealth and properties would blind him to all tenets of Christian charity, love and compassion.

Inspired by the above, we submit as follows:

We – the residents of 270 houses of the Jeppu Compound, residing in the areas now known as St. Joseph Nagar and Maria Nagar, around the Seminary, the workshop and the Sisters of Charity, and the occupants of Shalom Apartments, Mangala Commercial Complex and residents of houses in the Seminary View area, managed by the Workshop; comprising of –

The natives (converted to Christianity), and their descendants,

The residents of the Dalit Ghetto (within the Jeppu Compound Ghetto),

Outsiders who subsequently paid huge sums of money to acquire land and property within this compound, and who were duped with forged documents and who today are also struggling with us for their ownership rights –

submit as follows:

Way back in 1879 Italian Jesuit missionaries, (with a zeal to serve the poor and the needy) and more, to win souls over to Christianity; set up camp in the Jeppu Compound, first starting an Asylum including an orphanage for Boys.

In 1883 an Asylum for Lepers, and

in 1885 an orphanage for Girls was setup.

In 1886 St. Joseph Asylum Industrial Workshop (SJAIW) was established.

In 1886 St. Joseph’s Higher Primary School for Boys and,

in 1890 Infant Mary’s Higher Primary School for Girls – established.

Right from 1879 to 1960, hundreds of destitute who were lesser caste Hindus and Dalits who were converted, taken into the respective orphanages (Girls/Boys), given basic education in the respective Higher Primary Schools, and boys were rehabilitated in the Jeppu Workshop (SJAIW) and when they reached the marriageable age, were married to girls from the Girls’ Orphanage and provided residence in the Jeppu Compound.

NATIVES AND CONVERTS HAVE BEEN RESIDING HERE FOR MORE THAN 130 YEARS.

Points to be noted:

The lands in the Jeppu Compound were acquired by the occupation of Govt. lands, solely for the rehabilitation of these natives (converts).

The point to be noted here is that neither the Missionaries nor any subsequent Bishop or the Diocese, paid any money to anyone to acquire these lands.

The SJAIW was established solely to provide a source of livelihood to these natives. The name of this workshop which still sports the word ‘Asylum’ in its name, declares the purpose of its very existence.

Right from its inception in 1886 until such time that Jesuits managed the affairs of the workshop and the Jeppu Compound, (though it dwindled in the later part), the missionary zeal and the spirit of charity existed. But once the Diocese of Mangaluru took over, crass commercial consideration became the sole motive force of the administrators, leading to a period of chaos, use-misuse-abuse of power and authority – resulting in scams, forgeries, fraud, and illegal transactions – all for monetary gain.

(Please note that neither the Diocese nor the Bishop, paid any money to the Jesuits, in consideration for the transfer of the lands and properties of the Jeppu Compound. Therefore, neither the Diocese nor the Bishop has any moral right to pocket the gains accruing out of these lands and properties. At best, they are administrators, governed by the rules of the Registrar of Societies. They are certainly not owners. Much less, Landlords.

Today the Bishop and the Diocese of Mangaluru is the biggest landlord of Mangaluru. With the help of a cunning Lawyer, they are busy mercilessly evicting poor tenants and raking in crores, selling off these properties.

It may be noted that while all other compounds administered by the Bishop are called ‘Bishop’s Compound’, Jeppu Compound was never called the ‘Bishop’s Compound’, though the Bishop exercises his authority over these lands.

This proves that the Bishop has no real authority here.

POINT TO BE NOTED HERE IS THAT, NOT A PAISA FROM THE GAINS OF ANY TRANSACTIONS LEGAL OR ILLEGAL, HOWEVER BIG OR SMALL, WAS PASSED ON TO THE NATIVES OF JEPPU – THE ONLY ELIGIBLE BENEFICIARIES.

Once the Diocese took over, a period of unbridled pillage, plunder and loot followed. The Rector of the Seminary, the Parish Priest of Jeppu, and the Manager of the Workshop took turns to go on a rampage, riding roughshod on the rights and interests of the real owners of these lands and properties – the converts; vying with each other to evict the natives, sell off portions of these lands to outsiders on the basis of legally invalid documents and also, in the bargain, appropriating wealth for themselves and properties for their respective institutions and their loved ones. A few random examples will explain the extent of the loot.

Initially, the houses in the left-front of the Seminary were demolished, natives evicted. Maria Jayanthi Hall was built (to rake in money). The Seminary appropriated the chunk of land around the Maria Jayanthi Hall, converted that into a coconut grove and built a wall around it to assert its authority. A few houses of the natives to the immediate left of the Seminary were demolished (including the house where Eric Ozario was born) and the Seminary built a wall around these lands and made them its own.

