tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110725882024-03-18T20:57:19.181-07:00Christian Persecution India ArticlesChristian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-32709047888912024312014-07-16T00:40:00.000-07:002014-07-26T00:40:33.027-07:00Silencing dissent and sowing hate in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A recent report from India’s Intelligence Bureau demonizing
non-government organizations (NGOs) and several activists including a
Catholic priest -- the late Father Thomas Kocherry -- was a precursor
of more direct action to come.
All were accused of working against Indian national interests. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government took immediate action,
ordering Greenpeace, which it had targeted as the prime culprit in
delaying if not preventing big money projects in tribal areas, to obtain
permission before trying to seek any funding from overseas.
That is not to say that the previous Congress government did not use the
notorious Foreign Contribution Act to punish NGOs in Tamil Nadu. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The initiatives that suffered included a Catholic diocese, for
supporting a local people’s movement against a nuclear power plant at
Koodamakulam.
Critics said the federal and state governments wanted the plant not so
much for the electricity it would produce but for the political gains it
could bring Congress and the AIADMK party that ruled the state.
The risks posed by the Russian-made reactor could be overlooked in the
name of development. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">However, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance
government in New Delhi differs in a critical area from its Congress
predecessor.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government led by Manmohan
Singh was pilloried for its inertia, its corruption and its inability to
control inflation.
But it had a human face that changed the lives of the rural poor through
a slew of welfare programs that did reduce the pain of poverty a
little.
Above all, it did not seek to divide people along the lines of religion
or egg them on into violence. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Modi’s government carries a deadly political baggage that seeks to do
just that, polarize communities, pitting the majority faith against
religions that it brands as alien.
In the mineral rich and heavily forested tribal belt that extends from
Jharkhand to Madhya Pradesh and beyond, including much of Chhattisgarh
and Odisha, this polarization has almost totally wrecked unity among
people against exploitative and environmentally destructive industrial
and mining projects. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By attacking ethical NGOs empowering people on the one hand and unity in
people’s movements on the other, the government has opened the doors
for exploitation by crony capitalists.
This can be seen in a move in June by several village councils in
Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region to ban entry of Christian workers, and
prevent Christian worship, in their areas.
It was prompted by the hardline Hindu groups such as the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The village council diktat is that only Hindu religious workers will be
allowed into village areas in the tribal belt.
This is of course entirely illegal, and violates the constitutional
provisions of freedom of expression and movement.
The coercive methodology of branding every tribal as a Hindu, and make
him or her oppose Christians, injures the secular nature of society and
the peace that has existed there for such a long time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Such bans on a particular faith and the frictions they breed can so
easily lead to violence against religious minorities.
Memories of the extreme violence in Kandhamal in 2007 and 2008, which
had its roots through such indoctrination and communalisation, are still
fresh, and the struggle for justice for the victims still continues in
the courts. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The state government of Chhattisgarh and the federal authorities in New
Delhi must therefore act urgently to stem this explosive evil while
there is still time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>John Dayal is the general secretary of the All India Christian Council
and a member of the Indian government's National Integration Council.</i><br /><br />Click <a href="http://www.ucanews.com/news/silencing-dissent-and-sowing-hate-in-india/71391">here</a> for source</span></div>
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Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-62548581799293790852014-06-20T10:38:00.002-07:002014-06-20T10:38:26.769-07:00Polinomics: Dissent is now a crime<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The report of the Intelligence Bureau on the “impact” that
non-government organisations have on India’s “development” is a case of
extreme paranoia on the part of a section of the country’s
establishment. This section believes that those who are opposed to their
notions of development — which include the proliferation of nuclear
energy and widespread use of genetically modified organisms in
agriculture — are not just anti-national but also acting at the behest
of foreign powers who do not want India to develop.<br />
Interestingly, many of those opposed to the activities of foreign-funded
civil society organisations as well as those who actually run such NGOs
belong to the country’s elite. One group which spares no effort in
extolling the virtues of foreign direct investment, also conjures
conspiracies when it comes to ascribing motives to those who speak up
for those displaced by mining, irrigation and industrial projects. The
first group firmly believes that growth is the mantra for the country’s
economic problems. The other section espouses environmentally-friendly
policies and believes that inequalities must come down if sustainable
development is to take place.<br />
The two groups represent contrasting worldviews. To use simplistic
catch-phrases, one is Right-wing, neo-liberal and market-friendly while
the other is Leftist, Luddite and emphasises redistribution before
growth. One believes that encouraging the private sector is the best way
forward while the other is in favour of government-sponsored welfare
schemes for the poor. Both sections want to engage with the West and the
rest of the world, but on different terms.<br />
The current debate on the role of NGOs is reminiscent of the polarised
discourse on Christian missionaries who “convert” tribals and poor
Hindus by “alluring” them. The anti-missionary viewpoint can be found in
the books written by Arun Shourie, including one entitled Harvesting
Our Souls. The contrary view is that if the Indian elite have been less
than fair to society’s underprivileged, why should they grudge the
activities of those (including missionaries from India and abroad) who
have tried to organise the poor. Many missionaries are perceived as
activists. One such individual named in the IB report is Thomas
Kochherry, who fought relentless to safeguard the interests of Kerala’s
traditional fisherfolk and who passed away recently.<br />
By criticising NGOs allegedly opposed to the “Gujarat model of
development”, the IB — which one of the world’s oldest internal security
agencies — may have sought to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In
fact, one paragraph in the report seems to have been inspired (if not
plagiarised) from a speech that Mr Modi made in September 2006 during
the launch of a book with a rather revealing title: NGOs, Activists and
Foreign Funds: Anti-Nation Industry.<br />
On that occasion, Mr Modi had lashed out against those he described as
“five-star activists” by remarking: “Funds are obtained from abroad; an
NGO is set up; a few articles are commissioned; a PR (public relations)
firm is recruited and, slowly, with the help of the media, an image is
created. And then awards are procured from foreign countries to enhance
this image. Such a vicious cycle... no one in Hindustan dares raise a
finger, no matter how many the failings of the awardee...”<br />
Mr Modi is in illustrious company. His predecessor Manmohan Singh was
suspicious of NGOs using foreign funds who were opposed to the
establishment of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Dr Singh and former
agriculture minister Sharad Pawar were both opposed to NGOs who were
resisting field trials for genetically-modified food crops. In January
2013, speaking at the centenary session of the Indian Science Congress
in Kolkata, Dr Singh described the issues of nuclear energy and GM foods
as “complex issues” that “cannot be settled by faith, emotion and fear
but by structured debate, analysis and enlightenment.”<br />
The tone of the IB report is not very different from the raving and
ranting against an unseen “foreign hand” during the Emergency regime of
Indira Gandhi between June 1975 and March 1977. It was during this
period that the government enacted the Foreign Contribution (Regulation)
Act, which was amended during the second UPA government in 2010. While
there are more than a million NGOs operating in the country, roughly
50,000 are currently registered under the FCRA. After the law was
amended, the permission granted to some 4,000 NGOs to receive foreign
funds was revoked.<br />
It is nobody’s case that all foreign-funded NGOs are run by
bleeding-heart activists who only have the welfare of the deprived and
the indigent on top of their minds. There is no dearth of people who
abuse their association with international civil society groups to go on
expensive junkets across the world and live a rather good life. Such
individuals can be found across different strata in Indian society. If
anyone, including those who run NGOs, is found to be violating the law
of the land, the law should be strictly enforced against such people and
organisations.<br />
But why is the voluntary sector being targeted at present? The IB report
appears to have been written and deliberately leaked with a specific
purpose — to create an atmosphere that would encourage some in the
government to come down hard on dissenters and those whose views and
activities they don’t like. It’s as simple as that.<br />
This writer’s name figures in the IB report for having produced and
directed a 45-minute documentary film in English and Hindi entitled Coal
Curse/Koyla Ya Kala Shaap in 2013 which was financially supported by
Greenpeace India. Both versions of the film are available for free
viewing on YouTube. The film juxtaposes the Coalgate scandal (which was,
incidentally, highlighted by the ruling party) with the larger
socio-political and economic issues surrounding the use of coal. It
includes a case study of the Singrauli region in central India, often
described as the country’s “electricity hub”. The film argues that what
represents an investment opportunity for both public sector and private
corporate entities is a “resource curse” for local populations whose
livelihoods have been devastated together with the ecology of the
region. It is a separate matter altogether that I have been writing
about and making documentary films on this subject for many years now.<br />
In conclusion, one must assert that there are always certain exceptions
to the rule and no action will ever be taken against particular NGOs.
These are the now-defunct National Advisory Council headed by Sonia
Gandhi and the nearly-90-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There are
also two other organisations that have received funds from foreign
sources (including the Vedanta corporate group) whose activities are
unlikely to be scrutinised by the ministry of home affairs, under which
the IB operates. These are the Indian National Congress and the
Bharatiya Janata Party.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Source: http://www.asianage.com/columnists/polinomics-dissent-now-crime-385 </span></span></div>
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Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-71094409749252703472014-06-19T22:51:00.000-07:002014-06-20T22:51:40.631-07:00HRD: It’s not Hindu Resource Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Modi government seems to believe
that a change should be brought in school curriculum by re-working the
text books that NCERT brings out. To this effect the ministry of human
resource development, it appears, is taking steps. According to reports
in the media, lessons from Vedas and Upanishads will be incorporated in
the text books to educate the student community about ancient Indian
civilisation and culture. There is not just one view of ancient India.
The so-called Vedic view is nothing but the Brahminic view.<br />
No one should have any objection if those sections of Vedas and
Upanishads which focus on human equality in the realm of spiritual
systems of India are included in the text books. But along with such
portions from Vedas and Upanishads, the egalitarian teachings from the
Buddhist Suthas and Pitakas, and Jain theories of non-violence should
also be included. Equally important are the materialist discourses of
Charvakas, which injected the earliest rational thinking among our
ancestors. The Dalitist narrative of ancient India, which focuses a
great deal on production and science, is also extremely relevant to the
discourse of development today.<br />
Ancient India, for example, was known for producing scientific tools and
instruments that enhanced the country’s productivity. The Vedas and
Upanishads don’t just ignore the production process and its
contribution, but in certain sections negated “production” as pollution.
Labour classes were the lower castes, and that’s why they were
invisibilised in these text written by the brahmins.<br />
For a comprehensive view and understanding of ancient India, it must be
studied from the point of view of dignity of labour. And the
contemporary development debate has to be linked to the question of
dignity of labour even in ancient times because our under-development is
closely associated to the notion of indignity of labour in Indian civil
society.<br />
For example, the earliest pot and brick was made in ancient India. The
Indus Valley Civilisation was built on the advanced skills of brick
making and pottery. But those who make bricks and pots today are
considered to be people of “neech jati” by Vedic pundits. Even the
secular, academic understanding holds a similar opinion of labour. Today
a Vedic pundit is not one who respects the brick and pot maker, but one
who bathes several times if a potter touches him/her. School children,
who need to be part of the contemporary developmental discourse, should
know that treating production as pollution is a socially constructed
wrong. Such a spiritual, social notion hampers development.<br />
One of our glorious ancient heritages is the shaving blade (or, the
barber’s knife). If the clean shaven faces of Hindu divine figures like
Rama and Krishna are any indication, by Kritha and Dwpara yuga India had
created what was, perhaps, the sharpest blade in the ancient world. At a
time when no nation in the world seemed to know about it, Indian
ironsmiths were hammering shaving blades and surgical knives that made
advancements in other fields possible.<br />
Realistically, a definite time frame of when the blade/knife was
invented and used could be drawn from the timeline of Jain and Buddhist
schools, both of whom had the compulsory practice of shaving their head,
including for female monks.<br />
We also have enough evidence to show that Indian leather technology was
also very advanced in ancient times. But leather technocrats began to be
treated as untouchable by the Vedic forces and the situation has not
changed to date. Is it not necessary to deconstruct a mindset that still
exists, not just of our school going population, but also the teachers
themselves?<br />
The present set of NCERT books were prepared when Prof. Krishna Kumar
was the director. They adopted a so-called secular approach to rewrite
the text books, to undo the communal overtones introduced under the
supervision of Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, the National Democratic
Alliance’s HRD minister. But the so-called secular view isn’t without
its inherent prejudices. A friend of mine had taken a children’s book I
had written on dignity of labour, Turning the Pot, Tilling the Land:
Dignity of Labour in our Times, to Prof. Krishna Kumar, who, it appears,
looked at it with disdain. Nothing was incorporated.<br />
The so-called communist scholars claim that they are champions of
labour, but they too refuse to understand that religion and caste in
India are real. When a religion treats the labouring castes as impure,
naturally the indignity of labour becomes the essence of the nation.
Does not this situation need to change? How can it change without
incorporating a heavy dose of dignity of labour in our schools?<br />
Yet another important aspect of ancient Indian life that needs to come
into text books is the food culture. No social group in ancient India
was vegetarian — not even the Jains and Buddhists. Now the Vedic pundits
and Hindutva forces are hegemonising vegetarianism, ignoring plural
choice based food cultures, particularly meat eating. This will be an
exercise in exceptionalism which no nation can suffer. If Mr Modi’s
development model is couched in vegetarianism, future Indians will
suffer from huge nutrition deficiencies.<br />
Any selective teaching of ancient India is harmful because a
multi-cultural, modern society cannot be connected to any one set of
values. If a government takes a position on religious ethics, it cannot
be partisan. If text books need to contain some aspects of Vedas, the
Bible, Quran and Guru Granth cannot be left out. Rewriting what India
studies and learns cannot be driven by Hindutva nationalism.<br />
If God and religion are universal, the core books of all religions are
also universal. It is a different thing that one religion has more
following and another has less. India, thus, cannot treat Hinduism as
the only Indian religion.<br />
HRD minister Smriti Irani should not commit the same mistake that Dr
Joshi committed by converting the ministry of human resource development
into the ministry of Hindu resource development. Let the Prime Minister
keep a watch, as he, hopefully, knows the difference.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span></span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The writer is director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and
Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad</span></span></i></div>
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Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-79185049335531804252014-06-19T08:37:00.000-07:002014-06-20T08:37:53.027-07:00Indian Christians struggle for legitimacy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Christian community, barring pockets of influence in Kerala and
the northeastern states, has never been seen as relevant to Indian
political discourse. Official census statistics put Christian numbers at
2.3 percent of the population. It was always a small number, far behind
Muslims whose population is variously estimated from 13 to 15 percent
of India's 1.2 billion people.
It is not just the minuscule numbers that impact on the social, economic
and political fortunes of the Christian community. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Their dispersal
across India is very skewed, with the small northeastern states of
Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya having a Christian majority, and the
tribal areas of central India between at 2 to 4 percent. Goa at 27
percent and Kerala with 19 percent are the other major concentrations.
The southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra also have sizeable
populations, especially among Dalit Christians.
But the population in the rest of the country would be invisible if not
for the spires and crosses of the various churches that dot the
skylines.
This geographic demography has major political implications for the
community, which reflects in their abysmal strength in parliament and
state legislatures. In fact, in most north Indian state legislatures,
there are no Christians at all. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the national Lok Sabha, or Lower
House of parliament, the number of Christians has been steadily
declining. There were said to be less than 10 Christian members in the
Lower House after the last general election.
Contrast this with the other small minority, the Sikhs, who represent
about 2 percent of the population. The Sikhs are concentrated largely in
the Punjab, where they constitute the dominant social and economic
groups, and all but monopolize political power. Because of Punjab's
proximity to Delhi, they also wield tremendous clout with the national
government.
Muslims have traditionally been politically important, although
economically they are among the most backward in the country. Though
their numbers too have declined in parliament, their concentrations in a
large number of parliamentary constituencies have made political
parties woo them assiduously. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The right wing Hindu nationalist groups,
particularly the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, calls this "vote bank
politics" presuming Muslims to be some sort of a pocket borough for the
Congress Party and such socialist groups as the Samajwadi Party and the
Janata Dal.
Bharatiya Janata leaders have consistently accused Congress of
pandering to Muslims, describing it as "minority appeasement". In
political battles, the party and its associated cadres of the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh have used this argument to polarize the people and
consolidate a collective Hindu response, alienating Muslims in the
recent electoral campaign. The Hindu consolidation was a major factor in
the rout of Congress, despite the populist policies and development
programs during its 10-year rule. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in a way tried to
wave an olive branch, if only to soothe fears among religious
minorities from emboldened Hindu fundamentalist groups, who have already
started shouting for an extremely nationalistic agenda that includes
dismantling personal laws of Muslims, and the construction of a Ram
temple at the disputed site of the Babri mosque in the holy city of
Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.
Modi has tried to reach out to Muslims without alienating his core group
of supporters. In his inaugural speech in the Lok Sabha, Modi said, "If
one organ of the body remains weak, the body cannot be termed as
healthy. We are committed to this. We don't see it as appeasement. We
have to do focused activity to change lives of Muslims; they cannot be
left behind in development."
