Crorepati Christian priest Father Jegath Gasper Raj main link for Tigers in Bharat
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
"Crorepathy" Father Jegath Gasper Raj main link for Tigers in India
Thursday, December 16, 2010
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4959
"Crorepathy" Fr. Jegath Gasper Raj main link for Tigers in India
Sun, 2007-03-18 03:57 -- admin
The Shri Lankan Catholic Church, the Catholic Radio Veritas based in
Phillipines, the Tamil Catholic hierachy and its priests have been
the main links of the global network of the Church to protect,
promote, provide succor and cover to the internationally banned Tamil
Tigers. Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj is somewht different. This catholic
priest comes from the diocese of Kottar, Tamil Nadu. He has made a
name for himself and become a "crorepathy" (Rs. 10 million is one
crore) with plenty of political pull in Tamil Nadu politics to back
the Tamil Tigers. He has learned the art of mixing politics with
music to raise funds for the Tamil Tigers. In his music, politics and
fund raising he has managed successfully to exploit the suffering of
the Tamils in Shri Lanka to collect millions for the Tamil Tigers.
[image: Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj] Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj
Tamil Tigers and the Church consider Fr. Gaspar Raj as their latest
pop priest. 'It is a story of rags to riches and from obscurity to
political connections and fame," said an Indian commentator.
Political observers state that Fr. Gaspar Raj was responsible for
bringing the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to come closer once again to
the Tamil Tigers, banned in India.
Fr.Gaspar Raj sudden rise to prominence began when he joined the
Tamil language broadcasting division of Veritas Radio broadcasting to
Asia. This radio runs program in Bahasa (Indonesia), Mandarin,
Bengali, Sinhala, Burmese, Tamil, Filipino, Telugu, Hindi, Urdu,
Kachin, Vietnamese and Karen languages.
For sometime the Tamil Tigers left him alone but renewed their
connections in recent months. He is now seen as the conduit through
which millions of Indian rupees flow into the hands of the movers and
shakers of the Tamil Nadu and Indian politics in general.
Father Gaspar Raj is the founder of the Tamil Maiyam, a non-profit
organization. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's daughter
Kanimozhi is the coordinator. Joinlty they organized the "Chennai
Sangamam" (a cultural extravaganza) in the city which has drawn flak
for its Tamil Tiger links.
The Jaya TV, (which has AIADMK chief Jayalalitha's patronage), which
is opposed to the Tamil Tigers, telecast a 30-minute program on 04
March focusing on Fr Gaspar Raj sharing the platform with Nachimuthu
Socrates, one of the senior fund-raisers for the Tigers.
The TV program highlighted that Socrates was among the eight arrested
by the US Federal agents in August last year. American authorities
have accused him of plotting to buy surface-to-air missiles for the
Tamil Tiger rebels by bribing the US State Department officials. One
of objectives was to bribe US officials to get the banned Tamil
Tigers struck off the list of US terrorist organizations.
The program had also raised uncomfortable questions about Father Raj
playing an important role in the state-sponsored Chennai Sangamam.
The channel also questioned the 'Government Order' that had given
Kanimozhi access to unlimited funds for her cultural programs.
Does Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj was born into a low-middle class Catholic
family in Nagarkovil, located in Tamil Nadu, India. He was in the
early days a parish priest in a remote village in the Kanniyakumari
district.
Later he joined 'Radio Veritas' as director of the Tamil service,
roughly during 1995 -2001. He began working for Radio Veritas on a
monthly salary of US $200.00. His accumulated assets have earned him
the title of a 'Crorepathy' today.
As stated earlier, he shot into the limelight through Radio Veritas.
It is a non-stock, non-profit organization tasked to "proclaim the
message of God's love to the peoples of Asia. RVA is committed to
proclaim the message of God's love to the people of Asia by producing
human development and Catholic evangelization programs, in
cooperation with recognized production centers and transmitting these
programs via short-wave and related means of electronic media.
This station is also used by the Church to promote its brand of
politics. The Shri Lankan government has earlier protested against it
bias in promoting Tamil Tiger politics. Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj was
with the Tamil section of the Veritas radio, broadcasting a half hour
slots daily in the morning as well as in the evening. As this radio
is a shortwave broadcast, many in Tamil Nadu do not listen to this
radio broadcast. The radios in many houses in Tamil Nadu do not have
the shortwave.
