It was K A Paul a decade ago who used to pull heavy crowd for his evangelical meetings in Andhra Pradesh. Though born and brought up here, he was fluent in English and some one has to translate whatever he spoke at such meetings.
He used to travel by his own helicopter to places like Gudivada, Nuzvid, Machilipatnam, Eluru, Bhimavaram and some third rank towns those days. The pastors were paid to bring crowd for his prayer meetings.
When this correspondent met Paul 10 years ago for an interview, he pretended as if he completely forgot his mother tongue. “You know it is been so many years that I spoke Telugu. I can’t speak it now as you speak here. I can’t understand if you speak fast,” was what evangelist Paul said.
Ten years down the line, when he had a fight with YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Paul drove straight to the TV9 office and spoke fluent Telugu language. That was past and he turned out to be more a politician than an evangelist.
Now, a new evangelist, Anil Kumar, son-in-law of the Chief Minister, has emerged as one such strong evangelist. Born and brought up in Andhra, surprisingly, he too speaks only in English and some one has to translate.
The last two days, Vijayawada city is witnessing heavy turn out of people to listen to him. The sprawling Swarajya Maidan (PWD) grounds is packed to its capacity. Prayers, speeches and songs drench the gathering in devotion. Anil Kumar’s massive advertisements were dumped on this city and its neighbourings for over last two months and now he is personally present.
Gone are the days when US and UK evangelists used to visit the State and address the religious meetings, where local pastors used to translate those speeches. Now, we have Telugu evangelists who address the Telugu faithful in a foreign language, while someone translates the messages!
It is to be seen whether this new-generation evangelist – Anil Kumar – would survive or get crushed like K A Paul in the days to come.