Modi did not mention the Christian community in his long speech. He has
not appointed a Christian minister to his cabinet. His party has not
indicated that it even knows about the needs of the community, whose
tribal, Dalit and rural poor are among the most deprived segments in
Indian society. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">An utter lack of unity among the Christian community and Church
leadership is a major reason that the community has not been able to
assert its rights within the government. The Congress regime was also
guilty of ignoring Christians. Barring a few cronies among the Congress
leadership, the community found little representation in government or
the development discourse. The Congress turned its face from the long
standing demand of Dalit Christians to constitutional rights given to
those professing other faiths. Congress governments passed several
anti-conversion laws in the states. And although the perpetrators were
members of the notorious Sangh Parivar groups, Congress governments did
little to check the persecution of Christians and violence against
churches and pastors in many parts of the country. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Christian leadership is yet to fully understand the long term
implications of the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power. There is
little discussion or reflection on the political changes the country has
seen. It will have to hone its tools of advocacy to make some space for
itself in the national development discourse. Above all, it would
perhaps have to participate more fully in grassroots political
processes, training its youth in civil rights, and aligning itself with
civil society. There is little it can do by itself. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>John Dayal is the general secretary of the All India Christian Council
and a member of the Indian government's National Integration Council.</i><br />Read more at: <a href="http://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-christians-struggle-for-legitimacy/71199">http://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-christians-struggle-for-legitimacy/71199</a></span></span></div>
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Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-28550804991648300152014-05-30T22:04:00.003-07:002014-05-30T22:04:38.121-07:00Does V.D Savarkar's Portrait Deserve To Be Hung And Eulogized In The Parliament?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By Shamsul Islam<br /><br />30 May, 2014<br />Countercurrents.org<br /><br />On May 28, 2014 Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and his ministers turned up to pay tributes to ‘Veer’ Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. It is astonishing. This ‘Veer’ submitted not one but five (in 1911, 1913, 1914, 1918 & 1920) mercy petitions to the British rulers. The two comprehensive one of 1914 and 1920 are being reproduced so that real character of ‘Veer’ Savarkar is known by all.<br /><br />Sardar Patel, the first home minister of India, held Savarkar responsible for murder of the Father of Nation. In a letter to Jawaharlal Nehru dated February 27, 1948 he wrote, “It was a fanatical wing of the Hindu Mahasabha directly under Savarkar that hatched the conspiracy (to kill Mahatma) and saw it through”.<br /><br />It is further to be noted that he openly helped the British war efforts during the World War II at a time when Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was trying to liberate India militarily from the British rule. Savarkar believed that Manu Code should be law of the land. He remained a diehard believer in Casteism, Racism, and imperialism throughout his life. He called it Hindutva.<br /><br />If a person with such a despicable background is regarded as a hero of the nation then who can stop Mohammed Ali Jinnah from claiming this status?<br /><br />MERCY PETITION 1<br /><br />Petition from V D Savarkar (Convict No. 32778) to the Home Member of the Government of India, dated the 14 th November, 1913 . <br /><br />I beg to submit the following points for your kind consideration: <br /><br />(1) When I came here in 1911 June, I was along with the rest of the convicts of my party taken to the office of the Chief Commissioner. There I was classed as "D" meaning dangerous prisoner; the rest of the convicts were not classed as "D". Then I had to pass full 6 months in solitary confinement. The other convicts had not. During that time I was put on the coir pounding though my hands were bleeding. Then I was put on the oil-mill - the hardest labour in the jail. Although my conduct during all the time was exceptionally good still at the end of these six months I was not sent out of the jail; though the other convicts who came with me were. From that time to this day I have tried to keep my behaviour as good as possible. <br /><br />(2) When I petitioned for promotion I was told I was a special class prisoner and so could not be promoted. When any of us asked for <br />better food or any special treatment we were told "You are only ordinary convicts and must eat what the rest do". Thus Sir, Your <br />Honour would see that only for special disadvantages we are classed as special prisoners. <br /><br />(3) When the majority of the casemen were sent outside I requested for my release. But, although I had been cased (caned?) hardly twice or thrice and some of those who were released, for a dozen and more times, still I was not released with them because I was their casemen. But when after all, the order for my release was given and when just then some of the political prisoners outside were brought into the troubles I was locked in with them because I was their casemen. <br /><br />(4) If I was in Indian jails I would have by this time earned much remission, could have sent more letters home, got visits. If I was a <br />transportee pure and simple I would have by this time been released, from this jail and would have been looking forward for ticket-leave, etc. But as it is, I have neither the advantages of the Indian jail nor of this convict colony regulation; though had to undergo the <br />disadvanatges of both. <br /><br />(5) Therefore will your honour be pleased to put an end to this anomalous situation in which I have been placed, by either sending me <br />to Indian jails or by treating me as a transportee just like any other prisoner. I am not asking for any preferential treatment, though I believe as a political prisoner even that could have been expected in any civilized administration in the Independent nations of the world; but only for the concessions and favour that are shown even to the most depraved of convicts and habitual criminals? This <br />present plan of shutting me up in this jail permanently makes me quite hopeless of any possibility of sustaining life and hope. For <br />those who are term convicts the thing is different, but Sir, I have 50 years staring me in the face! How can I pull up moral energy <br />enough to pass them in close confinement when even those concessions which the vilest of convicts can claim to smoothen their life are denied to me? Either please to send me to Indian jail for there I would earn (a) remission; (b) would have a visit from my people come every four months for those who had unfortunately been in jail know what a blessing it is to have a sight of one's nearest and dearest every now and then! (c) and above all a moral - though not a legal - right of being entitled to release in 14 years; (d) also more letters and other little advantages. Or if I cannot be sent to India I should be released and sent outside with a hope, like any other convicts, to visits after 5 years, getting my ticket leave and calling over my family here. If this is granted then only one grievance remains and that is that I should be held responsible only for my own faults and not of others. It is a pity that I have to ask for this - it is such a fundamental right of every human being! For as there are on the one hand, some 20 political prisoners - young, active and restless, and on the other the regulations of a convict colony, by the very nature of them reducing the liberties of thought and expression to lowest minimum possible; it is but inevitable that every now and then some one of them will be found to have contravened a regulation or two and if all be held responsible for that, as now it is actually done - very little chance of being left outside remains for me. <br /><br />In the end may I remind your honour to be so good as to go through the petition for clemency, that I had sent in 1911, and to sanction <br />it for being forwarded to the Indian Government? The latest development of the Indian politics and the conciliating policy of the <br />government have thrown open the constitutional line once more. Now no man having the good of India and Humanity at heart will blindly step on the thorny paths which in the excited and hopeless situation of India in 1906-1907 beguiled us from the path of peace and progress. Therefore if the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release me, I for one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English government which is the foremost condition of that progress. As long as we are in jails there cannot be real happiness and joy in hundreds and thousands of homes of His Majesty's loyal subjects in India, for blood is thicker than water; but if we be released the people will instinctively raise a shout of joy and gratitude to the government, who knows how to forgive and correct, more than how to chastise and avenge. Moreover my conversion to the constitutional line would bring back all those misled young men in India and abroad who were once looking up to me as their guide. I am ready to serve the government in any capacity they like, for as my conversion is conscientious so I hope my future conduct would be. By keeping me in jail nothing can begot in comparison to what would be otherwise. The Mighty alone can afford to be merciful and therefore where else can the prodigal son return but to the parental doors of the government? <br /><br />Hoping your Honour will kindly take into notion these points.<br /><br />( Sd. ) V.D. Savarkar, <br />Convict no. 32778.<br /><br />[The above ‘Mercy Petition' has been reproduced from RC Majumdar's book PENAL SETTLEMENTS IN ANDAMANS (pp. 211-214) published by the Department of Culture, Government of India in 1975.]<br /><br /><br /><br />MERCY PETITION NO 2<br /><br />CELLULAR JAIL, PORT BLAIR,<br /><br />The 30th March 1920 .<br /><br />To<br /><br />The CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF ANDAMANS<br /><br />In view of the recent statement of the Hon'ble Member for the Home Department to the Government of India, to the effect that "the Government was willing to consider the papers of any individual, and give them their best consideration if they were brought before them"; and that "as soon as it appeared to the Government that an individual could be released without danger to the State, the Government would extend the Royal clemency to that person," the undersigned most humbly begs that he should be given a last chance to submit his case, before it is too late. You, Sir, at any rate, would not grudge me this last favour of forwarding this petition to His Excellency the Viceroy of India, especially and if only to give me the satisfaction of being heard, whatever the Government decisions may be.<br /><br />I. The Royal proclamation most magnanimously states that Royal clemency should be extended to all those who were found guilty of breaking the law "Through their eagerness for Political progress." The cases of me and my brother are pre-eminently of this type. Neither I nor any of my family members had anything to complain against the Government for any personal wrong due to us nor for any personal favour denied. I had a brilliant career open to me and nothing to gain and everything to loose individually by treading such dangerous paths. Suffice it to say, that no less a personage than one of the Hon'ble Members for the Home Department had said, in 1913, to me personally, "... ... Such education so much reading,... ... .. you could have held the highest posts under our Government." If in spite of this testimony any doubts as to my motive does lurk in any one, then to him I beg to point out, that there had been no prosecution against any member of my family till this year 1909; while almost all of my activity which constituted the basis for the case, have been in the years preceding that. The prosecution, the Judges and the Rowlatt Report have all admitted that since the year 1899 to the year 1909 had been written the life of Mazzini and other books, as well organised the various societies and even the parcel of arms had been sent before the arrest of any of my brothers or before I had any personal grievance to complain of ( vide Rowlatt Report, pages 6 etc.). But does anyone else take the same view of our cases? Well, the monster petition that the Indian public had sent to His Majesty and that had been signed by no less than 5,000 signatures, had made a special mention of me in it. I had been denied a jury in the trial: now the jury of a whole nation has opined that only the eagerness for political progress had been the motive of all my actions and that led me to the regrettable breaking of the laws.<br /><br />II. Nor can this second case of abetting murder throw me beyond the reach of the Royal clemency. For ( a ) the Proclamation does not make any distinction of the nature of the offence or of a section or of the Court of Justice, beyond the motive of the offence. It concerns entirely with the Motive and requires that it should be political and not personal. ( b ) Secondly, the Government too has already interpreted it in the same spirit and has released Barin and Hesu and others. These men had confessed that one of the objects of their conspiracy was "the murders of prominent Government officials" and on their own confessions, had been guilty of sending the boys to murder magistrates, etc. This magistrate had among others prosecuted Barin's brother Arabinda in the first "Bande Mataram" newspaper case. And yet Barin was not looked upon, and rightly so, as a non-political murderer. In my respect the objection is immensely weaker. For it was justly admitted by the prosecution that I was in England, had no knowledge of the particular plot or idea of murdering Mr. Jackson and had sent the parcels of arms before the arrest of my brother and so could not have the slightest personal grudge against any particular individual officer. But Hem had actually prepared the very bomb that killed the Kennedys and with a full knowledge of its destination. (Rowlatt Report, page 33). Yet Hem had not been thrown out of the scope of the clemency on that ground. If Barin and others were not separately charged for specific abetting, it was only because they had already been sentenced to capital punishment in the Conspiracy case; and I was specifically charged because I was not, and again for the international facilities to have me extradited in case France got me back. Therefore I humbly submit that the Government be pleased to extend the clemency to me as they had done it to Barin and Hem whose complicity in abetting the murders of officers, etc., was confessed and much deeper. For surely a section does not matter more than the crime it contemplates. In the case of my brother this question does not arise as his case has nothing to do with any murders, etc.<br /><br />III. Thus interpreting the proclamation as the Government had already done in the cases of Barin, Hem, etc. I and my brother are fully entitled to the Royal clemency "in the fullest measure." But is it compatible with public safety? I submit it is entirely so. For ( a ) I most emphatically declare that we are not amongst "the microlestes of anarchism" referred to by the Home Secretary. So far from believing in the militant school of the type that I do not contribute even to the peaceful and philosophical anarchism of a Kuropatkin or a Tolstoy. And as to my revolutionary tendencies in the past:- it is not only now for the object of sharing the clemency but years before this have I informed of and written to the Government in my petitions (1918, 1914) about my firm intention to abide by the constitution and stand by it as soon as a beginning was made to frame it by Mr. Montagu. Since that the Reforms and then the Proclamation have only confirmed me in my views and recently I have publicly avowed my faith in and readiness to stand by the side of orderly and constitutional development. The danger that is threatening our country from the north at the hands of the fanatic hordes of Asia who had been the curse of India in the past when they came as foes, and who are more likely to be so in the future now that they want to come as friends, makes me convinced that every intelligent lover of India would heartily and loyally co-operate with the British people in the interests of India herself. That is why I offered myself as a volunteer in 1914 to Government when the war broke out and a German-Turko-Afghan invasion of India became imminent. Whether you believe it or not, I am sincere in expressing my earnest intention of treading the constitutional path and trying my humble best to render the hands of the British dominion a bond of love and respect and of mutual help. Such an Empire as is foreshadowed in the Proclamation, wins my hearty adherence. For verily I hate no race or creed or people simply because they are not Indians!<br /><br />( b ) But if the Government wants a further security from me then I and my brother are perfectly willing to give a pledge of not participating in politics for a definite and reasonable period that the Government would indicate. For even without such a pledge my failing health and the sweet blessings of home that have been denied to me by myself make me so desirous of leading a quiet and retired life for years to come that nothing would induce me to dabble in active politics now.<br /><br />( c ) This or any pledge, e.g. , of remaining in a particular province or reporting our movements to the police for a definite period after our release - any such reasonable conditions meant genuinely to ensure the safety of the State would be gladly accepted by me and my brother. Ultimately, I submit, that the overwhelming majority of the very people who constitute the State which is to be kept safe from us have from Mr. Surendranath, the venerable and veteran moderate leader, to the man in the street, the press and the platform, the Hindus and the Muhammadans - from the Punjab to Madras - been clearly persistently asking for our immediate and complete release, declaring it was compatible with their safety. Nay more, declaring it was a factor in removing the very `sense of bitterness' which the Proclamation aims to allay.<br /><br />IV. Therefore the very object of the Proclamation would not be fulfilled and the sense of bitterness removed, I warn the public mind, until we two and those who yet remain have been made to share the magnanimous clemency.<br /><br />V. Moreover, all the objects of a sentence have been satisfied in our case. For ( a ) we have put in 10 to 11 years in jail, while Mr. Sanyal, who too was a lifer, was released in 4 years and the riot case lifers within a year; ( b ) we have done hard work, mills, oil mills and everything else that was given to us in India and here; ( c ) our prison behaviour is in no way more objectionable than of those already released; they had, even in Port Blair, been suspected of a serious plot and locked up in jail again. We two, on the contrary, have to this day been under extra rigorous discipline and restrain and yet during the last six years or so there is not a single case even on ordinary disciplinary grounds against us.<br /><br />VI. In the end, I beg to express my gratefulness for the release of hundreds of political prisoners including those who have been released from the Andamans, and for thus partially granting my petitions of 1914 and 1918. It is not therefore too much to hope that His Excellency would release the remaining prisoners too, as they are placed on the same footing, including me and my brother. Especially so as the political situation in Maharastra has singularly been free from any outrageous disturbances for so many years in the past. Here, however, I beg to submit that our release should not be made conditional on the behaviour of those released or of anybody else; for it would be preposterous to deny us the clemency and punish us for the fault of someone else.<br /><br />VII. On all these grounds, I believe that the Government, hearing my readiness to enter into any sensible pledge and the fact that the Reforms, present and promised, joined to common danger from the north of Turko-Afghan fanatics have made me a sincere advocate of loyal co-operation in the interests of both our nations, would release me and win my personal gratitude. The brilliant prospects of my early life all but too soon blighted, have constituted so painful a source of regret to me that a release would be a new birth and would touch my heart, sensitive and submissive, to kindness so deeply as to render me personally attached and politically useful in future. For often magnanimity wins even where might fails.<br /><br />Hoping that the Chief Commissioner, remembering the personal regard I ever had shown to him throughout his term and how often I had to face keen disappointment throughout that time, will not grudge me this last favour of allowing this most harmless vent to my despair and will be pleased to forward this petition - may I hope with his own recommendations? - to His Excellency the Viceroy of India .<br /><br />I beg to remain,<br /><br />SIR,<br /><br />Your most obedient servant,<br /><br />( Sd. ) V.D. Savarkar, <br />Convict no. 32778. <br />[Available in the National Archives of India ]</span></div>
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Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-65043625654355965362014-05-29T14:30:00.000-07:002014-05-30T22:06:58.052-07:00Narendra Modi must take steps to protect India's religious minorities from attack<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Religious minorities in India have not forgotten the waves of communal violence that killed thousands in the previous decade, and neither have human rights organisations.<br /><br />As India gets used to a new party and a new leader at the helm, there are concerns that religious minorities will find themselves the losers of the sea change.<br /><br />The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed a historic victory in the general election earlier this month, taking over half the seats in the Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament's lower house.<br /><br />But Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) says the party has close ties to the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which views the Christian and Muslim minorities as threats to national integrity.<br /><br />The RSS gave Narendra Modi its strong backing in the run-up to the election and Release International notes with equal concern that many of the Hindu extremists who have carried out repeated attacks on India's Christian minority belong to the far-right group.<br /><br />Modi is the former chief minister of Gujarat State, where around 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in communal violence in 2002. Modi was head of the state during this time and has never managed to shake off accusations of complicity, including that he ordered police not to intervene in the attacks.<br /><br />In 2008, Hindu nationalists killed more than 120 Christians and forced some 50,000 people from their homes in Odisha state.<br /><br />Modi's rise to power coincides with an increasingly hostile climate for Christians in some parts of India, with seven states now having anti-conversion laws in place. Release warns the laws have curtailed church activities and that even in states that do not have them, pastors have been accused of "forcible conversion".<br /><br />The president of the National Congress of Indian Christians, CA Daniel, predicts this trend will only grow with the BJP leading the country.<br /><br />He told International Christian Concern after the BJP's election win that Christians were "not safe" under the party.<br /><br />"There will be stringent rules and legislation restricting Christians and the exercise of the freedom of faith," he said.<br /><br />The dust is settling after the BJP's landslide victory, but the concerns remain. The All India Christian Council has said that the rhetoric so far has "provided little reassurance that security and freedom for Christians and other minorities would be high on the list of priorities for the new administration".<br /><br />And CSW is calling upon the incoming government to adopt measures that will promote freedom of religion and belief.<br /><br />It is asking the BJP to make good on its election manifesto promise to preserve the culture of minorities, protect their sites, and "facilitate the setting up of a permanent inter-faith consultative mechanism to promote harmony and trust, under the auspices of religious leaders".<br /><br />CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, "We urge the incoming Indian administration to actively promote and defend the right to freedom of religion or belief for India's diverse communities.<br /><br />"We continue to advocate for the implementation of the recommendations made in the 2008 of the former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, including the need for the authorities to take quick and effective measures to protect members of religious minorities from any attacks and to step up efforts to prevent communal violence.<br /><br />"Efforts to work towards the introduction of a comprehensive framework to deal adequately with the consequences of communal and targeted violence should continue. We also continue to call for the establishment of an effective framework for the protection of human rights defenders across the country."<br />