But Shri Lankans have direct access through shortwave radio
connections. Veritas also had direct access to Jaffna through the
Catholic Church. The Tamil Catholic priests in Jaffna who had the
privilege of moving freely in war zones of Jaffna fed Radio Veritas
with pro-Tiger versions of events. Veritas used to receive the news
reports from the Jaffna Bishop's House for broadcast. The news
carried in the Veritas Tamil service usually lasts for about 5
minutes but it had a powerful impact on the Shri Lankan Tamils.
The censorship imposed by the Shri Lankan government also helped the
Tamil service of Radio Veritas to gain a considerable following in
Jaffna. It was at the height of the ethnic conflict that Fr. Jegath
Gaspar Raj became the Director of the Veritas Tamil service.
He began his career at Veritas by announcing that he is not for the
Tamil Tigers but subsequently he shifted his stance under pressure
from the Tamil Diaspora flooding him with letters and e-mails. He was
also impressed by the impact Veritas had on the Shri Lankan Tamils.
Once he realized this he came out openly supporting the Tamil Tigers.
His new political line made him a popular public personality. During
this time, Fr. Chandirakanthan, leading Tamil Tiger propagandists
from the Jaffna University visited Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj at Veritas
in Philippines. They became good friends. This also led him to
establish close contacts with Tiger leaders. He has told all this at
public meetings.
In the meantime Fr. Chandirakanthan left for Canada and settled down
there. This gave an opportunity for Fr. Gaspar Raj to establish
relationship with the Tamil Diaspora in Europe, North America and
Australasian countries.
Tigers decided to make use of Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj for collection of
funds as he was an able orator. He was also a colorful figure with
his unusual (Cossack) dress for a Catholic clergyman.
Seeing his potential Tigers arranged visits for him in several
European capitals. He was invited to collect funds for the Tamil
Rehabilitation Organization, banned in some countries as the arm of
the Tiger fund collections.
In the meantime, he arranged the rebroadcast of the Veritas Tamil
programs in the then popular TRT Tamil Alai Radio, and used it to
build a formidable link between himself and the Tamil Diaspora.
During this time the Tigers were running their own Radio IBC in
Europe. Fr. Gaspar Raj announced that Veritas radio as well as the
TRT Radio would jointly run programs for the collection of funds for
the welfare of the Eelam Tamil orphans. Tigers have never engaged
outsiders to collect funds from the Tamil Diaspora or welcomed
welfare schemes put to them by others. When the Tiger leaders in
Paris vehemently opposed this move of Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj, he was
forced to contact Tiger leaders in Vanni for the approval for his
proposal to collect funds appealing through the airwaves.
Even S.S. Kuhanathan, who continuously resisted the Paris, based LTTE
leaders, joined hands with Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj in the hope that he
might be able to establish contacts with the Tiger leaders in the
Vanni.
Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj and Kuhanathan appeared in the TRT Television
and appealed through TRT Radio to raise funds for the Tamil orphans
in the Vanni. TRT, however, was very cautious about raising funds
with Fr. Gaspar Raj and insisted that he collects his funds in a
separate bank account as this appeal for funds had nothing to do with
the TRT organization. Then Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj opened up a bank
account in his name in Credit du Nord bank in Paris and channeled the
funds into that bank account.
It is estimated that Fr. Gaspar Raj's appeal led to a collection of
nearly a million of dollars. According to a source in the Paris, his
Paris bank account alone collected a little over US$ 600,000. However
the appeal for funds continued in TRT TV and Radio urging Tamil
Diaspora to send in their donations not only to Fr. Jegath Gaspar
Raj's the bank account in Paris but also to his bank account in
Manila.
Later it transpired, according to TRT Radio and TV broadcasts, that
the moneys sent to Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj's Paris Bank account was
subsequently transferred to his Manila bank account.
So far Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj has neither disclosed the total amount
of money he received on behalf of the Tamil Orphans in Vanni nor
announced how much he has paid out of the total collection to the
Tamil orphans and to whom he has given that money.
In the meantime, TRT Radio and TV stations were acquired by the
Tigers and at the same time Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj left Veritas Radio
and went back to reside permanently in Tamil Nadu .
In another appeal launched in Canada on 14 January 2001, through
radio stations in Toronto, Canada, it is reported that he collected
around US $ 500,000.00. All these funds were raised selling the
plight of the Tamils orphans to the Tamil Diaspora in Canada. With
his oratorical skills he was successful in convincing the Tamils in
the Diaspora to part with their money for Tamil orphans. He spent
most of his last three years at Veritas overseas campaigning for
funds.