Then came Fr. Manuel, who was appointed the Parish Priest of Jeppu. He felled the many tall trees which existed in the Jeppu Compound, sold them for timber, cleared plots and sold them to outsiders, who were fooled into believing that the legally worthless agreement that they had entered into after paying a fat sum, would entitle them to the ownership of the land, they thought they had purchased.

The Workshop (SJAIW) which at one time employed nearly 500 workers (mostly natives), and provided them with their source of livelihood; the Workshop which also had departments such as – (a).Shoe Making (which supplied shoes to the Indian Army during the 1st and the 2nd World War), (b). a first-in-the-country Statuary, (c). a huge, flourishing Saw Mill, (d). a vast, expert Carpentry Shop, (e). a unique Foundry, (f). a well-equipped Machine Shop, (g). a nothing-is-impossible Fitting Section, and, (h). the first of its kinds Automobile Service Section, (i). a glorious 40-piece Brass Band; – saw a steady decline over the years, with section after section closing down.

The decline and fall of this flourishing Workshop are totally attributed to the lack of capability, lack of knowledge of business and industry, lack of purpose, and worse, in many cases, lack of honesty of the priests who were appointed here to manage the Workshop.

Though, a few were earnest and sincere and tried to do the best they could, (despite lack of experience and knowledge of the trade); many among them were outright dishonest, cheats and crooks, who busied themselves in making a fast buck by – selling off machinery as scrap, under-billing products and services, not properly accounting for monies received, sucking the Workshop dry by diverting the funds generated, to other projects such as the Belve Agricultural Colony, buying Estates, erecting Commercial Complexes such as the Mangala Commercial Complex, the Shalom Apartments and even investing in Petrol Bunks – without re-investing any amounts as capital, back into the Workshop.

Syphoning the resources of the Workshop away for their personal gains.

The classic example is that of Fr Ligoury Menezes, who had invested in buses from the loot of the Workshop and who went to the extent of even transporting stones from the workshop in the Workshop’s car to build his house in Bondel. The present manager seems to be vying with him in the art of swindling. The very fact that, though appointed the manager of the Workshop, he is busy collecting money from customers in the Petrol Bunk across the road, proves the point. This also begs the question whether the Petrol Bunk (named St. Joseph Service Station) has been established with the loot of this Workshop.

Today the workshop is a mess, with only a handful of workers keeping the chimneys alive. However, the management of the Workshop is busy raking in money by leasing out, renting and selling the Workshop properties to business houses and outsiders. It may be noted here that the Boys’ Orphanage and the Boys’ Higher Primary School have both been shut and partly demolished and the premises leased out to a business house for a huge consideration.

Apart from looting the Workshop, Priests appointed as managers also indulged in selling plots within the Jeppu Compound collecting huge sums of money and duping people with agreements of transfer of property which had no legal standing. The case of the Shalom apartment which was built on the land where natives’ houses were, and Fr. Marcel Saldanha’s involvement in this scam, stands out as a sore thumb.

Years before, the Mangala Hotel Commercial Complex was also built in the place where the houses of the natives were, (Wilfy Rebimbus’ house used to be where Mangala Hotel today stands), from the funds of the Workshop and crores collected from sale/lease/rent of plots, flats, shops – have all been appropriated/misappropriated by the managers and the administrators of the Diocese of Mangalore.

The greed of – the Rector of the Seminary, the Manager of the Workshop, the Parish Priest of Jeppu and also the Sisters of Charity was exposed stark naked, when these 4 power centres came together to build 3 walls and put-up 2 gates on the age-old road that people used, which connected the Nandigudda road (to the extreme right of the compound) and Silva road (to the extreme left of the compound), which passed through the compound just in-front of the Sisters’ Convent, the Jeppu Workshop, the Church and the Seminary.

It is on record that people revolted and in broad daylight, around 400 of them gathered and broke the walls down. The leaders were then rounded-up, false cases foisted on them, and under police protection, the walls were rebuilt, segregating the portion of the compound to the left of the Seminary from the portion to the right. The left portion was then named Maria Nagar and the right, St. Joseph Nagar and even a grotto were put-up behind the wall to dissuade people from breaking down the wall again. The lands so apportioned within these walls and gates were then appropriated and usurped by the Seminary Rector the Parish Priest, the workshop manager and the Sisters of Charity.

In all these events and developments the residents of Jeppu Compound continued to suffer immensely. Among them, the natives suffered the most. They were uprooted from their original religion (Hinduism), their mother language (Tulu), and their traditions and culture (Local Hindu Tulu Culture), enticed into becoming Christians, and in the course of a generation, were left to fend for themselves. All that was offered to them in return for becoming Christians, was taken away – many of them evicted mercilessly, their livelihood (the Workshop) taken away from them, their lands and properties sold to outsiders.

People have been duped, cheated, manipulated and exploited by false promises, worthless agreements, legally invalid ‘Perpetual Lease Deed’ documents. They still remain cheated from being the rightful owners of the Jeppu Compound.