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Click <a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/narendra.modi.must.take.steps.to.protect.indias.religious.minorities.from.attack/37689.htm">here</a> for source</div>
Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-46970880161081085232013-07-08T23:52:00.003-07:002013-07-08T23:54:43.193-07:00Religious fervor's part in India's next election<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While much of the
Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand state is under mud deposited by the recent
devastating floods, a new wave of “temple politics” has well and truly begun in
the country.<br /><o:p> </o:p>The self-styled “Iron
man” of India and prime ministerial hopeful, Narendra Modi, was the first to
step forward, saying the Gujarat government would repair or rebuild the temple,
a revered site among India’s one billion Hindus.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Uttarakhand chief
minister Vijay Bahuguna immediately rejected Modi's offer, and also refused
offers of help by other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, saying that the
Uttarakhand government, although impoverished, was fully capable of restoring
the temple to its former glory.<br /><o:p> </o:p>The temple attracts
over a million pilgrims and tourists between May and June, before the July
monsoons - which came a fortnight earlier this year - make the mountain journey
too treacherous.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Bahuguna’s fear that a
rival political party will take credit for restoring the temple is well
founded. Religion, of which temples of all sorts are the core, has been a major
driving force in sub-continental politics well before independence.<br /><o:p> </o:p>The freedom struggle and
Mahatma Gandhi’s presence could not dilute the religious undertones in the body
politic, first manifesting in the division of Bengal long before freedom came.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Independence from
Britain was itself preceded by the partition of the subcontinent into a truncated
Hindu-majority, yet secular, India and a new Muslim Pakistan amidst mass
displacement and bloodshed between the two religious groups in which more than
a million people may have been killed.<br /><o:p> </o:p>It was not surprising
therefore that one of the major cultural acts of independent India’s first
government on Nov 12, 1947 was to order the reconstruction of the Somnath
temple in Gujarat, which had been repeatedly razed by Muslim invaders. The last
time was by Mahmud Ghazni in the 11th century, but it became a symbol of
foreign domination of Indian soil and its ethos.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Sardar Patel, a close
associate of Gandhi who consolidated the new Indian state by incorporating more
than 500 former principalities – sometimes through military action – led the
project.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Somnath has since
become the venue for the launch of many a political movement, including the
Bharatiya Janata Party.<br /><o:p> </o:p>The sole voice of
dissent for Somnath’s reconstruction came from the then prime minister, Jawahar
Lal Nehru, who correctly saw it as an attempt at Hindu revivalism.<br /><o:p> </o:p>India is not a
theocracy, thanks mostly to men like Nehru, but this “principle” of reversing
“historic wrongs” has been a recurring political theme for Hindu groups such as
the BJP wanting to make India a Hindu nation.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Once in a while, the
Congress Party also finds its leadership susceptible to what can be called
temple politics.<br /><o:p> </o:p>The BJP, however,
remains the main practitioner of this political art of rousing religious
tempers through temples.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Its patriarch, former
deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, launched the BJP revival in the late
1980’s by demanding the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya replacing a
Muslim mosque that was seen as a hated symbol of Moghul rule, and was allegedly
built on the ruins of the birthplace of Lord Rama.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Advani’s demands
eventually led to Hindu zealots demolishing the mosque, resulting in a
bloodbath in Mumbai and elsewhere. The party has since then kept the political
fires burning by focusing on mosques in Varanasi, Mathura and several other
Hindu holy places.<br /><o:p> </o:p>The BJP is not the
only party pandering to religious sentiments. In the Punjab and the
Delhi-Haryana region, the Akali Dal is a Sikhism-centric political party.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Muslims too have their
religious political fronts in states such as Assam, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh
and Kerala.<br /><o:p> </o:p>In Kerala state,
Muslim political parties are part of the ruling alliance. The Neo-Buddhists
have also formed political parties, especially in Maharashtra, but they do not
have the same religious fervor as the others.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Christians do not have
a political party as such, but at least one party, again in Kerala, is
understood to be reflecting the aspirations of Syrian Christians in the region.<br /><o:p> </o:p>These parties have no
real ideology other than exploiting the faith of their respective communities.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Barring a vague belief
in capitalist economics and an assertive regional chauvinism, they are still
far away from envisioning a socio-political uplift of the people.<br /><o:p> </o:p>They, by definition,
have no concern for people other than their own co-religionists. For want of a
genuine political, social and economic agenda, they pander to the lowest common
denominator, fueling religion as the main source of identity, overcoming
classical stratifications of caste and class, in their own pursuit of political
power.<br /><o:p> </o:p>Ironically, India’s election
code specifically bans the use of religion in elections. This law is routinely
broken. Almost no one complains, because almost everyone banks on religion to
win an election.<br /><o:p> </o:p>John Dayal is the
general-secretary of the All India Christian Council and a member of the Indian
government’s National Integration Council.<br /> <b>Source - UCAN</b></span></div>
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Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-25525850331611408342008-10-13T10:46:00.001-07:002008-10-13T10:46:40.781-07:00GCIC updates<p><strong>Radicals clean up burnt houses and churches to destroy the proof of attacks on Christians in Orissa.</strong> </p> <p>Monday, 13 October 2008 </p> <p>ORISSA: GCIC sources found out that, another saddest act of Sangh parivar activists have come to notice that in Kandhamal, in the absence of the Christians when they are either in the forests, relief camps or out of Kandhamal now, these radicals have started cleaning up the Christian's burnt, destroyed and broken houses and Churches completely and even digging out the foundations of the same from the ground, filling the pits again and making it a plain surface probably with the following bad intentions. <br />It is also reported that they have even wiped out, removed the demarcation lines of the Christian farmers cultivated lands and distributed among themselves by now and they are actively still on that job even by forcibly collecting the harvests for which they had not sowed ever. </p> <p>The intention behind this was; <br />To acquire those landed properties of Christians by fraudulent means. <br />ii) To show that there was neither any Church nor any Christian houses before which were attacked and burnt. <br />iii) To minimise, reduce density of their damages and nature of attack which are coming to the National and International knowledge. <br />iv) To destroy the proofs of their attacks which monuments certainly do testify now of their brutality, hatred only against the innocent Christians which establishes their motives of attack. <br />v) To grab the properties of Christians, and I am also worried and afraid that tomorrow they may construct Hindu temples on the lands where Churches or Christian houses were there which have been their regular practice throughout the Country and can not be ruled out. </p> <p><strong>Decomposed dead body recovered and two suicide deaths reported at Kandhmal, Orissa </strong></p> <p>Sunday October 12, 2008 </p> <p>ORISSA: A decomposed dead body was recovered by the Police at Simanbadi village under Daringbadi PS, in a well inside the PH Department Rest House on October 12. <br />The dead body was of a tribal namely Birupakhya Majhi. He was a daily labourer and staying in a village called Patangi under Birikuti Panchayat. </p> <p>Two other suicide deaths are also reported from our GCIC sources in Kandhamal Yesterday. Both of them are women whose names are; Mrs. Rajni Digal (30) of Jarigipada village under Pabingia Panchayat and Phiringia PS/Block and Miss Manasi Mallik (16) of Khajuripada, Phulbani. <br />The CM of Orissa has gone to New Delhi for two days to attend the National Integration Council Meeting called by the PM of India to deliberate on security for minorities and communal amity. Few electronic Medias have taken bytes as GCIC's comment on this issue. </p> <p><strong>Protest rally verses peace rally in Kandhamal, Orissa </strong></p> <p>Monday, 13 October 2008 </p> <p>PHULBANI: Main opposition Congress on Sunday organised a peace rally in this district headquarters town of Kandhamal district and appealed to people belonging to all sections of society to restore peace in the region. <br />According to the News paper The Hindu, more than 2,000 party workers from different parts of Kandhamal and adjoining areas participated in the peace rally, which started from near the Mahatma Gandhi statue. <br />Holding placards with messages of non-violence and peace written on them, the men and women went round the town seeking restoration of communal harmony. </p> <p>Pradesh Congress Committee president Jayadev Jena led the peace march. A number of senior leaders of the party including former Railway Minister K. C. Lenka, former Minister Jagannath Patnaik, and former Union Ministers Srikanta Jena and Bhakta Charan Das also participated. </p> <p>Many leaders and workers of the party’s women and youth wings also participated in the peace march. </p> <p>Meanwhile, former Minister and leader of Samruddha Odisha Panchanan Kanungo blamed the State government for not taking action against those converting Christians into Hinduism in the aftermath of the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati. </p> <p>Mr. Kanungo, who participated in peace rallies organised by different opposition parties in Phulbani during the past two days, also demanded those who had put up flags on damaged churches should also be brought to book, he added. </p> <p>In a statement, SUCI leader Sambhunath Naik said the situation in Kandhamal was yet to become normal as sporadic incidents of violence were continuing in the interior areas. </p> <p>Pointing out that situation was not likely to improve in the near future, Mr. Naik suggested that peace committees should be formed at village-level and later similar committees could be constituted in block and district level.In another development, activists of Swami <br />Lakshmanananda Saraswati Shradhanjali Samiti staged a demonstration in Bhubaneswar demanding immediate action against those who allegedly hatched a conspiracy to eliminate the Swami. </p> <p>On the same day, thousands of Hindu tribal women consisting a large number lodged a strong protest against indiscriminate arrests (which they call) by the Police at places called Sarangagada, Gochhapada, and Lubasingh of Phiringia block of Kandhamal demanding immediate release of their men who are Sangh Parivar activists. They blocked the Police station of Sarangagada. These tribal women conducted this rally against the State Government and District Administration. The protest rallies organized everyday by the Sangh <br />Parivar through their tribal lady wings is obviously spreading hatred and tension by delaying the process of Peace restoration works which are becoming futile for 268 times in the District. </p> <p>Their men attacked the Christians and accordingly victims lodged FIR against them and when Police started arresting them after pressure from all corners, these women instigated by the Sangh Parivar Supremos and masterminds started to hinder in all the active, constructive works of the State Government and the District. Administration are creating tension and division in the society to damage the peace process, security system (they strongly demand withdrawal of CRPF through their tribal leader Lambodhar Kanhar and during these protest rallies). <br />It has been observed that anytime any attempt is made for uniting people from all sections of the society in Kandhamal through Peace process, Sangh Parivar spoils, shatters the same which is really a matter of concern now when everybody are craving for Peace and social harmony. </p> <p><strong>Please contact GCIC for details. www. persecution.in </strong></p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-80158410331188104312008-10-13T09:24:00.001-07:002008-10-13T09:24:32.406-07:00Devil's advocate Interview of Naveen Patnaik by Karan Thapar<p>Please click <a href="http://www.ibnlive.com/news/devils-advocate-patnaik-on-reconversions-in-orissa/75673-3-single.html"><strong>here</strong></a> to go to the IBN site to view the video and for the transcript</p> <p>Has the Orissa government failed to protect the Christian community? Karan Thapar asked this to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Nearly 50 days have passed since the killing of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and yet Christians remain in fear for their lives. There are still reports of people being killed and houses being destroyed. Are you unable or unwilling to restore order?</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>As a matter of fact for the last eight or nine days there have been no violent incidents in Kandhamal district at all.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>But they have moved to the next Boudh district. On Wednesday, 10 houses were destroyed and on October 3 a hundred houses were burnt down.</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Well, it wasn’t as many numbers as that. Let me explain to you that in the forested area next to Kandhamal—this has just happened virtually on the border of the Kandhamal district (and) into the district of Boudh.</p> <p>Kandhamal district is a hilly area, a heavily forested area and difficult to police at normal times because the villages are small, remote and far from each other.</p> <p>There has also been a very long-standing problem between tribals of the area and scheduled castes and other persons.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Your critics say that you are using sociology as an excuse. No matter what the ethnic divisions maybe, the killing of Christians—some would call it a massacre—is simply not justified. You have not stopped it.</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>I can only tell you that it is most unfortunate that this communal violence has taken place. Of course, it has to condemned by all of us.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Can you say you have done everything you could to control the violence or will you concede that mistakes have been made and perhaps at times you have not been as tough as you should have been?</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>The communal violence began after the night of August 23 when the Swamiji was killed. Before that there has been a long-standing ethnic divide between two castes in that district.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Absolutely. Let’s take the events as they happened after the night of August 23.</i> </p> <p>Within 24 hours you permitted (Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader) Praveen Togadia to take a funeral procession of the Swamiji’s body through almost 150 km of your state, knowing that this would inflame passions and provoke. This is exactly what it did. Can you concede that was a mistake? </p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Firstly, Togadia was in no procession at all. The Swamiji and he are both members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He (Togadia) went just to attend the funeral and as far as the procession is concerned, action has been taken at the district level. The Superintendent of Police has been suspended.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>But the point is that procession was almost a replica of what happened in Gujarat in 2002. You knew that from experience that it would inflame passions and lead to violence. Why was that procession not stopped? Why was it permitted in the first place? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>I repeat again that the Swamiji was killed on the night of August 23. The procession began—it was a very, very volatile situation. You do understand that we had asked the Centre for many more forces, which didn’t come till five days later.</p> <p>But whatever mistakes were made as far as the procession is concerned, it could have turned much more violent and action was taken against certain people concerned.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Your Deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha speaking on the Network18 programme ‘War of Words’ said perhaps permitting that procession was a misjudgement. Would you concede as much? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Action has been taken against certain people for that procession to have taken place and let me tell you that as far as the violence is concerned more than a thousand people have been arrested—whether they are individuals, belonging to groups or even to fundamentalist organisations.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Many of those arrests have actually happened in the last week and not earlier. </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>I am sorry but you are wrong there. Arrests have been taking place from the very beginning of the violence.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>You are also the Home Minister of the state, which means that you are doubly responsible for the police. How do you account for the fact that perhaps for the first three-four days police stood by, permitting the VHP to attack Christians.</i> </p> <p>Even when an Orissa bandh (shutdown) was declared, you may not have had sufficient force from outside the state but you didn’t even redeploy the force you had within Orissa. </p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>The forces were redeployed as quickly as they could be. You must remember it was an all-state bandh for that particular bandh on August 25, but we did deploy the forces. As much (forces) as we could keep in Kandhamal district we did.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Did you move forces to Kandhamal? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Of course we did—very much so. As far as the state government is concerned we did move forces. If we had adequate forces why do you think we were requesting the Central Government, asking them to send forces. Which they did after five days.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Let me give you an example of what people consider the incompetence of the Orissa Police force. ‘The Hindu’ reports that handwritten eyewitness accounts of the killings naming the alleged killers were sent by registered post to Balguda police station and the envelopes were returned with the following messages written on them: ‘addressee refused, have returned back’. </i></p> <p>What sort of police force hands back such evidence and such material? </p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Let me tell you as far as the violence is concerned, the Crime Branch of the Orissa Police is investigating all those matters and we have also called for a judicial enquiry. All those who are found guilty stringent action will be taken against them.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>The point is that Sabyasachi Panda, head of the local Naxalite force, who has admitted that he was responsible for the killing of Swami Laxmananda, has also revealed that the People’s Liberation Army left behind two letters at the Swamiji’s ashram accepting responsibility and that your government suppressed the letters.</i> </p> <p>Those letters could have defused the situation. Why did you suppress them?</p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>That is absolutely incorrect. Why should the police suppress the letters? There is a police investigation and there is a judicial enquiry. Three persons have been arrested for the killing of the Swamiji. The Crime Branch is investigating the matter; let them get to their finding. I am sure they will get to the truth.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>You are laying a lot of stress on the process the police is going through. Let me then ask you a simple question about the nun who was raped in Nuagoan (village in Kandhamal). How do you account for the fact that for one month your police took no action? For 38 days they were incapable of collecting the medical report.</i> </p> <p>It seems to the world outside that your state acted when ‘The Hindu’ had broken the story. </p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>As far as the crime against the nun is concerned, it is a shameful and barbaric crime. The moment we came to know about this the officer-in-charge (of the local police station) was suspended. Persons have been arrested for that crime.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>You say the moment you came to know about it, but forgive me Chief Minister that is not true. The Superior General of the Missionaries wrote you a letter within 24 hours pointing out what had happened. The Archbishop of Cuttack says he personally met you and told you. (CPI-M leader) Brinda Karat has gone on record to say that she told you. You yourself, therefore, knew almost one or two days after the rape itself. </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Let me clarify that the Archbishop has not spoken to me after the events began in Kandhamal after August 23.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>What about Sister Nirmala (Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity), Brinda Karat? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Sister Nirmala’s letter is much later, and after that appropriate steps have been taken. Brinda Karat spoke to me about victims of the riots.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Are you saying to me that the claim made by these people in the Press is incorrect? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Let me be quite clear: the Archbishop has not met me at all. Brinda Karat did meet me and she told me of the problems of the victims in the violence-hit area.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>But not about the raped nun? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Not about the raped nun. She spoke about the problems of the people there. I immediately, within half an hour, sent the local Collector to see to their problems.</p> <p>Sister Nirmala’s letter came much later. In fact Sister Nirmala met me and she said she had faith in the government and in the steps she had taken. I have a letter from her but it came much later (after the rape).</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Let me put to you what the church seems to have concluded about you. Two weeks ago, on this programme, the Archbishop of Delhi had this to say about you: Naveen Patnaik has not done even the minimum that is required to protect citizens.</i> </p> <p>In other words he is accusing you of almost dereliction of duty.</p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>This is the first time I am hearing what you are saying about the Archbishop of Delhi. Let me make my point of view clear. From the very start of these horrible and shameful incidents of communal violence my government has taken whatever steps it possibly could to bring normalcy and peace back to that disturbed district. For the last week or more there has been normalcy and it has been brought under control.