After settling down in Tamil Nadu India he launched Tamil Maiyam in
2002. He is the Managing Director. It is located in the St. Thomas
Building, Santhome Communications Centre in Mylapore, Chennai 600
004. Tamil Maiyam is a '80-G tax- exempted charitable organization.
Tamil Maiyam was founded in Chennai, India, in July 2002 by Fr.
Jegath Gaspar Raj and his friends as a non-profit organization to
promote Tamil arts, literature and culture with special emphasis on
Research, Creative productions and Publications. It also claimed that
it aimed to bring the fruits of modern science to the ordinary Tamils
and create a platform for Tamils living in various parts of the world
to interact and work together for the betterment of Tamil language
and Tamil society.
The Board of Trustees are: Rev. Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj Managing
Trustee, Tamil Maiyam, Fr. Lourdu Anandam, Ms. Akhila Srinivasan, Mr.
K. Pandia Rajan, Mr. Jerard, Mr. Joseph Enok, Ms. Latha Pandiarajan
Ms. Kanimozhi-, Mr. Arun Veerappan and Fr. Vincent Chinnadurai.
Subsequently he launched Goodwill Communications Limited (GCL) to
produce and provide program for the Tamil television industry. The
company was formally launched at a function which was chaired by
writer Sujatha. Fr Jegath Gaspar Raj, the chairman and managing
director of Tamil Maiyam, is also the managing director of GCL.
Throgh these insitutions and with the funds collected in the name of
the Tamil orphans he has managed to buy his way into the political
establishment in Tamil Nadu.
One of Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj's project was to present a musical
rendition of the Tamil literary classic,Thiruvasakam
Thiruvasakam, a collection of hymns in praise of Lord Shiva couched
in heart-tugging phrases in ancient Tamil by the 7th century poet
Saint Manickavasagar, is believed to provide a spiritual experience
to those who recite it. Dismayed by the neglect of such rich Indian
literature, Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj, a theologian and Founder-Chairman
of Tamil Maiyam, decided to do something about it and the result was
this project
Thiruvasakam conveys the supreme love for Siva in an obvious rhythm
of words, with pleasing sound. It is contained profound statements on
love. The verses are in simple style and are easily readable and sung
by the very common people and at the same time the thought contents
in them are understandable only by scholars of Siva Sitthanta
doctrine, and most particularly by the religious experiences.
Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj approached Ilayaraja, the maestro in music, and
he in turn seized the opportunity. The music was recorded partly in
India (Chennai and Mumbai) and partly at the over 100-year-old
Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Hungary.
The album has six songs including a unique 18-minute composition that
alternates between Tamil and English lyrics, sung in choral style.
Thiruvasakam has the voices of Ilayaraja, his daughter Bavatharini
and Benny Diggs. Over 300 musicians, including 140 instrumentalists
and 60 chorus singers were involved in making this album.
It is said that Ilayaraja has not taken any remuneration to produce
the album, but holds 50 per cent of its rights. The other 50 per cent
is with Tamil Maiyam.
The total cost of the project is Rs 1.4 crore, of which 70 per cent
funding has come through high cost debt. A total of Rs 1.1 crore has
been spent on production.
Unfortunately Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj failed financially in this
Thiruvasakam project.
'Thiruvasakam' by maestro Ilayaraaja, the first ever Indian Symphonic
Oratorio was launched for sale on June 30, 2005 at the Music Academy,
Chennai, according to Tamil Maiyam.
The funds for this project were raised by the Tamil Maiyam. The total
cost of the production is Rs.110 Lakhs of which Rs.35 Lakhs came in
as donations and Rs.75 lakhs as borrowings from individuals and
banks. Tamil Maiyam is non-profit 80-G exempted charitable
organization. TIS-Foundation USA played a crucial role in mobilizing
funds.
The album was presented to the president of India Dr.Abdul kalam on
June 17, 2005 at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan by Ilayaraaja accompanied by
the Tamil Maiyam team. Dr. Abdul Kalam listened to the Oratorio song
in the presence of Ilayaraaja and complimented it as 'Great, a real
contribution to the Indian music and culture'.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh received Ilayaraaja along with
Vaiko and the Tamil Maiyam team on June 18 in New Delhi. While
complementing the 'Thiruvasakam' effort he unde4rlined the fact that
culture is the core strength of our land.
Ilayaraja and the delegation also met with the former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K Advani
respectively and presented the album.
In a press release issued by the Tamil Maiyam, Fr. Gaspar Raj says
that this is the first music that transmits eastern music seamlessly
into a western Symphonic singing.
