In 1981, an attack was launched on this movement in the form of a 'research book' printed by Kanyakumari Diocese and published by 'Institute of Evangelism and Research' which in turn was co-sponsored by Concordia Seminary and Christ College, California. The book, which portrayed the movement as the plot of Satan against Christianity, was hailed as ‘research publication’. The book contained the usual salvo of the choicest abuses against the spiritual social reformer and soon the district administration was forced to take action against the publishers. Today, again, the entire academia and polity are engaged in an effort to portray the Iyya Vaikundar movement as a separate religion. Even popular Iyyavazhi preachers identify themselves with Hindutva movement. So the 1982 riots were the culmination of a series of attacks on Hinduism at various levels.

The riots led to Hindu solidarity. This in turn helped in weaning away many Christians from the hold of the church, though not completely. In 1998 Pon Radhakrishnan was able to repeat the feat of Kamaraj. He consolidated the Hindu votes and a section of secular Christian votes too came his way. However, in 2004 he would be defeated by a sustained campaign by the churches to vote in a communal manner. In 2014 again Pon Radhakrishnan won. In both these periods, the district witnessed accelerated development work. It is interesting to note that in a district, where local cultural and spiritual traditions face monotheistic onslaught, Hindutva has come to provide natural protection to these movements. Also, Hindutva pitches secular inclusive development as the alternative to the evangelical onslaught.

Similar to this southernmost tiny district, the tiny state of Nagaland in the northeast too has a long history of indigenous spiritual traditions of Naga people fighting against evangelical forces.

Nagaland: Nehruvian Blunders

The problem of Nagas began with the tactical blunder Nehru committed with his intemperate response to initial Naga demands. Despite Gandhi’s support to an autonomous Naga region, Nehru is said to have encountered the demand with not only refusal but threats of ‘bloods of river’. With the resulting armed conflict and insurgency, the violent fields of Nagaland became effective harvesting fields for proselytisers. China too was supporting the Naga insurgency. The intelligence agencies of Nehruvian State, though Nehru himself would later express his fear about Nagaland becoming an international Christian issue, seemed to have considered the strongly pro-US Baptist mission as a counter to the lure of Maoism and supported the US-supported Baptist Church activities in Nagaland. Though the Nagaland Baptist Church officially asked the insurgents to be wary of atheist Maoist influence, the Christian fundamentalism added a new dimension to the movement. Though initially the 'Federal Government of Nagaland’ (FGN) had stated in 1956 that 'Religion will be free', this stand changed with the proclamation made on 3 March 1964 when FGN declared in its manifesto that 'Nagaland will be evangelised with the Gospel of Christ under the patronage of the Federal Government'.