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>You say you have taken every step to restore normalcy. In fact the truth is that reconversions to Hinduism, a flagrant violation of your own state laws, are openly happening in Orissa today and your government is doing nothing to stop them. Why? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>We are against anything which is illegal. </p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>But why are they not being stopped? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Registers are going to the victims—to sign whatever complains they may have.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Chief Minister, you are taking a very technical responsibility to a situation which requires urgent action. You are talking of registers—the newspapers are widely aware of the reconversions. You seem to be unaware of them. </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Obviously, we have heard of that and we will do everything legal to stop all of this. </p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>How quickly will you act? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>We have taken steps. You do understand that there is lot of force in Kandhamal district to maintain law and order.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar:</b> <i>Do you know what they say in Delhi? They say Naveen Patnaik is taking sides, he seems to be siding with Bajrang Dal and VHP against the Christians which is why he is talking in technical terms. They say he talks of excuses and delays, he talks of conditions of roads which don't let him send the police force to Kandhamal, but he doesn't act.</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> When you say that, it’s completely incorrect because among the thousand people, roughly a thousand people who have been arrested, many of them belong to the organisations that you have just named.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar:</b> <i>You mean the Bajrang Dal and the VHP?</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> Yes.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar:</b> <i>The law of the land and Constitution continued to be violated in Orissa. If that violation continues in Orissa, and if you are not capable of stopping it, why shouldn't your government be dismissed? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> We are making every effort to stop it. I don't want to make comparisons but there have been violent incidents and communal incidents in other parts of India. I don't see why the government of Orissa should be targeted.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Let me put it like this. You face perhaps the most serious challenge of the eight years and seven months you have been Chief Minister. Are you honestly up to it? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>Let me tell you another thing. In the eight years and seven months you have mentioned, there have been two communal incidents in my state. One at the end of the last year in Kandhamal district and again to be repeated in Kandhamal now.</p> <p>I told you earlier there are ethnic problems which took a communal turn after the killing of the Swami.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Before Kandhamal you were considered a modern, urbane and secular Chief Minister. After Kandhamal you are either considered incompetent or a puppet in the hands of the Bajrang Dal.</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik: </b>I would consider those points of view inaccurate. I have told you how the Government has tried to handle the situation, both strongly and with a great deal of sympathy and humanity as far as the victims are concerned. </p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>You say you acted with sympathy. The Archbishop of Cuttack says the statement you issued after visiting Khandamal didn’t even mention a word about the Christians killed, the thousands of homes that have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people who have been rendered homeless and are living in refugee camps.</i> </p> <p>You didn’t have a word to say about them, he says. </p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> Let me clarify that I went to Kandhamal for a very short while after these incidents began. I visited burnt homes, damaged churches and I went to refugee camps.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>But why was there sympathy for them? </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> Of course there is sympathy for them, and I have made that clear from the very first day. Since August 23 I have been appealing for peace among the people. I have been as humane as one ought to be.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>You know what the Christian community say about you. They say if there was one leader in the NDA who they thought would protect Christians it was Naveen Patnaik. They thought you have Western education and a broad Catholic outlook.</i> </p> <p>But in letting down the Christians you have actually betrayed your own values. </p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> I feel I have not let down anyone in my state, whichever community they belong to. Every bone in my body is secular and I don’t think any of those bones have been damaged.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>Your critics say you are scared of taking action against the Bajrang Dal and the VHP because he needs the Sangh Parivar’s support in the elections.</i> </p> <p>He has probably done a Faustian pact; he is deliberately turning a blind eye to what they are doing because he needs their support in the elections.</p> <p></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> The BJD and the BJP have had an alliance for more than 10 years. In that period there have been a number of elections and we have remained the majority party by far. </p> <p><b>Karan Thapar: </b><i>But you do not have majority on your own. </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> You do understand the mathematics of seat sharing, but we are sanguine with our victories in any election. </p> <p><b>Karan Thapar:</b> <i>Many people today are comparing you to Narendra Modi. Many people today are comparing Kandhamal to the Gujarat massacre of 2002, can you accept that?</i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> I think that comparison cannot be made rationally by anyone.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar:</b> <i>Have you let yourself down? The world knows you as the modern, secular people. Today, as the Chief Minister, you are emerging as someone who is conniving with the Bajrang Dal to let the killings of Christians continue. </i></p> <p>Have you let yourself down? </p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> I have to repeat to you again that people, after these violent incidents, from that organisation have been arrested. My government is trying to bring peace and tranquillity back to the troubled area and will continue to work towards that. What some people may believe I cannot help that. My job is to see that peace, security and progress remain in the state.</p> <p><b>Karan Thapar:</b> <i>Chief Minister, a pleasure talking to you. </i></p> <p><b>Naveen Patnaik:</b> Thank you.</p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-55482383806988352482008-10-06T02:56:00.001-07:002008-10-06T02:56:28.000-07:00Conversion Business - Excellent article by Khushwant Singh<p>Recent incidents of violence and vandalism against Christians and their churches deserve to be condemned unreservedly. They have blackened the fair face of Mother India and ruined the reputation of Hindus being the most religiously tolerant people in the world. At the same time, we must take a closer look at people who convert from one faith to another. <br />To start with, let it be understood that these days there are no forced conversions anywhere in the world. India is no exception. Those who assert that the poor, innocent and ignorant of India are being forced to accept Christianity are blatant liars. A few, very few educated and well-to-do men and women convert to another faith when they do not find solace in the faith of their ancestors. Examples are to be found in America and Europe of men and women of substance turning from Judaism and Christianity to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. <br />There are also men and women who convert to the faith of those they wish to marry. We have plenty of cases of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh inter-marriages. However, the largest number of converts come from communities discriminated against. The outstanding example was that of Dalit leader Bhimrao Ambedkar who led his Mahar community to embrace Buddhism because they were discriminated against by upper caste Hindus. This is also true of over 90 per cent of Indian Muslims whose ancestors being lower caste embraced Islam which gave them equal status. That gives lie to the often-repeated slander that Islam made converts by the sword. <br />An equally large number of people converted out of gratitude. They were neglected, ignorant and poor. When strangers came to look after them, opened schools and hospitals for them, taught them, healed them and helped them to stand on their own feet to hold their heads high, they felt grateful towards their benefactors. Most of them were Christian missionaries who worked in remote villages and brought hope to the lives of people who were deprived of hope. <br />To this day, Christian missionaries run the best schools, colleges and hospitals in our country. They are inexpensive and free of corruption. They get converts because of the sense of gratitude they generate. Can this be called forcible conversion? Why don’t the great champions of Hinduism look within their hearts and find out why so many are disenchanted by their pretensions of piety? Let them first set their own houses in order, purge the caste system out of Hindu society and welcome with open arms all those who wish to join them. <br />No one will then convert from Hinduism to another religion.</p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-23204706274350156932008-05-28T14:53:00.001-07:002008-05-28T14:53:39.098-07:00Vatican: The Persecution in Orissa, India<p>By Giorgio Bernardelli <br />5/19/2008</p> <p>Chiesa</p> <p><strong>"Why does no one in the West raise his voice about what is happening in Orissa?"</strong> </p> <p>ROMA (Chiesa) - "In the village, the climate between us and the Hindus had always been good. We invited them to our celebrations, and we participated in theirs. But now we are all afraid." Fr. Santosh Kumar Singh, a young priest of the archdiocese of Chuttack and Bhubaneswar, is talking about his Baminigam. <br />He is talking about a village like so many others in this area of eastern India. A group of houses in the forest that, all of a sudden, has been turned into the epicenter of the strongest wave of anti-Christian violence in recent years. <br />It is the story of what happened here in Orissa at Christmas. With the raids by the Hindu fanatics of the RSS, who left behind seven dead and hundreds of homes, churches, schools, and clinics burned in the district of Kandhamal. And in a climate of intimidation that – several months later – is still palpable. <br />Again at Palm Sunday, for example, in the village of Tyiangia, a crowd incited by the usual characters gathered shouting anti-Christian slogans. Violence was avoided only because the pastor decided to cancel the procession. <br />Everything began in Baminigam on December 24, Christmas Eve. "Do you want to know how it really happened?" Fr. Santosh asks immediately. Telling the story is important to him, because there are several reconstructions of the events. <br />And the one that appeared in the Indian newspapers identifies the spark in the aggression against the swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a Hindu holy man linked to the RSS who travels around Orissa to " bring back to their origins" the tribals who have converted to Christianity. <br />"That's not what happened," rebuts Fr. Santosh. "It all started when, on the morning of December 24, our permission to celebrate Christmas in the town square was revoked. Our stallkeepers arrived and were told that they had to go back home. There must have been some tension as well. But two hundred men armed with clubs suddenly emerged from the forest, and began to destroy and burn everything." <br />The violence continued for four days. It was fostered by the inexplicable delay in the intervention of the security forces. The Christians were forced to flee into the forest in order to survive, while their homes continued to burn. There remained in the forest for days and nights, in the cold, eating what they were able to find. Until, finally, the local authorities set up tent encampments. And in the district of Kandhamal, a calm returned full of tension and of serious doubts. <br />"We had realized what was about to happen," recounts Raphael Cheenath, the archbishop of Chuttack-Bhubaneswar, whose territory includes the district of Kandhamal. " On December 22, we had clearly told the authorities that we were afraid of suffering violence at Christmas. They had promised us protection. Instead, they did absolutely nothing." <br />I met Archbishop Cheenath in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa. The district of Kandhamal is about five or six hours away by car, in the forest. And yet during those days, the violence had arrived all the way to the archbishop's residence, with a Molotov cocktail thrown against the entrance. <br />And it is no mystery to anyone that the meetings of the RSS in which Christians are identified as the enemy are also held in that city of 800,000 inhabitants. But, more than the clandestine secrets, it is the public decisions that worry the archbishop, and the ambiguous attitude of the local government, headed by prime minister Naveen Patnaik, an ally of the BJP, the Hindu nationalist party. <br />"In February," the archbishop continues, "right here in Orissa there was an attack on the part of Maoist guerrillas. They attacked a police barracks and killed some of the officers. A state of emergency was declared immediately: the military arrived en masse in a few hours. At Christmas, instead – when it was the Christians who were suffering violence in the district of Kandhamal – It took four days. Why this difference in the reaction? ". <br />But there is also the problem of assistance for the victims, which is still unresolved. "They do not allow our organizations to bring assistance," Archbishop Cheenath charges. "There are people there who have lost everything: their homes were burned, and they were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The government has promised to take care of them, but the help does not come. And the population continues to suffer." <br />Together with the houses, in the district of Kandhamal, the work of 30 years has been completely destroyed: schools, clinics, centers of assistance. Even the house of the Missionaries of Charity, the male branch of the order of Mother Teresa of Calcutta – which shelters lepers and tuberculosis patients – was attacked. Everything was left to burn for hours, while the Christians were fleeing into the forest. And now school is held under the tents. <br />"Misereor" – the international solidarity organization of the German Church – has come forward to help with reconstruction. But the government of Orissa is not giving them permission. For 42 days, the archbishop himself was refused permission to visit the stricken communities. <br />"Officially, " comments Archbishop Cheenath, "they tell us that this is for security reasons. But the truth is that they want to block the presence of Christian organizations. The Hindu extremists accuse us of carrying out conversions through aid operations. But this is a false accusation: everyone saw this in Orissa in 1999, when there was a tremendous cyclone. Two thousand of our volunteers were mobilized. And they helped everyone, without distinction." In order to resolve the situation, the Indian Supreme Court had to intervene on April 8, with a judgment that declared the ban illegitimate. <br />In looking at this big city, so much like so many others, it is difficult to believe that it is a haven for fanatics. "We know that many Hindus are against the violence, " the archbishop confirms." Privately, they have even expressed solidarity with us. But they are afraid of speaking out. And so this campaign of hatred conducted by the fanatics is producing results. They are depicting us as enemies, and saying openly that they want to destroy us." <br />"But where do you think that all this hatred against Christians comes from?", I ask him. <br />"I am convinced," the archbishop replies, "that there is a hidden cause behind the religious extremism, one of a social nature. The real problem is not the conversions, but the work that the Christians in Orissa have done over the past 140 years on behalf of the tribals and the Dalits, the lowest in the caste system. Before, there were like slaves. Now, at least some of them study in our schools, start enterprises in the villages, assert their rights. And those – even in the India of the economic boom – who want to keep intact the ancient caste divisions, are afraid that they will become too strong. The Orissa of today is a laboratory. At stake is the future of millions of Dalits and tribals living all over the country." <br />Orissa is like the new laboratory for the fundamentalists: so many say this over and over again in the Christian community. Because it is true that this is one of the poorest states in the subcontinent. But also here in Bhubaneswar, something is starting to happen. You leave the archbishop's residence and plunge into the Big Bazar, the brand new American-style shopping center. The airport – like all of the Indian airports – is in expansion. And in the city, office buildings are multiplying. <br />"It seems incredible, but when we opened twenty years ago, it was still jungle around here," recounts Fr. E. A. Augustine, director of the Xavier Institute of Management, one of the city's most respected institutions. It is an economics faculty with an interesting history: it is the result of an agreement between the government of Orissa and the local Jesuit province. <br />So even in a state like Orissa, where an anti- conversion law is in effect, there is no difficulty in naming a public entity after Saint Francis Xavier. Because in India, the Xavier School is synonymous with quality everywhere. "Everyone wants to imitate our structures, " continues Fr. Augustine, " they acknowledge their quality. Apart from some fanatics, they respect us. But we do not want to be a center for elites. For example, and we also organize courses in rural management, specifically designed for the development of villages." <br />And then – also here in Bhubaneswar – there is the other face of the Jesuit presence. It is that of the Human Life Center, with its popular courses in spoken English to help those who have emigrated to the city from rural areas. Or the courses in tailoring, typing, computers, to provide opportunities for those who otherwise would have none. And then there are the seven schools opened right in the slums of Bhubaneswar. Because change must arrive there as well. <br />The impression is that in the end, the real problem lies here. The violence in Orissa is not simply the inheritance of a past that India is struggling to leave behind it. The clash concerns the present, and above all the future of the country. It concerns a social situation in which those who for centuries have remained at the margins are beginning to come forward. And so those who – on the contrary – want to maintain the status quo are playing the card of the threat to identity. <br />There is an important electoral appointment in view: in May of 2009, general elections will be held in India. The BJP – the Hindu nationalist party, defeated in 2004 by the alliance of the Congress Party and the left – is aiming at a comeback. And – as the violence against the Muslims in Gujarat demonstrated in 2002 – inciting tension among religious groups is the most effective way to consolidate the ranks. <br />"It is no accident," maintains Fr. Jimmy Dhabby, director of the Indian Social Institute in New Delhi, "that this violence against Christians erupted a few weeks after the reconfirmation of Narendra Modi, a leading member of the BJP, as head of the state of Gujarat. And that it happened in Orissa, a state where voting for the local government will be held in 2009." <br />It is a game that – despite the events of Christmas – is moving forward in Bhubaneswar. It's enough to open the local edition of the newspaper "The Indian Express" on any day of the week to find statements like this, from the leader of the RSS K.S Sudar-shan: "There are many threats hanging over the nation: the violence of the Maoists, the Islamic jihad, the conversions of the Christian missionaries. We must be united in order to react. Do not wait for someone else to do it for you." <br />Even the investigation opened by the government of Orissa to shed light on what happened at Christmas is proceeding according to rather questionable methods. "After months without any news whatsoever," John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, charged on his blog, "the judge handling the case arrived without warning in the district of Kandhamal. He questioned the sisters and the priests. They were astounded when they were asked: Have you converted anyone here?" As if the object of the investigation were the activity of the Christians, and not the violence committed by the Hindu fanatics. <br />Another worrying chapter is that of compensation. "So far no official indications have been provided," Dayal continues, "but we have read in the newspapers that while schools, hostels, and clinics will be able to receive a contribution of 200 thousand rupees (about 5 thousand dollars), the churches and convents will be excluded from anycompensation. If this were true, it would be not only surprising, but also offensive. The main targets of the attacks were precisely the churches and convents. Excluding them makes no sense." <br />This is the atmosphere now in Orissa. "An explosive situation is lurking beneath the ashes," says Hemanl Naik, of the Orissa Dalit Adivasi Action Net. "For some time the Hindu nationalists have been campaigning to 'reconvert' the tribal Christians. Are these not violations of the anti-conversion laws? Why do they not apply to them?" <br />After so many people were killed, so many homes and Christian churches burned, one question must be asked. What is the difference with respect to the Islamic violence in other regions, for which – rightly – so much space is reserved in the media? And why does no one in the West raise his voice about what is happening in Orissa? The protest of the Christians in front of parliament in New Delhi at Easter did not appear in our newspapers. <br />The reply of Archbishop Cheenath is a bitter one: "The India of today is a market sought after by everyone," he explains. "There are strong economic interests, and everyone wants to have good relations with us. In this kind of situation, no one cares about what is happening to the minorities." <br />It is an unsettling cry of pain that is coming from the Christians of Orissa today. </p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-12168829523716171372008-02-08T02:41:00.001-08:002008-02-08T02:41:34.136-08:00A dangerous mix<p>What does it take to create a communal flashpoint? Some answers are obvious: a precipitating incident, simmering tensions between two religious communities and initial administrative failure to cope with the flare-up. But records and documents relating to the disturbances in Orissa’s Kandhamal district show that, in addition to these, some venerable institutions of the country are also inadvertently responsible for creating tensions, which have been rising since 2002: the legislature, the judiciary and the executive have all contributed to aggravating the situation in Kandhamal at some stage or other, until mindless violence gripped the region in the last week of December and continued for days.</p> <p>The communal clash was triggered on December 24 by a trivial event at Brahmanigaon. The Christians wanted to put up a Christmas tree and a few decorative gates on a public ground where Durga Puja is traditionally held. The Hindus refused to allow them, and a violent clash between the two communities occurred. Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a revered Hindu religious leader of the area, hearing about the clash was rushing to the spot, when en route he was allegedly attacked. With that, communal fire engulfed the district.</p> <p>The date of the first clashes, Christmas eve, is significant, but much more so is the fact that this was also the eve of a two-day bandh called by a section of the Kui community, the Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samiti. Why was the bandh called? The samiti, comprising Hindu tribals, was protesting against the granting of Scheduled Tribe status to Kui-speaking Pana Christians. And therein hangs a tale.