In the meantime one Dr. Vee has disputed Fr. Gaspar Raj false
Symphony claims.
Fr. Gaspar Raj started his Thiruvasakam project with the title
'Thiruvasakam in Symphony' for soliciting funds. In US was titled
'Thiruvasakam in Symphony USA'.
The official web page for the US activities of Thiruvasakam in
Symphony. [ index.html/www.tis-usa.com http://www.tis-usa.com/ ].
Rev.Fr. Gaspar Raj's Tamil Maiyam website home page also projected
his project as 'Thiruvasakam in Symphony'.
All newspapers including "The Hindu" [June 6, 2005] praised this
project as 'Thiruvasakam in Symphony'.
But Ilayaraja explained in his interview to "Ananda Vikatan', a Tamil
language weekly, that he did not render Thiruvasakam in symphony and
clarified that he had employed the musical form Oratorio in the
Thiruvasakam project. Misled by unethical marketing many innocent
buyers still believe that Thiruvasakam is now rendered in symphonic
music. .
It is an accepted norm in music that vocal renditions are not a part
of symphonic music. A Symphony is purely a composition for
instruments, and very rarely voices are added as in the case of
Beethoven's 9th Symphony (Ode to Joy) in the fourth movement. In some
of Mahler's Symphonies voices are added.
Western Music does not have a musical form called 'symphonic
oratorio'. Symphony and Oratorio are two different musical forms.
After Ilayaraja's interview clarifying that he did not render
Thiruvasakam in Symphony, Rev.Fr.Jegat Gaspar Raj changed the label
of his music in his Thiruvasakam project from 'Symphony' to
'Symphonic Oratorio'.
While announcing a project "Mozart meets India", Tamil Maiyam founder
Rev.Fr.Jegath Gaspar Raj had called his Thiruvasakam project as
"Thiruvasagam - Symphonic Oratorio" [18 March 2006 News Update
Service, The Hindu and Deccan Chronicle 19 March 2006].
Rev.Fr.Gaspar Raj producer of the Thiruvasakam project had misled
music students of India that Symphonic Oratorio was a Western Musical
form and Ilayaraja had used that form to render Thiruvasakam. Being a
Catholic priest with a background in Western music, he should have
known that Western music does not have a musical form called
'symphonic oratorio'.
As a producer Fr.Jegat Gaspar Raj failed to do proper ground work for
his project, misled Ilayaraja to undertake this miguided project and
misused Ilayaraja's musical fame to gather funds and market this
product cheating innocent buyers most of whom bought this product
believing it to be 'Thiruvasakam in Symphony'.
It is unfortunate that the Indian President, Prime Minister and other
VIPs had become victims by felicitating this project, a black mark in
the history of Indian music. Dr. Vee wrote an email letter "Subject:
India's First Symphony?" on August 20, 2006 to the Members of
Parliament, protesting against the error of the President and Prime
Minister in felicitating "Mozart meets India" as a symphony.
The defects are related to the confusion in the musical forms
employed, music interval, wrong choice of vocalist and musical
aesthetics.
Rev.Fr.Jegat Gaspar Raj's Thiruvasakam music project involved two
different kinds of music, Western Classical and Carnatic. Western
Classical and Carnatic music have different kinds of music intervals.
In Western music, keyboard and fretted instruments follow equal
temperament. Violinists and vocalists unaccompanied by equal
temperament instruments in Western Music may follow just intonation.
The intervals of Carnatic music will be different from these. Hence
any music project involving Western Classical music and Carnatic
music must take into account these differences and work out a
compromise. Then the musicians must be trained in this scheme.
Recording must start after completing these formalities. Ilayaraja's
Thiruvasakam does not appear to have followed these procedures.
Brochures accompanying such projects must explain these procedures. A
computer based objective investigation will bring out all these
shortcomings, a valuable project for music research students.
The next shortcoming in this project is the employment of Ilayaraja's
voice, which suits well for folk and film music. [eg.'Thenpandi
Seemaiyele' in 'Nayakan']. But his voice will not be suitable for
classical music like Carnatic music.
For spiritual chanting of Thiruvasakam, voice of experienced Othuvars
[a special category of persons trained in chanting Saivite devotional
text] will be good. For musical rendering of Thiruvasakam, voices of
well-trained and experienced Carnatic vocalists will be good. The
voice of Ilayaraja does not belong to either category.
