CHASNALA HERO’S DAUGHTER BANNED BY ARMENIAN COMMUNITY
Hindustan Times
November 11, 2013 Monday
KOLKATA
KOLKATA, Nov. 11 — It is said one man’s revolutionary is another
man’s terrorist. When Charles Sarkies rescued scores of coalminers
trapped in Chasnala near Dhanbad in 1975, a tragedy that took almost
400 lives and influenced the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Kala Patthar,
he had become a hero in the little Armenian community, a handful of
which is left in the city at present.
But little did Sarkies know that years later his daughter Margaret
would be banned by the Armenian community, the very people he nurtured
over decades. So much so that the 66-year-old lady has even been
barred from entering the premises of the Armenian Church of the Holy
Nazareth at Brabourne Road by a court order on the pretext that she
would create trouble in the church.
“I was born and brought up in Bengal. I did my schooling from Asansol
and completed my graduation from Kolkata. I was baptised in the church
and my father served as the superintendent of the church property
for 30 years. But now, the present church committee claims that I do
not belong to the community. I would approach court against them on
Tuesday,” Margaret Sarkies, now settled in Australia, told HT.
The clash of interests between the church and Sarkies crept up two
years ago after her father died due to prolonged illness. Sarkies,
however, blames the church for neglecting her father during his old
age. Church authorities said Sarkies stayed in Australia for too
long and hence, does not qualify to enjoy rights similar to other
community members affiliated to the church.
Sarkies has been residing at a hotel in central Kolkata since the
last six months after being apparently given the impression that the
church authorities might reconsider their decision if she stays in
the city for the period. She also threatens to expose corruption by
the committee members and feels this is the very reason the church
has decided to ban her from its activities.
“They have neither allowed me to vote nor participate in the church
affairs. It is my constitutional right. On Sunday, the church had
elections for a new committee. But to my surprise, I found a huge posse
of policemen and hoodlums guarding the church. While the committee
could allow outsiders inside the church premises, they refuse to
allow a pure Armenian due to vested interests,” Sarkies said.
But Sarkies is not alone. A number of Armenians from the city has
been banned by the church from entering the premises and voting for
the church committee.
As Anthranick Khatchaturian, associated with the NGO Garbage-Free
India, puts it, “Armenians in the city are already diminishing
in numbers. We believe there is a deliberate attempt to wipe out
Armenians. Our institutions are being closed down, pure Armenians
excluded from church affairs and outsiders gradually taking control
over the church finances.”
Agrees veteran community member and former chairperson of the church
committee Sonia John. “Out of roughly 100 Armenians in the city,
only 11 are allowed to vote,” she sighs.