</p> <p>Until 2002, the Kuis were included in the list of Scheduled Castes of Orissa. But with the passing of a presidential order that year (which later became an act — the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Orders [Amendment] Act), their status was changed to that of a Scheduled Tribe. Referring to the Kuis, the official press release from the Ministry of Law and Justice said: “The act seeks to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order 1950, made by the President in terms of the provisions of Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution, to effect transfer of communities from the list of Scheduled Castes (SCs) to that of the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs) as they had been wrongly included in the list of Scheduled Castes whereas they belong to Scheduled Tribes category.”</p> <p>But the same presidential order, which classified the Kuis as STs, also referred to Panas, who also speak the Kui dialect, as a Scheduled Caste who should not be given ST status. Taradutt, then Orissa’s commissioner, in a clarifying note, wrote, “Pana, Pano, Buna Pana and Desua Pana, which have been specified as a Scheduled Caste, cannot be shown as Kui, a Scheduled Tribe.”</p> <p>Despite this, the Panas, because they spoke Kui, preferred to believe that they too were now STs. What difference did it make? A good number of the Panas are Christians, all of them converts to Christianity. As SC Christians, they are not eligible for the benefits of affirmative action, reservation of jobs and seats in educational institutions being prime among them. But as ST Christians, they would be, since all tribals enjoy these benefits, irrespective of religion. But any such benefit extended to them is deeply resented by the Hindu Kuis, who fear that there will be more claimants for the limited benefits they enjoy. </p> <p>A tussle in the Orissa High Court has also compounded the problem. The Kui Janakalyan Sangha moved court seeking ST status for all Kui speakers. In its judgment in July, 2007, the High Court directed the government to “look into the matter and make necessary correction of the Record of Rights in accordance with the presidential order of 2002”. This seemed to suggest that the court had upheld the organisation’s claim.</p> <p>But soon after, two locals went to the High Court again, appealing to it to ‘recall’ the earlier order. In September, 2007, the court decreed that if the concerned authorities felt Panas should be categorised as SC and not ST, there was no need to make any changes in the Record of Rights!</p> <p>It all hinges on that ‘if’ and tensions remain.</p> <p><i></i></p> <p><i>Soumyajit Pattnaik is Coordinating Editor, Hindustan Times, Bhubaneswar</i></p> <p><em><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com">www.hindustantimes.com</a></em></p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-79971973804647211502008-01-09T21:12:00.001-08:002008-01-09T21:12:03.852-08:00Christians under attack<p>Thu, 2008-01-10 02:36 </p> <p>By Tukoji R. Pandit - Syndicate Features</p> <p>For a country that swears by secularism attacks on the minority communities is a matter of deep concern. The outside world cares little if these attacks are sporadic or frequent. For the world it matters even less if the offence against the minorities comes from the state or a small organised section of fundamentalists among the majority community, even if that is true in most cases. </p> <p>The history of Hindu-Muslim clashes is old and looks intractable. Though few and far between, there have been Hindu-Sikh clashes. And in recent years the Christian community has also been subjected to frequent attacks in a number of states. It hardly lessens the guilt that the clashes are more or less confined to small tribal belts in one or more states. The crimes against Christians have included murder, arson and rape with the law enforcing agencies unable to take preventive action despite intelligence warnings of impending trouble.</p> <p>Christianity in India is nearly as old as the religion itself. The oppressive caste system in the majority community was one of the factors that led to its expansion in India over the centuries. The community has a high percentage of literacy and is known to be peaceful and docile with no history of enmity with other communities.</p> <p>Orissa had shocked much of India and the outside world in 1999 when a 58-year old Australian missionary, who had worked among leprosy sufferers for 34 years, and his two sons aged 10 and 8 were burnt alive by a Bajrang Dal mob, led by Dara Singh who saw his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment even as he refuses to express any regrets for what he did. </p> <p>More shocking was the effort of the BJP-led NDA government of the time ruling at the centre not to take a serious note of the crime because the perpetrators belonged to the Sangh Parivar to which the dominant party in the ruling coalition owed allegiance. One union minister in the coalition, a Christian to boot, appeared eager to dilute the allegations against the Bajrang Dal. The then prime minister tried to sidestep the issue by saying that the matter needed a national debate; a formula that he wanted applied to Gujarat too. He later went on to claim that reducing communal violence was one of the great achievements of his government! </p> <p>The Orissa incident was condemned worldwide, much to the embarrassment of the country though not the Sangh Parivar. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the NDA government of failing to prevent violence against Christians and compounding that lapse by ‘exploiting’ communal tensions for ‘political ends’. In a 37-page report, it said that attacks on Christians had increased ‘significantly after the BJP came to power (at the centre) in 1998’.</p> <p>The BJP-led government at the centre has since gone but that has apparently not reduced the tension between the Hindu fundamentalists and Christians in the tribal belts of Orissa as well as some nearby states in eastern and central India. With nearly 95 percent of its population Hindu, the minorities constitute a very small number of Orissa’s population. Even among the scheduled tribes in the state, over 88 percent are Hindus and only a little over 7 percent are Christians.</p> <p>Attacks on such tiny population in one state cannot be justified on any ground. The entire tribal belt in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgrah and Gujarat, where Hindu-Muslim tensions have taken a dangerous turn in recent years, is equally afflicted by Hindu-Christian tensions. Rajasthan is another state to witness Christian bashing and not just in remote villages but also in some of the big towns.</p> <p>If the Sangh Parivar is to be believed proselytiser priests are at the root of the clashes with the Christians. The Christians deny the charge that they offer inducements or force the largely illiterate but poor and neglected people in the tribal belts to convert. There is no justification for use of force or even any kind of inducement to convert a person. But by the same token ‘re-conversion’ can also be faulted. Several Indian states, Orissa among them, have laws that ban forcible conversions. How many times have acts of ‘forcible’ conversions been brought to the notice of police? </p> <p>But assuming that even the police cannot altogether prevent conversions that result out of ‘force’ or some allurement, there is a more important related aspect to the proselytising controversy. Even the Sangh Parivar says that almost all the cases of ‘forcible’ conversion are reported from among the Adivasis who are among the most backward. The booming economy has not made much difference to their lot. They are not considered part of the mainstream and they hardly command any respect from the caste-ridden society. </p> <p>If anyone or any group is really concerned about the Adivasis they should be really emulating the Christian missionaries in reaching out to them, spreading education and attending to their sick and hungry. It is only in the last few years that the Sangh Parivar has tried to reach out to the Adivasis but with a political agenda—wean them away from rivals and enlist them as supporters. </p> <p>The Sangh Parivar may have opened schools in the tribal belt of a few states but it is yet to match the missionaries’ efforts in opening health care centres. No Sangh Parivar member has, for instance, rendered the kind of service to the lepers in Orissa’s Adivasi belt that Graham Staines, the Australian missionary killed in Orissa in 1999, did? </p> <p>If Hindu fundamentalists are really concerned about forcible conversion they have to adopt a two-pronged strategy to stop it. Give the poor their self-respect and meet their needs for some of the basic facilities like schools and hospitals—and jobs. </p> <p>Unprovoked attacks on the Christian community whether in a remote village or in towns will not serve any purpose other than defaming the country and weakening its roots. </p> <p>- Syndicate Feature - </p> <p><a href="http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9061">Click here for source</a></p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-13993802443231435652007-12-04T23:02:00.000-08:002008-11-13T13:31:48.567-08:00Rally against Christians in Keshkal<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWVadgbdVKXsL8Ek6lGkjKbRg_2_rfZXbmZZmZ5UTL7-PfUtmjst1TpTfJMrIZ_XYhyphenhyphenx-VCI2aoMWpV41WnudrIH3O0RaSRvl1L2FxaVrFopeGIYroDfs3ENYS5q6JN2kvFaD/s1600-h/06122007803.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165615422594748482" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWVadgbdVKXsL8Ek6lGkjKbRg_2_rfZXbmZZmZ5UTL7-PfUtmjst1TpTfJMrIZ_XYhyphenhyphenx-VCI2aoMWpV41WnudrIH3O0RaSRvl1L2FxaVrFopeGIYroDfs3ENYS5q6JN2kvFaD/s400/06122007803.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-84758754041832291822007-10-30T03:21:00.001-07:002007-10-30T03:21:30.589-07:00Anti–minority bias in the Indian Police<p>“The response of police to appeals from desperate victims, particularly Muslims, was cynical and utterly indifferent. On occasions, the response was that they were unable to leave the appointed post; on others, the attitude was that one Muslim killed was one Muslim less...Police officers and men, particularly at the junior level, appeared to have an in–built bias against the Muslims which was evident in their treatment of the suspected Muslims and Muslim victims of riots. The treatment given was harsh and brutal and , on occasions, bordering on the inhuman...The bias of policemen was seen in the active connivance of police constables with the rioting Hindu mobs, on occasions, with their adopting the role of passive on–lookers on occasions, and, finally, their lack of enthusiasm in registering offenses against Hindus even when the accused was clearly identified and post-haste classifying the cases in ‘A’ (True but not detected) summary”.</p> <p><strong><i>— Report of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission on the</i> <i>Mumbai riots of 1992–1993</i> <i></i></strong></p> <p>“This commission of inquiry has cited more than half a dozen instances where Muslim religious places adjoining police lines or police stations were attacked or damaged. The argument advanced by the police officers that because they were busy quelling riots at various other places, these police stations were shorn of adequate strength and hence these attacks on religious places could not be punished, did not impress the Commission. It has made this observation because not a single case of damage to a Hindu place of worship near a police station was reported to the Commission.” </p> <p><strong><i>— Report of the Justice Jagmohan Reddy Commission </i><i>on the Ahmedabad riots of 1969</i></strong></p> <p>“The working of the Special Investigation Squad is a study in communal discrimination. The officers of the squad systematically set about implicating as many Muslims and exculpating as many Hindus as possible irrespective of whether they were innocent or guilty. Cases of many Hindus belonging to the Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Utsav Mandal (an extension of the local branch of the Jana Sangh) were wrongly classified as ‘A’ category and investigations closed and no proper investigation was undertaken into several complaints of murders of Muslims and arson of their property. No investigation was conducted into the composition and activities of Hindu communal and allegedly communal organisations operating in Bhiwandi but only in respect of Muslim communal and allegedly communal organisations. Deputy superintendent of police S.P. Saraf held private conferences and discussions with several leaders of Hindu organisations including many who were implicated by Muslims in offences of arson and murder.”</p> <p><strong><i>— Report of the Justice D.P. Madon Commission on the </i><i>Bhiwandi, Jalgaon and Mahad of 1970</i></strong></p> <p>“The evidence of the deputy SP says that while on patrol duty he had to curb many among his rank and file who could not restrain themselves when they met Muslims on the road. Similar evidence was given by the sub–collector and other witnesses who have testified saying that while chasing away some Muslims many policemen yelled at them to go to Pakistan. At Mattambaram one or two of them got into the mosque and besides beating Usmankutty Haji, a very respectable person, broke the tube–light and chandeliers in the mosque. There is nothing to show that there was any justification for this action...So far as the minorities are concerned, it is the feeling among them that they are nor getting justice, that they are discriminated against in the matter of appointments in the Public Services, that they do not get equal protection of the law and that their religion is in danger, that prompts them to rally around religious organisations of their own. It is of the greatest importance that appropriate steps are taken by the government to remove the cause for such feelings in the minorities. There is much truth in saying that if you want peace you must work justice.”</p> <p><strong><i>— Report of the Justice Joseph Vithyathil Commission on the </i><i>Tellicherry riots, 1971</i></strong></p> <p>“The riots occurred broadly on account of the total passivity, callousness and indifference of the police in the matter of controlling the situation and protecting the people of the Sikh community.…Several instances have come to be narrated where police personnel were found marching behind or mingled in the crowd. Since they did not make any attempt to stop the mob from indulging in criminal acts an inference has been drawn that they were part of the mob and had the common intention and purpose. ...The Commission was shocked to find that there were incidents where the police wanted clear and definite allegations against the anti-social elements in different localities to be dropped out while recording FIRs.” </p> <p><strong><i>— Report of the J. Ranganath Misra Commission on the </i><i>1984 anti–Sikh riots in Delhi</i></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.sabrang.com/srikrish/antimin.htm">Click here for Source</a></strong></p> Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1163594862750792372006-11-15T04:47:00.000-08:002006-11-15T04:47:42.770-08:00The Ongoing Communalisation In Karnataka<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Nalini Taneja<br /><br />THE recent communal violence in Mangalore is part of the larger process of communalisation that the Sangh Parivar is engaged in throughout the country, and more particularly in the states where it holds the government, on its own or in partnership. Karnataka has seen considerable amount of Sangh Parivar activism in the last decade. This activism is well thought out and well planned, and does not depend on chance happenings that can be utilised by the Hindutva forces. On the contrary, incidents that appear as spontaneous outbursts are a result of systematic propaganda on issues related to the larger political agenda of the Sangh Parivar, with the issues themselves being cleverly and very deliberately introduced. To say there is an ‘incident’ almost every day is not an exaggeration (G Rajashekhar and K Phaniraj, Communalism Combat, September 2006), small enough not to get reported in the national press or the parliament, but significant enough to raise temperatures and tensions in the area concerned.<br /><br />In this context, not just Mangalore but almost any city of Karnataka can, given a small provocation, erupt in communal violence, provoked and organised by the Hindutva forces, which have mastered the art of provocation as well as shown considerable ingenuity in finding issues which are varied in their detail, but retain a unified core in purpose.<br /><br />STEADY GROWTH<br /><br />The Sangh Parivar has been steadily growing in strength in this state, a fact that has gone unnoticed in the national media, and which continues to be under estimated also by the mainstream political leadership of this country. It is only the focused citizens groups, which have recognised this reality. While the JD (S) continues to maintain that it remains secular (!), even as it partners the BJP, the Sangh Parivar has been carrying on as if it alone decides the political agenda in the state.<br /><br />The Sangh Parivar’s ride to political strength has paralleled the rise of the Sangh Parivar in the rest of the country, with the LK Advani’s rath yatra and the subsequent campaign for the Ayodhya temple culminating in the demolition of the Babri masjid and communal killings as decisive markers in its growth. The BJP’s vote share in the state was just 4.7 per cent in 1984, and 2.55 per cent in 1989. In 1991 this rose to 28.78 per cent, and in the 2004 elections the BJP became the single largest party in Karnataka, winning 79 assembly seats and 18 Lok Sabha seats in the state. (G Rajashekhar and K Phaniraj). The result is there to see in the form of support that Hindutva forces receive from the state of course, but also from what is today neutrally called as civil society. The Sangh Parivar has managed, as elsewhere in the country, to infiltrate its people in the media and the governing institutions and also to communalise popular consciousness. While thousands of people may still respond to a call for a rally in support of secularism and for taking action against the criminal acts of the Sangh Parivar organisations, there is a pervasive acceptance of the myths constructed and proliferating as a consequence of the sustained campaigns of the Hindutva organisations.<br /><br />FEEDING ON COMMUNAL ISSUES<br /><br />Anything can be an excuse as long as it lends itself to the saffron agenda, and feeds into the main planks of the Hindutva campaigns: places of worship; cow slaughter; conversions; population myths; Pakistan and anti-nationalism of minorities.<br /><br />In recent years, a place of common, syncretic worship has been transformed into a site for an Ayodhya like campaign. Every year since 1992 the Sangh Parivar has been invading Chikmagalur, a town in central Karnataka, with a view to “liberating” the cave shrine on Bababudangiri, named after a sufi saint revered across religions. They have constructed a new ‘tradition’, sectarian, and which claims the place only for Hindus. Much like in Ayodhya, the media, and the middle class intelligentsia has adopted the name given by the Sangh Parivar: just as the Babri masjid area is now referred to as Ramjanambhoomi, and the dispute as the Ramjanambhoomi dispute, so also the Bababudangiri site is being called “Dattareya Peeta”. Hate speeches abound in the region, the district administration turns a blind eye, and the government provides sanction by providing buses for darshan just as it does in the case of Ayodhya, and in another parallel, “the illegal and unconstitutional ritual called Datta Jayanti inside the cave shrine was blessed by none other than the then law minister of the Congress government who even participated in Brahminical rituals such as yagna and Homa.” Tension prevails every year as the days of the “jayanti” approach. In 2003, while secular activists were not allowed a peace rally, and were beaten up and arrested, the then Congress government allowed the sangh parivar activities to proceed unhindered around the site. (VS Sreedhara, Communalism Combat).<br /><br />Conversions are attributed to Christian organisations as well. The Hindutva forces have used this plank in Udupi and other districts of Dakshin Kannada. Udupi has been not just a Hindu pilgrimage centre, but is also home to very old mosques and churches. Members of the Hindu Yuva Sena and the Bajrang Dal have been disrupting gatherings and meetings of Protestant sects here on grounds of ‘forced conversions’, and the local newspapers have been erroneously reporting in support of them. The RSS on its part has been trying out its reconversion and ‘purification’ programmes in these areas, and continuously intimidating dalit christians.<br /><br />The law allowing for transportation of cows is being misused to accuse Muslims of large scale cow slaughter, and inciting violence against them, thus hitting out at the livelihood of Muslims, and further marginalising them. In Karnataka, beef is consumed not only by Muslims and Christians but also by Adivasis and dalits. Yet the BJP holds only the Muslims and Christians responsible for “offending Hindu religious sentiments” (G Rajashekhar and K Phaniraj). It also acts unconstitutionally because under Karnataka’s Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act any cow that is twelve years or older, does not yield milk or is infertile can be slaughtered with due permission from the gram panchayat or the city municipality. Any transportation of cows becomes an occasion for deliberate wild rumours and for taking away licences of Muslim butchers, not just with regard to cows, but for carrying out their livelihood occupation altogether. Communalism Combat, September 2006, has reported on how one such campaign resulted in communal tensions, some violence and denial of right to livelihood to Muslims in some villages in the Udupi district. Bajrang Dal members also killed a Hindu priest whose job was to mediate in a general sale of cows, not for slaughter at all.<br /><br />There are numerous reports of Muslims being targeted, publicly stripped of their clothes, paraded naked, and assaulted for ‘offending the Hindu view of life’. The Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Yuva Sena function in some districts as a law unto themselves, unchallenged by the local administrative machinery. Offenders are in some cases nominated for local posts by the BJP. Some Kannada language newspapers in the state have been getting away with publishing false stories, baseless theories and imagined facts as scoop stories. Vijaya Karnataka, the largest selling Kannada daily actually carried a four column article on September 8, 2006, alleging links between the Mumbai underworld and the Muslims of coastal Karnataka, and concocting ‘facts’ on seizure of explosives and AK 47s from the Muslim areas. This paper was launched in 1999 by Vijay Sankeshwar Rao, who was then a sitting BJP MP. Udayavani is another paper known for its communalised news ‘reports’, presentation of engineered rumours as facts, editorials, and opinion pieces. (Gauri Lankesh, Communalism Combat, September 2006). On the Bababudangiri issue, the media has made considerable contribution in communalising it, and made grounds for controversy where there were none, in a manner similar to Babri masjid, which became a ‘disputed structure’ and finally Ramjanmbhoomi, almost entirely due to the media adopting the favoured Sangh Parivar nomenclature for the masjid.<br /><br />TARGETING SECULAR STRONGHOLDS<br /><br />Although Dakshin Karnataka and Udipi district, not to speak of the Mangalore where ‘riots’ were recently engineered, are strong bases of the Sangh Parivar, their activities are widely spread over the entire state. All the areas targeted by the Hindutva forces have historically been home to syncretic cultures. In terms of religions there is a history of interactions between Islam and the various cults broadly termed as Hinduism, and the influence of Christianity and even Buddhism and Jainism. Kannada language and literature have imbibed influences from Persian and Urdu traditions along with the strong component of the entire south Indian literary and language heritage. The same can be said of the architecture in the state, including that of the Vijayanagar Empire, ruled by Hindu kings. The Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Islamic architectural patterns are found cheek by jowl all over the state. The Bible in Kannada is centuries old, the Christian missionaries have contributed significantly to the spread of literacy in the state, and there are old churches that are part of the architectural and religious tradition of Karnataka. Food flavours are varied and specific to regions, with caste and religious variations, and cannot be strictly demarcated only along religious lines though the Sangh Parivar would have us believe that only Muslims eat beef, or that Hindus are not naturally meat eaters etc.