The native converts were merely ‘uprooted’ from their local culture, but they were never ‘rooted’ or ‘planted’ in the Konkani culture. In all these years, not a single attempt has been made to teach them Konkani, though they were compelled to speak Konkani (now that they were Christians).

As a result, the Konkani they spoke became the butt of ridicule, isolating them and identifying them as ‘Nove Christanv’, ‘conveddtor’ and ‘Jeppu Compoundacho’. To add to their woes, they were given fancy surnames such as – ‘Spinoza’, ‘Ornello’, ‘Careira’, ‘Rebimbus’, ‘Ozario’ etc..

The shame and the inferiority that we people have had to experience is only next to the humility and indignity that Jews suffered under Nazi Hitler. OUR VERY IDENTITY WAS STOLEN, LEAVING US CONFUSED AND CULTURELESS.

THE PLIGHT OF THE DALIT CONVERTS WAS WORSE STILL. APART FROM BEING CHEATED OF THEIR TRADITIONAL LIVELIHOOD, THEY WERE CULTURALLY UPROOTED, NEVER TRANSPLANTED, AND AS A RESULT SUFFERED IMMEASURABLY DUE TO THE ‘CULTURAL VACCUM’ THAT WAS CREATED. They were segregated, isolated, and until recently were even restricted from coming to the main Church that the other converts used. They had to go to the small Chapel at the Destitutes’ Home, to fulfill the religious obligations of their new religion.

NO AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION OR PENANCE CAN WASH AWAY THIS SIN FROM THE PERPETRATORS – THE MISSIONARIES, THE PRIESTS, THE BISHOP AND THE DIOCESE OF MANGALORE.

The numerous RTI documents that we now possess, clearly expose the fraud played on us by the Diocese and its Institutions, falsely claiming ownership of our lands based on forged documents, and hoodwinking us into believing that indeed we are at its mercy in the matter of our houses and our lands.

Considering the above, we assert as follows –

Government lands were acquired (without paying a paisa to anyone), sheerly for the rehabilitation of converts,

Considering that whatever development that has taken place here, was funded by the resources of our very own Workshop, and from donations received in our name,

Considering that the Diocese, is at best, the ‘Administrator’, not its ‘owner’, much less, its ‘Landlord’; and therefore, is bound by norms of the Society and the laws of the land,

Considering that in none of the documents prepared by the Diocese – be it a Sale Deed, be it Perpetual Lease Deed, a Lease Agreement or a Rental Agreement – the original Title Deed has never been shown or mentioned. Therefore we are constrained to point out that the Diocese has indulged in forgery, fraud and has conducted illegal transactions and has pocketed the entire loot.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE JEPPU COMPOUND TODAY SAY – ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! IN THE NAME OF GOD, IN THE NAME OF RELIGION AND IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, WE DEMAND

Withdrawal of the ‘Quit Notice’ issued to victimize Shri. Valerian Texeira and Shri. Victor Pais, for their RTI activism and for being whistle-blowers.

Stop forthwith exercising your ‘landlordship’ over the Jeppu Compound and co-operate with us in the process of procuring legal documents to assert our rightful ownership.

And because outsiders were duped into believing that the forged documents that they were given, entitled them to the legal ownership of the lands they had purchased in the Jeppu Compound – they too to be treated at par with the natives and given absolute legal ownership.

From now on, if you lease-out, rent-out or sell any property within the Jeppu Compound or undertake any property development, the residents of the Jeppu Compound to be compulsorily made stakeholders of the same.

Compensate the people of the Jeppu Compound, for all the damages, sufferings, ignominy, pains, hardships, tensions and exploitations, they have had to undergo and the indignity they have had to endure.

IN CONCLUSION:

As the people are extremely agitated seeking a solution to this problem which has vexed them for years now, and also, as all our numerous appeals and entreaties have fallen on deaf ears, kindly settle the above demands within a month of the receipt of this memorandum. In the event that you handover charge to a new Bishop before that time, the issues may be settled before you go, so that you may be able to spend your retired life peacefully in our vicinity.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE HAVE DOCUMENTARY PROOF OF ALL INSTANCES OF FRAUD, FORGERY, ILLEGALITY AND MISUSE OF AUTHORITY – MENTIONED IN THIS LETTER. THEY WILL BE PRODUCED AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME, IF REQUIRED, IN THE COURTS OF LAW.

Wilson Baptist (President) and Sathish Fonseca (Secretary) – For and on behalf of the Jeppu Parishioner’s Association, St. Joseph Nagar, Kankanady Post, Mangaluru 575002

Disclaimer: The contents incorporated in the above report are solely the statements made by Wilson Baptist (President) and Sathish Fonseca (Secretary) – For and on behalf of the Jeppu Parishioner’s Association, and are NOT those of The Author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of mangalorean.com and mangalorean.com does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

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