That Indian patriot, Lala Lajpat Rai, who was deported out of India without any trial and without knowing the nature of the charges against him, wrot… - Lala Lajpat Rai

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That Indian patriot, Lala Lajpat Rai, who was deported out of India without any trial and without knowing the nature of the charges against him, wrote in a letter from America, which he visited in 1905: " The other day there was held a conference of missionaries in which President Copen is said to have advocated the extension of the mission work for the benefit of the American trade. He said, in part, we need to develop foreign missions to save our nation commercially….It is only as we develop missions that we shall have a market in the Orient which will demand our manufactured articles in sufficient quantities to match our increased facilities. The Christian man is our customer. The heathen, has, as a rule, few wants. It is only when man is changed that there comes this desire for the manifold articles that belonged to the Christian man and the Christian home. The missionary is everywhere and always the pioneer of trade.." Commenting on the above extract, Lala Lajpat Rai very rightly observed: “The Indian admirers and friends of Christian missions ought to note this commercial ideal of the American missionary. The missionary is not ‘the pioneer of trade’ only but also the pioneer of the political supremacy of the Boston people of the East. I think the frank statement of leading Christians ought to open the eyes of all who see no danger in the work of the Christian Missions in the East.”