<br /><br />The Sangh Parivar is out to deliberately subvert this entire composite cultural heritage, through the creation of a concocted Kannada tradition, which is sectarian, chauvinistic and Hindu in character. This it is doing not just through the textbooks in the schools run by the Parivar and through influencing changes in the books used in the state school system, but also through utilising all other public channels of communication, and taking advantage of the right to free speech and dissemination of ideas that a democracy entails. It is using democracy to subvert all democratic gains, not just in the cultural but also the political sphere of life. It is doing this through sharing political power in the state, and political clout in the administration and muscle power on the streets.<br /><br />There is a need to challenge it on all these fronts. Allowing the Sangh Parivar to get away with much that is unconstitutional, not only gives it greater confidence and contributes to its muscle power on the streets, but is also gradually transforming the Indian State itself, by making much that constitutes unconstitutionality a part of our regular political life. The UPA government obviously has no problems with this.<br /> </span></div>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1160126630231538052006-10-06T02:23:00.000-07:002006-10-06T02:23:50.246-07:00Back to their basics<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ram Punyani<br /><br />September 22, 2006<br /><br />The attempt to prevent conversions out of the Hindu fold is not a new phenomenon. It has, however, gained momentum during the last few years, more so in the BJP-ruled states. The excuse for introducing this ‘freedom’, through the Freedom of Religion Bill, is that millions are being converted to other religions in order to weaken the Hindu society.<br /><br />In Gujarat, the issue has another dimension. This Bill grants Hindus the right to convert to Buddhism and Jainism, but not to ‘foreign’ religions, in which case permission has to be sought from the authorities. The implication is that all religions born in India — Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism — are mere sects of Hinduism, and not full-fledged religions by themselves. One may wonder why Sikhism has been left out of the Gujarat Bill. Perhaps the Bill’s drafters remembered the huge protests by a section of the Sikhs not too long ago when the RSS Sarsanghchalak had said that Sikhism was a sect of Hinduism.<br /><br />Definitions apart, one also recalls that B.R. Ambedkar had converted to Buddhism. Having borne the humiliations imposed on his community by the Hindu caste system, he pointed out that Hinduism is essentially a Brahmanic theology, based on a rigid hierarchy of caste and gender. Untouchability is just one expression of the same. The Jains demanded and won the status of a minority, which was, however, vehemently opposed by the VHP. The RSS ideology also claims that the Adivasis are Hindus who went into the forests to escape forced conversion by Muslim kings. Thus, they got ‘isolated’ and became lower castes. So, the story goes, they are simply vanvasis (forest dwellers), not adivasis. It follows, then, that bringing them back into the Hindu fold is gharvapasi (homecoming), not conversion.<br /><br />As such, there are many ‘Hinduisms’. Nathuram Godse followed one variety, and M.K. Gandhi another. ‘Godse Hinduism’, the Brahmanic one, which is the backbone of the RSS combine, is based on the purush sukta of the Vedas, which points out that Lord Brahma himself created castes from the body of the Virat Purush — Brahmins from the mouth, Kshatriyas from the arms, Vaishyas from the thighs and Shudras from the feet. Most of the other religions that are claimed as off-shoots of Hinduism reject this idea as well as the caste system.<br /><br />The Adivasis worship nature. In Hinduism, polytheism, tritheism, monotheism and even atheism, all run as parallel streams. However, in Buddhism, the very concept of God does not exist. While Hinduism does not have a prophet, all the other faiths do, barring that of the Adivasis, who are animists.<br /><br />The word ‘Hindu’ began as a geographical category, when those coming from the West identified the people living around the river Sindhu (which they pronounced as ‘Hindu’, since the use of the ‘s’ sound is restricted in Arabic), as Hindus. Brahmanical values prevalent here came to be projected as Hinduism.<br /><br />The definition of Hinduism evolved over time. As there is no prophet, the religion itself is very amorphous, meaning different things to different people. With the rise of communal politics in the late 20th century, Muslim and Hindu communalists came up from among the feudal classes. The Muslim League propounded the concept of the Islamic nation, helped by the fact that Islam did not require a new definition. The Hindu communalists, however, had to first define what Hinduism was. At this point, V.D. Savarkar put forward the definition of a Hindu as being one who regards this land as the ‘holy land’ as well as the ‘father land’. This political definition of Hindus excludes only Christians and Muslims from the Hindu fold and tries to bring under its hegemony all other Indian religions.<br /><br />Why is the Sangh parivar so paranoid about people converting to other religions? While it is being said that Buddhism is also part of Hinduism, every effort is being made by the saffron brigade to thwart the attempt of Dalits to convert to Buddhism. The Adivasis are being indoctrinated into worshipping Hindu gods such as Hanuman, and elaborate rituals have been designed for ‘Gharvapasi’, a major phenomenon in Adivasi areas.<br /><br />The RSS Sarsanghchalak points out that the caste system saved Hinduism — read Brahmanism — as the hierarchy delineated in Brahmanical Hinduism gives the upper castes authority over lower castes. The fear that lower castes or Adivasis will convert to other religions is perceived as a threat because the prevalent system still helps the perpetuation of the social power of the upper caste elite. Similar efforts were made by communalists in the early 20th century when Muslim communalists wanted to swell their ranks by starting a campaign of tanzim (conversion). Hindu communalists then began their own conversion campaign, and started conducting shuddhi of those who had become ‘impure’ by accepting other religions, particularly Islam.<br /><br />As things stand, the Christian population of India is declining. The poorer Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis have seen a slight rise in their population. The conversion issue is a veiled threat to the minorities. When foreign funds are already regulated by the Home Ministry, why scare people by screaming about the threat of foreign money funding conversions? It seems that for the BJP, with Ayodhya unable to rustle up past fervour, stoking the conversion issue is the best bet to return to the stage.<br /><br />Ram Punyani is a former professor at IIT, Mumbai<br /> </span></div>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1160125857222904322006-10-06T02:10:00.000-07:002006-10-06T02:10:57.273-07:00Freedom to believe<strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:130%;">Freedom to believe</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The debate on religious conversion in India has spiralled out of control</span><br/><u><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></u><br/><u><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">BY RAJEEV DHAVAN</span></u><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></em><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Tolerating conversion</span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The debate on the people’s right to convert from one faith to another has simply gone out of hand. India is simply losing its sensitivities on this issue. India is a vast country with many faiths. It is the home of many religions. It has the second largest Muslim population in the world – after Bangladesh. It has more Christians than Australia. It is the home of Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and a myriad of other faiths as well as faiths within faiths. Hinduism is not a monolithic faith although the Supreme Court in its decision in the Swami Narayan Temple Entry case (1966) gave such an expanded assimilationist interpretation to the word ‘Hindu’ that it blurred over divisions within and beyond the Hindu faith. It repeated this exercise in the Hindutva cases (1996) by virtually helping to redefine a new political religion. In the Jain case (2005), the court clearly offended the Jains by an assimilationist approach to their religion. All this goes against common sense and the constitutional dispensation that a religion is drawn from the faith itself and not a judicial version of what judges think it is. It was not for the Supreme Court to construct a faith on the basis of what others think. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">This takes us to the core of our present discontent about the present and past controversies about religious conversion in India. The entire conversion debate is dominated by the Hindu Right whose political agenda is: (a) to declare the country and Indian civilisation as primarily, if not solely, a Hindu civilisation, (b) to insist that all past conversions over the centuries were induced by fear, fraud and opportunism, (c) to regard all past conversion as essentially suspect and (d) to pursue an intimidating policy to try and ensure that future conversions from Hinduism should not take place, and in any event, be minimised. It is thus clear that the controversy about conversion is inextricably linked to the rise of the new religious faith of political ‘Hindutva’. Belligerent, apprehensive, uncompromising and vicious in its attitude, the new face of ‘political Hindutva’ has surfaced with plans, policies and programmes to attack and discipline all other faiths. The policy of attack is clear from the destruction of the Babri Masjid, the murder of Rev. Staines, the intimidation of Christians and Muslims and murders in Gujarat and elsewhere. The policy of disciplining other faiths includes both a programme to impose fear on others as well as a legal policy to intimidate non-Hindu minorities through the processes of the law. There is a vast trail of legal and illegal censorship imposed by the cohorts of the new political Hindutva. The illegal strategy is articulated in the attacks on Hussain’s paintings and on the Bhandarkar Institute which, ironically, has been home to a lot of learning and archives on Hinduism. The legal strategy has been to arrest and intimidate minorities for hurting Hindutva sensitivities. The sheer aggression of politicised Hindutva is self-evident from the various campaigns the Hindutva Right have followed. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion, the Constitution and Hindutva</span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">One of the areas of legal intimidation has been on the issue of ‘conversion’. A common sense approach would be to say that people are free to convert from one faith to another if they wish to. In fact, historically, India is a country of converts. There were conversions from Hinduism to Jainism, to Buddhism and to Islam and Christianity. Over time, all this had added a richness and uniqueness to India. Today a Muslim or a Christian is a Muslim or a Christian, not a past Hindu. If people want to convert, they have the right to do so – without requiring the permission of the state or setting up a system whereby police officials and magistrates will be watching conversions under a system of conversion by surveillance. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">India’s Constitution has to be sensitively read so as to admit to the right to conversion being a constitutional right to pursue a faith and belief of one’s choice – including, perforce, the right not to have any faith. There are two aspects to this. The </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">first </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">is the right of the person to convert to another faith if they want to. This is clear from the text or Article 25 of the Constitution which says "all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion". Nothing could be clearer than this on the question of choice of faith. The </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">second </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">aspect also flows from Article 25. This is a right of adherents to a religion to propagate their faith. This entered the constitutional text because in the Constituent Assembly, M. Rathnaswamy suggested an amendment to the earlier draft of Article 25 to add the word ‘propagate’ to the text. This was done with the object of giving proselytising (and indeed, non-proselytising) faiths a chance to make their faith known to others. That the Supreme Court in Stanislaus’ Case (1977) said that the right to propagate does not necessarily mean the right to convert does not alter the basic approach of the Constitution that (a) people have a right to pursue a faith of their choice and (b) adherents of a faith have a right to propagate their faith.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The real question was whether this right to propagate should be monitored under a system of surveillance under a threat of prosecution for wrongful conversions. Unfortunately, there are too many Hindutva myths about present day conversions. I use the words ‘present day conversions’ advisedly. Something may be made of the conversions of ‘imperial’ Christianity through its priests. But that was all in the past. People rooted in the present, whose ancestors may have converted out of the Hindu (or any other) faith, have to be respected for the faiths they continue to choose to follow. The ‘Hindutva’ faith profiles all conversions as inherently suspect since it seems to hurt Hindutva pride. The idea that Hindus might prefer another faith is anathema. Babasaheb Ambedkar made it clear that he was leaving Hinduism for Buddhism because he found the former insensitive, cruel and corrupt. But proponents of ‘Hindutva’ get more annoyed if Hindus convert to Islam or Christianity. In ‘Hindutva’ minds, these are foreign faiths even though they have been practised and have had a following in India for centuries. This rancour that Hindus are deserting to a ‘foreign’ faith becomes a rallying cry to the Hindutva faithful. Willy-nilly, Muslims and Christians come to be targeted not just because they are different but they are impliedly accused in the Hindutva mind as stealing Hindus to their fold. But in fact there is no evidence of such stealing. A convert can easily decry the process of conversion after the conversion. But years pass by and converts remain happy with the faith they have converted to. Not satisfied with this, it is said that it is the poor that fall prey to conversion. This too seems highly doubtful. Professor Kalam’s excellent research in Tamil Nadu suggests the contrary. It is not the poor but the better off who convert. The Kalam research is dated by a couple of decades. He is going to follow it through with confirmatory explorations. But the myth of desperate conversions by the poor under inducement and fraud does not seem to have any foundation and seems illogical. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion under surveillance</span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But since the forces of Hindutva cannot police the minorities they have decided to police the conversions. In 1954, the union Parliament refused to pass an Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill or the Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill in 1960. But with the change in political power in the states in 1966, state governments began to pass legislation to monitor conversions. First came the Orissa Act of 1967, then the Madhya Pradesh Act of 1968 and then the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 1978. Acts were passed in Tamil Nadu, which were sought to be made stringent by Chief Minister Jayalalitha. Similar legislation exists in Gujarat (2003) and Chhattisgarh (2005). More recently, a bill was passed by the Rajasthan legislature which the governor seems to have reserved for presidential assent. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The Orissa and Madhya Pradesh bills were upheld by the Supreme Court in Stanislaus’ case (1977) where the court took the view that the right to propagate did not include the right to convert. But the judgement of the Supreme Court is wrong both in its interpretation of the right to propagate as well as on other counts. Two aspects need to be highlighted. The first is that the Supreme Court looked at the right to convert as part of the right to propagate one’s faith to others but not the right of a person to get converted to another faith. Those seeking to convert another may have the right to propagate but not convert, but this cannot eclipse the right of the converted to choose a religion or faith of their choice. Secondly, the court did not scrutinise the contents of the legislation and test it on the grounds of public order, health or morality, which are the sole grounds on which the rights of a person to choose their faith can be curtailed. In 2004 the Supreme Court used up an opportunity to consider the issue by blindly following the Stanislaus case and giving a short judgement without even issuing notice to the other side to hear the matter properly. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Anyway, the standard pattern of conversion bills is founded on the principles of policing and surveillance over conversion. There is a system of reporting conversion to the authorities, subjecting the conversion to scrutiny on the basis of fraud or inducement and filing criminal prosecutions on those who perform conversions or organise events to enable conversions to take place. </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">One would have thought the Indian legal system has better things to do than policing conversions and subjecting them to surveillance. </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Unfortunately, the votaries of the new aggressive Hindutva rely on the Supreme Court’s judgement in 1977, made during the height of the Emergency when the Supreme Court’s juristic sensitivities eluded some of the judges. The Stanislaus case (1977) must be reassessed. In any event, the new legislations on conversions must be subject to scrutiny. Such legislation is not getting better. It is only getting worse.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The process is the punishment</span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">With this we must turn to the effect of anti-conversion surveillance regimes on the minority communities who are targeted by this and other legislation. Such legislation immediately puts them on the defensive. They cannot praise their own faith. When people want to convert, they are subject to report back and policing. This is followed by criminal investigation and prosecution. Eventually, they may be acquitted. But in real terms, the </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">process is the punishment. </span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The fact that the process can be the punishment is what concerns me in respect of a recent judgement of the Supreme Court in the Pastor Raju case (2006). India has created many offences which are aimed at preserving religious and communal harmony. The upshot of these offences is that they prohibit promoting enmity between groups (Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code), imputations and assertions which are a threat to national integrity (Section 153B) and the acts which deliberately outrage religious feelings or insult the religion or religious beliefs of a class (Section 295A). Such offences may be necessary. But there is a significant aspect to these offences that cannot be overlooked. Under the Indian legal system, any individual can simply file a First Information Report (FIR) for serious (cognisable) cases. The effect of this is that as soon as an FIR is filed, the police start investigating and there is an even chance that the perpetrator will be subject to pre-trial imprisonment. If the offence is not serious, the process can be triggered off by complaints to the magistrate to initiate the legal process with all its ensuing consequences. This means anyone can put a religious adversary into a position where they are investigated and jailed. The government was aware of the mischief that could emanate from these provisions. Such mischief could create antagonism between communities. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Wisely, Indian law has interposed a safeguard whereby these sensitive offences can only proceed if the government in question </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sanctions </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">the prosecution. A similar safeguard is given in cases of corruption by civil servants and actions in defamation of government servants and some matrimonial offences (See Sections 195-199 of the Indian Penal Code). The purpose behind such a sanction procedure is to ensure that there is no frivolous prosecution and trial. In the cases that we are concerned with, if there was no </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sanction safeguard </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">the forces of Hindutva would unleash prosecution after prosecution on minority communities on the basis of some or imagined hurt to the sensitivities of Hindutva. The question is how comprehensive and complete is the sanction safeguard so as to make sure that the offences to prevent religious strife are not used to create strife. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Pastor Raju lives in Karnataka. On January 14, 2005 there were great celebrations in Rampura, Channapatna. The occasion was the festival of Sakranti. Pastor Raju was also there. It is alleged that he spoke to various people to convert to Christianity in that the latter had more to offer than the Hindu faith. It is not entirely clear as to how and in what manner this speech was made – if indeed such a speech was made at all. This must have irritated a Shri Lokesha who then proceeded to file an FIR and an offence under Section 153B was made out. This section was introduced in 1972 and seeks to criminalise any imputation or assertion which is prejudicial to national integration. The purpose behind this section is to prevent a collective condemnation of any religious, racial, language, regional group, caste or community by asserting that they are not worthy citizens who believe in the integrity and sovereignty of India (Section 153B (a) and (b)). But Section 153B also criminalises assertions, pleas and appeals which cause disharmony, enmity or ill will between people (Section 153B (1)(c)). Where such offences are in (a) religious place or during a religious event, the punishment would increase from three years and/or a fine to five years and/or a fine (Section 153B (2)). Thus the offence is a serious offence subject to considerable penalties. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The police decided to arrest Pastor Raju. It is not clear why he was arrested. But there must have been some compulsions to do so. Pastor Raju was then taken to a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody. Later, a bail application was rejected. Pastor Raju moved the high court to say that the entire proceeding should be quashed because the safeguard of getting a sanction from the state government was not fulfilled. In common sense terms, it seemed fair to raise this plea. The very purpose of the sanction safeguard was to ensure that frivolous and vexatious proceedings should not be launched in cases of this nature. In Pastor Raju’s case the wheel seemed to have turned at least half circle. He was arrested and in jail. The high court took the view that this was clearly a case where sanction under Section 196 (1-A) of the Criminal Procedure Code was required. It seemed like vexatious victimisation where the accuser was creating strife through prosecutorial investigation and litigation. This may have influenced the high court’s decision.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But, in the Supreme Court, the decision of the high court was reversed. The judgement of the Supreme Court by Justice GP Mathur for himself and Justice Dalveer Bhandari concerned itself with the technical interpretation of the sanction requirement. Unfortunately, the court did not go into the intent of the sanction safeguard and why it was part of the criminal process. This might have helped both to interpret the sanction safeguard and apply it to the facts of the case. At this stage, it might be useful to reproduce the offences which contain the sanction safeguard in the Criminal Procedure Code. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">"S. 196: Prosecution for offences against the state and for criminal conspiracy to commit such offence.