Also this project failed to follow the traditional musical way of
handling the Tamil words in Thiruvasakam. Instead of conceding these
defects in his project, Rev. Fr. Jegath Gaspar Raj had blamed the
Tamil lyrics of Thiruvasakam for the failure of his product. [Asian
News Service - Chennai, March 20, 2006; 18 March 2006 News Update
Service; The Hindu and Deccan Chronicle 19 March 2006].
This means he had proceeded with his project without realizing the
music potential of the Tamil lyrics of Thiruvasakam and hence had
used Ilayaraja's voice for singing the Tamil lyrics thereby damaging
the music richness. Without realising his mistakes, Rev.Fr.Jegath
Gaspar Raj had blamed the Tamil lyrics of Thiruvasakam for the
failure of his project.
Apart from these, there are problems related to finer aspects of
musical aesthetics of Western Classical Music and Carnatic music in
such projects.
Rev.Fr. Gaspar Raj had recently announced a new project called
'Mozart meets India'. He had claimed that it would be India's first
symphony. [Indo-Asian News Service - Chennai, March 20, 2006, New
Indian Express, 19-3-2006]. He had not revealed who would be its
composer. He had called it as 'orchestral symphony'.
His previous project also started with the title 'Thiruvasakam in
Symphony '. Rev.Fr. Gaspar Raj supported Ilayaraja's claim of
composing India's first symphony in 1993.
After misusing the words symphony and 'symphonic oratorio', Fr.Gaspar
Raj started misusing 'Mozart' in his current project 'Mozart meets
India'. He said: "The compositions do not directly correspond or
relate to the creations of Mozart. The title is more allegoric as we
consider Mozart the greatest composer of symphonies."(The Hindu - Aug
2,2006). Also he had identified it as "a global symphonic soundtrack
based on six Carnatic ragas, Kapi, Sindhubhairavi, Panthuvarali,
Sankarabharanam, Bilahari and Hamsanandhi," (The Hindu - Aug 2,2006).
Is the above mentioned word 'symphonic' "more allegoric" as it may
not 'not directly correspond or relate to' the six Carnatic ragas?
From the above, there can be only two possible conclusions. Either
Rev. Fr. Jegat Gasper Raj does not know what is symphony, or he just
misuses the words 'symphony' and 'Mozart' to get funds and market his
product, unaware of the damages to the aesthetics of the music field
and especially to music education in the process.
Unfortunately for Fr. Gasper Raj, Thiruvasagam did not attract the
Sri Lankan Diasporas attention and subsequently it was financially a
debacle.
He was heard lamenting that if he could have made Tamil music maestro
Ilayaraaja to direct and sing Tigers songs he could have reaped a few
crores as profit.
When he failed to win the support of the Shri Lankan Tamil diaspora
he tried to win over the support of the Brahmins, but he again failed
miserably. When he was openly supporting the LTTE he criticized
Thuklak editor Cho Ramasamy as well as N.Ram of The Hindu. But when
he returned later to win over the support of the Brahmins he failed
to win over his erstwhile adversaries.
In the meantime, when DMK under the leadership of M. Karunanidhi,
managed to win back the power in the last elections, Fr. Gaspar Raj
moved fast to win the favour of the new Tamil Nadu regime. He won by
using Ms. Kanimozhi one of the Board of Trustees and coordinator of
the Tamil Maiyam.
Ms. Kanimozhi is the daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the
leader of the ruling party DMK.
She is also poet and also run 'Karuthu', an organization run by her
and Karthi Chidambaram, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's son,
to espouse freedom of speech, and expression of views. It is said
that Karuthu is a non-political organization. Karuthu does not have
an opinion on its own; nor does it reflect collective opinion. This
is a forum for people to express their opinions in a decent manner.
Karuthu is not constrained in any manner by religion, caste, and
creed; nor is it shy of any subject. Politics, philosophy,
contemporary understanding of history, social issues and all matters
may be discussed here. One may also take a contrary view. The only
requirement is that there should not be any personal attack.
This was the time LTTE wanted to make thei presence felt in India
again. Tamil Tigers were getting disenchanted with Vaiko --V.
Gopalasamy, the leader of the Marumalarchchi Dravida Munnetra Kalgam
(MDMK).
LTTE leadership, after a lapse of a long period of time, contacted
Fr. Gaspar Raj who in turn proved himself as an indispensable person
by organizing the meeting of the TNA parliamentary group with the
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and on the following day the meeting of
TNA MPs with Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India.
Political sources claim that millions of Indian rupees changed hands
from the Tiger coffers for the arrangement of these meetings.
- Asian Tribune -
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.