- </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(1) No Court shall take cognisance of –</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(a) any offence punishable under Chapter VI or under Section 153A, Section 153B, Section 295A or Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code, (45 of 1860) or</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(b) a criminal conspiracy to commit such offence, or</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(c) any such abetment, as is described in Section 108A of the Indian Penal Code, (45 of 1860)</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">except with the previous sanction of the central government or of the state government.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(1A) No court shall take cognisance of –</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(a) any offence punishable under Section 153B or subsection (2) or subsection (3) of Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code or</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(b) a criminal conspiracy to commit such offence</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">except with the previous sanction of the central government or of the state government or of the district magistrate." </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The entire controversy in this case rotates around the idea that cases concerning offences which deal with national integration and religious strife should proceed only with the previous sanction of the central government, state government or the district magistrate. The role of the government in this regard is a critical one. Religious leaders might be arrested out of spite to give rise to public disorder. In sanction cases, the government is expected to make a comprehensive decision and to examine the facts and evidence as well (See Jaswant Singh AIR 1958 SC 125 generally). It is obvious that without a sanction the criminal process must come to an end.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But there is an important distinction between the stage of investigation and the stage of trial. One view is that unless the sanction requirement specifically says so, an offence requiring sanction may be investigated but the trial cannot proceed unless and until government sanctions a prosecution. But in many cases it is the process of investigation under conditions of imprisonment that is onerous. So when does the safeguard of sanction begin to operate?</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In dealing with the sanction safeguard, the Criminal Procedure Code does not use clear-cut language to distinguish between ‘investigation’ and trial. Had the code clearly said that an investigation in respect of such offences may continue but a trial may not there would have been no controversy. Whether that distinction may be implied is another matter. The code simply says that </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">cognisance </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">may not be taken </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">of an offence </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">without a sanction from the government. What does this mean? This cannot mean that no investigation of the offence can take place. But can we go to the other extreme and say that the arrest and judicial remand of Pastor Raju could take place and the sanction was only to prevent the </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">trial </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">from proceeding further? Where exactly does the protection of the accused from vexatious prosecution begin? Of course, the sanction safeguard is not just a protection for the accused but also a matter of public interest which necessarily recognises that random prosecutions in the area of potential religious strife are against the public interest.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">If Parliament had intended the sanction safeguard to operate only to prevent trials until the government agrees, it would have said so. There are many recognised stages which could have been specifically mentioned including (a) the judicial remand stage or (b) the stage when the </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">challan </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(police report) is filed or (c) the stage where the trial court draws up the charge sheet or (d) when the trial commences. But Parliament preferred to say that a ‘court’ shall not take cognisance of the offence unless sanction was given. Justice Mathur, in Pastor Raju’s case, accepts that "…(t)here was no special charm or any magical formula in the expression ‘taking cognisance’ which merely means judicial application of mind of the magistrate to the facts mentioned in the complaint and with a view to taking further action." He also admits that "...the word ‘cognisance’ has not been defined by the Criminal Procedure Code" and that the dictionary meaning is "judicial hearing of the matter". Matters of definition need not detain us. In RR Chari’s case (AIR 1951 SC 207), the Supreme Court laid down that "taking cognisance does not involve any formal action or indeed action of any kind but occurs as soon as the magistrate as such applies his mind to the case." This broad approach has been accepted in a large number of cases. Unfortunately, Justice Mathur does not quite tell us when cognisance is taken. He proceeds on the basis that since the sanctioning authority has to apply its mind to all the material collected during the investigation, cognisance must take place later. The real question then must be: When does the magistrate apply his judicial mind to a case? Perhaps when the magistrate simply orders an investigation he cannot be said to take cognisance of the offence (See Gopal Das AIR 1961 SC 986; Devarapally (1976) 3 SCC 252). There is some room for saying that in police cases based on FIRs the investigation takes place without an initial judicial application of mind. But there is considerable room for saying that when a person is remanded to judicial custody there has to be an application of the judicial mind and remand orders should not be "patently routine and appear to have been made mechanically" (Madhu Limaye’s case (1969) 1 SCC 292 at 299). The function of remanding a person to </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">judicial </span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">custody is essentially a judicial function and not an administrative one. If we apply the "application of mind" test it would clearly be the case that when the magistrate decided that Pastor Raju should be kept in jail under judicial custody he applied his mind to whether an offence was committed and whether Pastor Raju should be remanded into custody during the investigation. If this was so, the decision to remand Pastor Raju was cognisance within the meaning of the sanction safeguard in Section 196 of the code. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I think we need to go one step further and assert that the term cognisance of an offence may mean different things in different contexts. Such a differentiated meaning has been accepted by the courts and on various occasions the court even took the view that the same word may have a different meaning in the same sentence of a statute (Printers (Mysore) Ltd (1994) 2 SCC 434; Ismail Faruqui (1994) 2 SCC 434). This might have been a better approach to take. Cognisance can mean cognisance for custody, cognisance of the </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">challan</span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">, cognisance by way of the charge sheet, cognisance for the purpose of the trial. Ultimately, the purpose of the section must be looked at. The purpose of the sanction safeguard is to prevent the further harassment of a person in certain matters in the public interest. This purpose cannot be lost sight of. This is a matter of juristic policy. Justice Mathur observed; "on the view taken by the high court, no person accused of an offence which is of a nature which requires previous sanction of a specified authority before taking of cognisance by a court can ever be arrested nor can such an offence be investigated by the police." This summary is only partly correct. Investigation can take place. An arrest can be made. But the period for which a police arrest can be made is limited. As soon as this period is over, a judicial decision on custody cannot be made without a sanction. Justice Mathur seemed to have got lost in technical details and lost sight of the purpose of the section.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Arresting people is a serious invasion of civil liberties. That is the reason why so many judicial safeguards exist in matters of pre-trial imprisonment. The sanction safeguard was intended to prevent harassment other than starting a process of investigation. If the police think that they are right to effect an arrest and ask for judicial custody, the sanction safeguard must apply. We cannot forget or lose sight of the evocative phrase: </span><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">the process is the punishment</span></em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">. Ever so often, it is only the process that is the punishment. Generally, in common law countries, the arrest takes place when the investigation is complete. In India, arrest and judicial custody are treated as routine affairs. This is precisely what should not happen. But if the police decide to combine arrest and investigation, in some classes of cases they must get sanction for the arrest from the government before the magistrate examines the case for custody. If this is not done, the punishment will be the process. In these religious and communal offences cases, Parliament wanted to be more careful than in respect of other offences. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion and secularism</span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">India is witnessing the rise of politically motivated communalism. For this purpose, an entirely new religion called ‘Hindutva’ has been invented. Hindutva lays claim to India as an exclusively Hindu nation. The tactics of Hindutva are unscrupulous. Buildings have been destroyed. Places of learning have been looted. Paintings have been destroyed. Books have been banned. All this in the name of a pseudo-religion which claims secular credentials. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has supported the case for an assimilative Hinduism (as in the Swami Narayan case; Yagnapurushdasji AIR 1966 SC 1119) and treated Hindutva as if it were a natural celebration of India’s culture (See election decision in Ramesh Prabhoo (1996) 1 SCC 130; textbooks decision in Aruna Roy (2002) 7 SCC 368). At the same time, the court has espoused the case for secularism being part of the basic structure of the Constitution. At some stage the judges must declare the inarticulate premises on which they have wandered in these lost directions. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But what we are also seeing is the harassment of minorities through killing and various kinds of actions and inaction. New legislations, like the conversion statutes, are being drawn up to harass the minorities. The campaign to intimidate the minorities is done both through legal and illegal means. Manipulating the law and using the police to arrest and detain people is yet another form of intimidation. This is what has happened in Pastor Raju’s case. </span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Unfortunately, India’s secular governance is allowing a large number of such instances of abuse and intimidation to occur.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br/><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">(Rajeev Dhavan is a senior advocate, Supreme Court of India.)</span></em><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1158572131015354752006-09-18T02:33:00.000-07:002006-09-18T02:35:31.023-07:00CSW quarterly report on India: April - June 2006<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://www.csw.org.uk/Countries/India/Resources/AttacksAgainstChristians.pdf">Click this link to go to the report</a>. It is in PDF format.</span></div>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1156857992635888602006-08-29T06:26:00.000-07:002006-08-29T06:26:32.663-07:00The history and politics of Vande Mataram<p style="line-height: 150%;"><br /> <font face="Tahoma" size="5"><b>The history and politics of Vande Mataram<br /><br /> </b></font><br /> <font face="Tahoma"><br /><br /> <i><b>Anandmath<br />is replete with glorification of incidents of “cleansing” of Muslims<br />like the following one: "The rural people ran out to kill the<br />Muslims...they torched their houses and looted their everything. </b></i><br /><br /> <br /><br /> By Shamsul Islam </font><br /> </p><p style="line-height: 125%;" align="justify"><font face="Tahoma">The<br />song Vande Mataram is in news once again, though for wrong reasons. The<br />current controversy started with a meeting organized by the minority<br />cell of the BJP in the city of Taj Mahal, Agra on February 25. This<br />meeting, organized in order to mobilize Muslims for the forthcoming<br />parliamentary elections, ended up with about 50 of Muslim invitees<br />singing Vande Mataram. Interestingly, singing of Vande Mataram in this<br />meeting was an exception as the BJP meetings in general do not have<br />singing of this song on agenda. The controversy started when a local<br />Muslim cleric (see MG, 1-15 April 2004) came out with a “fatwa”<br />decreeing that all the Muslim singers of the Vande Mataram by singing<br />it indulged in polytheism and as a consequence ceased to be Muslims.<br />The mufti also decreed that their marriages stood annulled and they<br />should re-solemnise their marriages. </font></p><br /> <table style="border-left-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; padding-left: 11px; padding-bottom: 11px;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" width="300"><br /> <tbody><tr><br /> <td><br /> <p align="center"><b><font color="#0000a0" face="Tahoma" size="4">Vande Mataram</font><font color="#0000a0" face="Tahoma" size="2"><br /><br /> </font><i><font color="#0000a0" face="Tahoma" size="3">Translation by Aurobindo</font></i></b></p><br /> <p style="line-height: 100%;"><b><font color="#0000a0" face="Tahoma" size="2"><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.milligazette.com/image2003/2004/103_bankimchandra.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="163" hspace="4" vspace="4" width="122" /><br /> Mother, I bow to thee!<br /><br /> Rich with thy hurrying streams,<br /><br /> Bright with thy orchard gleams,<br /><br /> Cool with thy winds of delight, Dark fields waving, Mother of might,<br /><br /> Mother free.<br /><br /> Glory of moonlight dreams,<br /><br /> Over thy branches and lordly streams,<br /><br /> Clad in thy blossoming trees,<br /><br /> Mother, giver of ease,<br /><br /> Laughing low and sweet!<br /><br /> Mother I kiss thy feet,<br /><br /> Speaker sweet and low!<br /><br /> Mother to thee I bow.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands,<br /><br /> When the swords flash out in twice seventy million hands,<br /><br /> And seventy million voices roar,<br /><br /> Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?<br /><br /> With many strengths who are mighty and stored,<br /><br /> To thee I call, Mother and Lord!<br /><br /> Though who savest, arise and save!<br /><br /> To her I cry who ever her foemen drive,<br /><br /> Back from plain and sea,<br /><br /> And shook herself free.<br /><br /> Thou art wisdom, thou art law,<br /><br /> Thou our heart, our soul, our breath,<br /><br /> Thou the love divine, thou the awe,<br /><br /> In our hearts that conquer death.<br /><br /> Thine the strength that nerves the arm,<br /><br /> Thine the beauty, thine the charm,<br /><br /> Every image made divine,<br /><br /> In our temples is but thine.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,<br /><br /> With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen,<br /><br /> Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,<br /><br /> And the Muse a hundred-toned,<br /><br /> Pure and perfect without peer,<br /><br /> Mother, lend thine ear.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Rich with thy hurrying streams,<br /><br /> Bright with thy orchard gleams,<br /><br /> Dark of hue, O candid-fair,<br /><br /> In thy soul, with jeweled hair,<br /><br /> And thy glorious smile divine,<br /><br /> Loveliest of all earthly lands,<br /><br /> Showering wealth from well-stored hands!<br /><br /> Mother, mother mine!<br /><br /> Mother sweet, I bow to thee,<br /><br /> Mother great and free!<br /><br /> <br /><br />'Vande Mataram' translated by Sri Aurobindo. This note of his about<br />this translation is very significant: "It is difficult to translate the<br />National Anthem of Bengal into verse in another language owing to its<br />unique union of sweetness, simple directness and high poetic force." <br /><br /> </font><font color="#0000a0" face="Tahoma" size="1"><i>[Quoted in Bhabatosh Chatterjee (ed.), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Essays in Perspective, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 1994, p. 601.]</i></font></b></p></td><br /> </tr><br /> </tbody></table><br /> <p style="line-height: 125%;" align="justify"><font face="Tahoma"><br /><br />Interestingly, the Hindutva gang has been raking up this issue<br />periodically as part of Muslim-bashing since Independence, especially<br />on the eve of elections. As part of anti-Muslim propaganda they coined<br />the slogan "Iss desh maen rehna hae to Vande Mataram kehna hoga" (If<br />you want to live in this country, you will have to sing Vande Mataram).<br /><br /> <br /> The fundamental problem with Indian<br />nationalist symbols like Vande Mataram is that by simply adding<br />Muslim/minority angle to these, one can thwart any serious scrutiny and<br />worthwhile debate about the pre-Independence controversies over these<br />symbols. The Hindutva gang, especially the RSS which played absolutely<br />no role in the anti-colonial freedom struggle, now wants to cover up<br />its betrayal by posing as the sole guardian of nationalist symbols like<br />Vande Mataram.<br /><br /> <br /> A thorough scanning (undertaken by this<br />author) of the pre-Independence literature/documents published by the<br />RSS shows that there is absolutely no reference there to Vande Mataram,<br />what to talk of singing it. Startlingly, Vande Mataram as a term does<br />not appear in the writings of KB Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar either. And<br />after Independence the same gang wants to use this song to beat Muslims<br />with.<br /><br /> <br /><br />The protagonists of a democratic-secular India have failed in exposing<br />the Hindutva stalwarts who have been pitting Vande Matram against the<br />National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana and denounce Muslim and Sikh<br />fundamentalists for their non-allegiance to the Tricolour and the<br />National Anthem, the two symbols of Indian nationalism. The secular<br />India has miserably failed to corner the Hindutva gang which itself<br />wants to replace the secular National Anthem by Vande Mataram and the<br />Tricolour by saffron flag. This is abundantly clear from the practice<br />of the RSS shakhas, and the RSS vision of replacing the Indian<br />democratic-secular state with a Hindu rashtra.<br /><br /> <br /> A section of the so-called Muslim<br />leadership, devoid of common sense and ignorant of nationalist<br />heritage, reacted to the Hindutva game plan along expected lines.<br />Playing into the hands of Hindutva brigade 'Muslim leaders' like the<br />Agra Mufti simply provided legitimacy to its strategy of<br />Muslim-bashing. Unfortunately, even a section of secular Muslims have<br />shown panic reaction by declaring that Muslims should not object to the<br />singing of this song. They innocently believe that Muslims by not<br />singing this song are inviting wrath of Hindutva. They overlook the<br />fact that even Dalits, Christians, Buddhists and other minorities, who<br />have not raised objections against Vande Mataram, have not been spared<br />by the Hindutva gang. <br /><br /> <br /><br />The need of the hour is that we should not run away from a serious<br />debate on the issue of the Vande Mataram under one pretext or the<br />other. In order to know the truth and understand the whole controversy<br />over Vande Mataram it is important to be familiar with the following<br />facts which have been gathered from wide pre-Independence sources.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Vande Mataram was dogged by one controversy or another from the day it<br />was first printed in Banga Darshan (edited by Bankimchandra Chatterjee)<br />in 1875. It was a strange composition in the sense that it was written<br />in two languages. The song consisted of 4 stanzas, the first two in<br />Sanskrit and the rest in Bengali. Poet Navin Chandra Sen, a close<br />friend, told Bankim after reading the song: "You see, it is all good,<br />but the whole thing is spoilt by your potpourri of half Bengali and<br />half Sanskrit. It reminds me of Govind Adhikari's Jatra songs. People<br />do not like it."1 In fact, this song was not known by many despite the<br />fact that Jadu Bhatt, a renowned singer of those days and a<br />contemporary of Bankim, liked the song and set it to an attractive<br />tune. The situation did not change even in 1882 when Bankim included<br />this song in his controversial novel Anandmath. Rabindranath Tagore<br />composed a new tune for this song in 1885 but despite its rendering by<br />a very popular Bengali poet it did not attract much attention.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Interestingly, Vande Mataram which came to be known as the “national<br />song” was composed by Bankim as a “Bengal anthem”, nothing more. The<br />imagery of the countryside and references to Durga were certainly<br />confined to Bengal. In this song he is seen concerned about Bengal only<br />aloof from any emotional attachment to India. Even Sri Aurobindo<br />(Aurobindo Ghose), propounder of Hindu nationalism in India, translated<br />it as the "National Anthem of Bengal".2 <br /><br />Bankim, as we will see in the translation done by Aurobindo, referred<br />to “seven crores” [70 million] of people worshipping motherland. This<br />was the population of the then Bengal Province (which, besides what is<br />now Bangladesh, included Bihar and Orissa too). So the crucial fact<br />should not be missed that Vande Mataram touted as symbolizing “Mother<br />India” was in fact meant to glorify Bengal only, a rather narrow and<br />regional perspective.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Many are not aware that this song was scantly known during the lifetime<br />of Bankim himself. In his lifetime it did not capture popular<br />imagination though it was sung at all Congress sessions by people who<br />identified Indian nationalism with Hindu ethos. It remained confined to<br />a fringe group. <br /><br /> <br /><br />In 1905 came Curzon's announcement of the partition of Bengal, and<br />suddenly Vande Mataram turned into a national mantra, renting the skies<br />with the protest against the partition of Bengal. Reacting quickly, the<br />British government banned the song or even raising it as a slogan.<br />People of Barisal in Bengal bore the brunt of police brutality for<br />singing this song. Peasant leader Abdul Rasul, was presiding over the<br />Bengal Congress provincial conference session of 1906 when hundreds<br />were struck down and grievously injured for singing Vande Mataram. This<br />brutality at Barisal popularized the song overnight. According to<br />Bengalee of May 23, 1906, "an unprecedented procession of Hindus and<br />Muslims singing national songs and crying Vande Mataram and<br />Allah-o-Akbar passed through all the principal streets of the town.<br />Both Hindus and Mussalmans carried Vande Mataram flags."3 It is<br />interesting to know that while Vande Mataram was banned in Bengal, the<br />British government allowed the Bengali Regiment to attack German<br />trenches during the first world war with Vande Mataram on their lips.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Soon Vande Mataram became the opening note of all the Congress<br />gatherings. And the two, Congress and Vande Mataram, became<br />inseparable, until the early 1930s, when a new controversy about the<br />song broke out within the ranks of the party. Sections of Muslims,<br />Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Christians, South Indians, secular groups and<br />even Arya Samajis, objected when the Congress decided to finalize it as<br />the “national song”. Vande Mataram glorified idol worship, they argued,<br />as it referred to only Hindu deities (it must be shocking for the<br />present-day Hindutva brigade that the song does not even once refer to<br />Ram), and that it expressed only a regional aspiration (it is partly in<br />Bengali and allegorically talks of “Bengal” as India).<br /><br /> <br /><br />Another objection raised by Muslims and secular Indians said that Vande<br />Mataram was part of the novel Anandmath, which glorified the<br />annihilation of Muslims and not the British rule in India. This<br />objection was very relevant, as even a cursory glance of the novel will<br />prove. The novel was replete with glorification of incidents of<br />“cleansing” of Muslims like the following one: "The rural people ran<br />out to kill the Muslims while coming across them. In the night, some<br />ones were organized in groups and going to the Muslim locality, they<br />torched their houses and looted their everything. Many Muslims were<br />killed; many of them shaved their beards, smeared their bodies with<br />soil and started singing the name of Hari. When asked, they said, we<br />were Hindus. The frightened Muslims rushed towards the town in group<br />after group. The Muslims said, Allah, Allah! Is the Kortn Sareef (sic)<br />(holy Koran) proved entirely wrong after so many days? We pray namaz<br />five times but couldn't finish the sandal-pasted Hindus. All the<br />universe is false."4<br /><br /> <br /><br />Bankim's novel simultaneously glorified the colonial British rule. It<br />portrayed the British masters as saviours of Hindus. This love for the<br />British masters and exploiters was clearly visible in the last few<br />lines of Anandmath. When the Hindu army (Santan rebels) was able to<br />defeat Muslim rulers and move on to fight the British too, a mystic<br />leader (Satyananda) appeared and told them: "Your mission has been<br />successful. You have performed the well-being of the Mother. The<br />English reign has been established. You give up the war and<br />enmity-mood. There is no more enemy. The Englishman is our ally King.<br />Moreover, none possesses such power who can win the war with the<br />Englishmen ultimately."5 Thus the great leader of Hindu rebellion was<br />finally able to convince Santans about the historic utility of the<br />British Raj for the resurrection of the Hindu kingdom and many of them<br />went to Himalayas renouncing this world. Anandmath, which heralded the<br />Hindu nationalist movement, is full of such perceptions.<br /><br /> <br /><br />The Congress, which under Jawaharlal Nehru's leadership wanted an<br />all-inclusive nationalism with special stress on Hindu-Muslim unity,<br />responded positively to these objections. The Congress Working<br />Committee (CWC) after long deliberations at Wardha and Bombay appointed<br />a committee consisting of Jawaharlal Nehru (president of the Congress),<br />MK Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad and Subhashchander Bose in its Calcutta<br />meeting (Oct 26-November 1, 1937). <br /><br />This high profile committee on Vande Mataram issued a historic<br />statement on October 28, 1937 with the aim to resolve the controversy.<br />The statement made it clear at the outset that the first two stanzas of<br />the song had no religious allusions and only these were commonly sung<br />even in Bengal. It went on to observe that "the use of the first two<br />stanzas of the song [which] spread to other provinces and a certain<br />national significance began to attach to them. The rest of the song was<br />very seldom used and is even now known by few persons. These two<br />stanzas described in tender language the beauty of the motherland and<br />the abundance of her gifts. There was absolutely nothing in them to<br />which objection could be taken from the religious or any other point of<br />view."6<br /><br />The CWC went on to emphasize that "the other stanzas of the song are<br />little known and hardly ever sung. They contain certain allusions and a<br />religious ideology which may not be in keeping with the ideology of<br />other religious groups in India. The Committee while recognizing the<br />validity of objections raised by Muslim friends to certain parts of the<br />song... recommend that “wherever the Bande Matraram is sung at national<br />gatherings only the first two stanzas should be sung, with perfect<br />freedom to the organizers to sing any other song of an unobjectionable<br />character, in addition to, or in the place of, the Bande Matraram<br />song."7<br /><br /> <br /><br />With this judgment the controversy should have been over. But it<br />didn't. It seems ironical that the present-day champions of Vande<br />Mataram did not figure anywhere in the struggle against the British.<br />They cannot name a single martyr for freedom, and their slogans for<br />Hindu Rashtra only helped the British masters’ divide-and-rule policy<br />and supplemented the services of persons like Jinnah. The propping up<br />of an old controversy thus seems to be only for playing the same old<br />game of dividing the Indian people. The truth of the matter is that<br />Vande Mataram is just another move in the dangerous game the<br />fundamentalists are involved in: confusing and dividing people.</font></p><br /> <font face="Tahoma">NOTES:<br /><br /> <small>1. Cited in P. Thankappan Nair, Indian National Songs and Symbols, Firma, Calcutta, 1987, p. 32.<br /><br />2.Cited in Bhabatosh Chatterjee (ed.), Bankimchandra Chatterjee: Essays<br />in Perspective, Sahitya Akademi, Delhi, 1994, p. 601.<br /><br /> 3. Cited in P. Thankappan Nair, p. 38.<br /><br />4. Arabinda Das, Abbey of Delight (English translation of Bankimchander<br />Chatterjee's Anandmath in Bengali), Bandna Das, Kolkata, 2000, pp.<br />161-162.<br /><br /> 5. Ibid, pp. 191-194.<br /><br />6. AICC Papers on microfilms, Accession No. 8612 [Roll No. 51], Nehru<br />Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, pp. 0852-0854.<br /><br /> 7. Ibid.</small></font><b><font face="Tahoma"> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/01-15May04-Print-Edition/0105200475.htm">Here is the original page</a><br /></font></b>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1154927351727044022006-08-06T22:07:00.000-07:002006-08-06T22:09:11.740-07:00Should conversions be banned?<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">M Jamil<br /><br />August 5, 2006<br /><br />Recently, the state legislature in Madhya Pradesh has approved a law aimed at making religious conversions harder there.<br /><br />The law says a person wishing to convert and the priest conducting the ceremony will have to inform the authorities in advance. The new law provides for a year in prison and cash fines to the person who converts and the priest who conducts the ceremony without informing the authorities.<br /><br />This is hardly India's first instance of such a law.<br /><br />In 2005, the government in Rajasthan introduced a law banning religious conversion. Three years ago, politicians in Gujarat approved a controversial bill ostensibly designed to stop forced religious conversions.<br /><br />In 2002, the state legislature in Tamil Nadu passed an ordinance banning religious conversions-though the new government led by DMK announced in May that the law would be annulled soon.<br /><br />Evidently, these laws are the state governments' reaction to the depressed classes pointing to the lack of socio-economic development as their reason for quitting the Hindu fold.<br /><br />But does India want to be compared to Islamic states that are imprisoned by an impoverished idea that apostasy should lead to death or death threats?<br /><br />Mass conversions by the Dalits, whether to Islam or Christianity, have always projected a political message. Mostly, it is an effort by the weaker sections to draw the attention of the government to their development needs.<br /><br />In many cases, there are "re-conversions" after governmental intervention and promises of corrective measures by the district administration.<br /><br />A section of the media and political establishment would claim that mass conversions or threats of mass conversions create social tension in the affected area and the government is forced to act in the interests of those threatening conversion.<br /><br />More importantly one must ask: is banning religious conversion constitutional?<br />From a layperson's perspective, Article 25 (1) of the Constitution states that "subject to public order, morality and health and other provisions of this part (Part III), all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion."<br /><br />Under the freedom of speech which the Constitution guarantees, any religious community is free to persuade others to join their faith. Thus, conversion by free exercise of the conscience has to been recognised and cannot be banned under the constitution.<br /><br />Arya Samajists, for example, should be free to carry on "Sudhi" ceremonies, open to Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, and every other religionist, so long as they follow public order, morality and other conditions that have to be observed in any civilised society.<br /><br />One may argue that the Constitution explicitly grants one the right to transmit or spread one's religion by an exposition of its tenets, but not the right to convert through force or social and economic "bribes".<br /><br />It has to be remembered that Article 25 (1) guarantees "freedom of conscience" to every citizen and not merely to the followers of one particular religion.<br /><br />Thus, there is no fundamental right to convert another person to one's own religion because, if a person undertakes the conversion of a person to his religion as distinguished from his effort to transmit or spread the tenets of his religion, that would impinge on the freedom of conscience guaranteed to all the citizens.<br /><br />This specious reasoning which proceeds on the premise that a person's freedom of conscience gives him the right to practice his own religion ignores that the same freedom of conscience gives him the right to choose another religion and to be converted to another religion.<br /><br />Sometimes when a person learns about the virtues of another religion and the advantages of following it, he may be persuaded to be converted.<br /><br />In other words, propagation of religion with a view to its being accepted by a person gives an opportunity to the latter to exercise his right to choose his religion. Hence, the prevention of conversion infringes the right to be converted or to choose another religion and thereby infringes his freedom of conscience.<br /><br />What is meant by the "ban on conversions?'"<br /><br />The Constitution clearly empowers each individual to preach his own religion and each to choose his own religion. Based on this, if one chooses to change his religion, there can be no law preventing him from doing so. Apart from the legality, it goes against history and human nature to impose a total ban on conversions.<br /><br />In addition to Christians, Hare Krishna's and Muslims proselytising, Buddhist monks went to Cambodia, China, Japan, Sri Lanka and other places in the Far East spreading Buddhism.<br /><br />Though on a small scale, the Arya Samajists are converting or reconverting people of others faiths to Hinduism. Often conversion is a result of marrying outside a person's faith. For instance, when a Hindu marries a Jew or a Christian.<br /><br />Of course, all these conversions are made peacefully, by persuasion.<br /><br />Instead of a fracas on preventing conversions, there should be a national debate on why people choose to be converted. If it is by force, fraud or undue influence, such conversions can be prevented by legislation.<br /><br />But one of the strongest motivations for converting to another religion is low socio-economic status. These individuals feel that they can live with more dignity as members of the religion to which they are converting.<br /><br />Though untouchability was abolished by the Constitution, it still persists throughout India. For example, in many hotels water is served in separate glasses to the Dalits (who make up 250 million of India's population).<br /><br />Although the Constitution provides certain safeguards to protect persons who suffer from low socio-economic status, the past 56 years since the Constitution came into being has proved that they are not adequate.<br /><br />Measures have to be taken immediately to improve their economic and social status to such an extent that they do not convert in order to enjoy a better life as members of a new religious group, but because they genuinely feel convinced of the tenets of that religion.<br /><br />Hopefully, we will see a day when every person voluntarily chooses which religion he wishes to practice and the expression "conversion" loses its meaning.<br /><br />India, which is known for its tolerance, has lived with Christianity for almost two thousand years, Zoroastrianism for 1,400 years and Islam for over a millennium.<br /><br />Let us all remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi: "I do not expect India of my dreams to develop one religion, i.e., to be wholly Hindu or wholly Christian or wholly Mussalman, but I want it to be wholly tolerant, with its religions working side by side with one another."<br /><br />Maqbool Jamil is based in United States and can be reached at </span><a href="mailto:drj8666@hotmail.com"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">drj8666@hotmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">.<br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1761330,0093.htm">Click here for Source</a></span> </div>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1154000671815498702006-07-27T04:44:00.000-07:002006-07-27T04:44:31.843-07:00A MEDIA FAQ on `House Churches' and `Conversions'<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />By Dr. John Dayal<br /><br />Answers to some frequently asked media questions on House Churches and the definition of Conversions in context of the laws on Religious Freedom in Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Arunachal [and Tamil Nadu]<br /><br /><br />HOUSE CHURCHES<br /><br />The Constitution of India gives every citizen the right and freedom of Faith, including its practice, profession and propagation. This is clear in Article 25 which states that `subject to public order, health and morality', we have the right to freedom of conscience.<br /><br />The only bar is, as for most other freedoms, that it should not create a public law and order situation, or be obnoxious in some other way. This rider is the one so often misused by governments and police who can claim that certain acts of one community can threaten the peace [for instance cow sacrifice at Eid, which is objected to by Hindutva groups]<br /><br />The law as it exists in India recognizes places of religious worship as physical entities in public domain. The one mention that comes is with reference to the official and legal rulings which, in the aftermath of the violence during Partition of India in 1947, said places of worship which existed at the dawn of freedom could not have their identity or function changed. This was to prevent mosques being converted to temples or demolished or sold.. This was re-stated in Uttar Pradesh in the case of attempts to sell churches -- not all church property which could include schools or grounds, but church buildings which had functioned as churches<br /><br />House churches, Small Christian Communities, Basic Christian Communities whether Catholic, Evangelical or Pentecost, and religious activity in a person's private home, which includes all property, is a private event protected by laws against trespass, criminal intimidation, breaking and forcible entry and similar criminal activity<br /><br />The police have to take action as they would in case of attempted murder, assault, burglary or dacoity -- if assailants are armed, and there are more than five of them in number<br /><br />They - the local police and magistracy -- have no excuse in not acting.<br /><br />CONVERSIONS<br /><br />The second question is of Conversions from one religion to another [giving up one's religion for joining irreligious or atheistic groups such as the Marxists, or lapsed believers do not find any mention in legal literature]<br /><br />The Supreme Court judgment in the matter of earlier, and contradictory, High court judgments on the Orissa and MP Freedom of Religion Acts was clear that induced and forcible conversions at the hand hands of a religious functionary or priest were illegal, but it was NOT illegal - and therefore legitimate -- for a person to change his religion.<br /><br />Therefore it is quite clear by analogy and deduction that the act of conversion theologically is different from the legal definition.<br /><br />A person may have Christ experience through many ways or paths, and may consider him [or her] a follower or believer of Christ. He may have found Christ by personally reading the Bible which he bought by himself, saw in a library or his hotel room, or was given one by a friend, evangelist or priest. He may even have had the Bible read to him by his children, in case he himself was illiterate. He may have found Christ through the evangelical actions of others, either done actively as by missionaries, or passively as by watching Christian neighbours or friends. The person may surrender to Christ on his own; and to himself, he will deem to have become a Christian even if he has not undergone any rituals. Some even consider this the Amazing Grace and Work of the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />For social purposes, however, and requirements of Civic life, which may include the need for passports or other diplomatic or government documents, however, marriage, or even burial of the dead, he may want to `belong to' or `to be admitted to' the larger Christian community, denomination, group or whatever else it is called. This process may involve ceremonies or rites of passage, which is also called baptism. This may vary with denominations. This is like membership of a club or organisation with its own entry and exit laws.<br /><br />In fact in the knananite church, a part of the Kerala Catholic group, it admits only persons belonging to select families. No marriage outside the ethnic and linguistic sub-community is allowed or accepted, and of course no one can convert to this sect.<br /><br />Pentecost and Evangelical groups and some mainline churches want full immersion of the adult.<br /><br />The Catholic Church, especially in the Latin rite, accepts and encourages child or infant baptism -- I was baptized as a six day old, my daughter was a month old on her baptism -- with ceremonies of confirmation [or First Holy Communion] at an age when the child is able to understand what is happening<br /><br />The Indian law, penal code or however, has no business entering this domain.<br /><br />The Sikh faith has tasting of the amrit, or holy water consisting of water, sugar mixed together with a ceremonial sword in a groupware -- the Muslim faith has sunnat, circumcision as well as hearing and pronouncing the kalma -- god is but one god is one and Mohammed is his prophet<br /><br />No one can convert to Zoroastrian. It can be by birth only. That is why they are a dying community. There are no half Parsees, so to say.<br /><br />You can become a Jew by converting to Judaism but it is a long and tedious [process sand is discouraged if both or one parent is not a Jew.<br /><br />Buddhism has a few simple rites.<br /><br />I do not know the Jain rites.<br /><br />By the way, the special position for Anglo Indians is not on religious grounds, but on genes and language. Their mother tongue has to be English and their descent from the father's side has to be European.<br /><br />An Anglo-Indian woman's children by a non Anglo Indian man are not Anglo Indians<br /><br />And, other than the civil powers of Christian priest in terms of Marriages [but not divorces], births and deaths [burial records]; there is no official administrative law or bureaucratic machinery to certify or license or otherwise formally recognize Christian clergy. Ordination and Consecration are strictly denominational activity. The State also does not recognize gradations in clergy and hierarchy. The titles of Father, Pastor, Bishop or Cardinal, are therefore not of legal consequence but are accepted because they are accepted by the concerned community or group. No denomination has monopoly on the titles and even Catholic priests can, and often do, call themselves Pastors. By the same argument, Episcopal and even Evangelical clergy no call themselves Bishops and Archbishops. They can.<br /><br />John Dayal<br />New Delhi, July 2006<br /> </span></div>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1153825937580316842006-07-25T04:12:00.000-07:002006-07-25T04:12:17.633-07:00Why go for Conversion<strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:130%;">Why go for Conversion</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In 1935 at Nasik district, Maharashtra, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar had declared his firm resolve to change his religion. He had declared that he was born as a Hindu but will not die as Hindu. About a year later, a massive Mahar conference was held on May 30 and 31, 1936, in Mumbai, to access the impact of that declaration on Mahar masses. In his address to the conference, Dr.Ambedkar expressed his views on conversion in an elaborate, well- prepared and written speech in Marathi. Here is an English translation of that speech by Mr.Vasant Moon, OSD to the committee of Govt. of Maharashtra for publication of Writings & speeches of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion is not a game of children. It is not a subject of entertainment. It deals with how to make man's life successful. Just as a boatman has to make all necessary preparations before he starts for voyage, so also we have to make preparations. Unless I get an idea as to how many persons are willing to leave the Hindu fold, I cannot start preparations for conversion.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">For a common man this subject of conversion is very important but also very difficult to understand.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Class Struggle</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">There are two aspects of conversion; social as well as religious; material as well as spiritual. Whatever may be the aspect, or line of thinking, it is necessary to understand the beginning, the nature of Untouchability and how it is practiced. Without this understanding, you will not be able to realize the real meaning underlying my declaration of conversion. In order to have a clear understanding of untouchability and its practice in real life, I want you to recall the stories of the atrocities perpetrated against you. But very few of you might have realized as to why all this happens! What is at the root cause of their tyranny? To me it is very necessary, that we understand it.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">This is not a feud between rival men. The problem of untouchability is a matter of class struggle. It is the struggle between caste Hindus and the Untouchables. That is not a matter of doing injustice against one man. This is a matter of injustice being done by one class against another. This "class struggle" has a relation with the social status. This struggle indicates, how one class should keep its relation with another class. This struggle starts as soon as you start claiming equal treatment with others...</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion not for slaves</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The reason for their anger is very simple. Your behaving on par with them insults them. The untouchability is not a short or temporary feature; it is a permanent one .To put it straight, it can be said that the struggle between the Hindus and the Untouchables is a permanent phenomena. It is eternal, because the religion which has placed you at the lowest level of the society is itself eternal, according to the belief of the Hindu caste people. No change, according to time and circumstances is possible. You are at the lowest rung of the ladder today. You shall remain lowest forever. This means the struggle between Hindus and Untouchables shall continue forever. How will you survive through this struggle is the main question. And unless you think over it, there is no way out. Those who desire to live in obedience to the dictates of the Hindus, those who wish to remain their slaves, they do not need to think over this problem. But those who wish to live a life of self-respect, and equality, will have to think over this. How should we survive through this struggle? For me, it is not difficult to answer this question. Those who have assembled here will have to agree that in any struggle one who holds strength becomes the victor. One, who has no strength, need not expect success. This has been proved by experience, and I do not need to cite illustration to prove it.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Three types of Strength</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The question that follows, which you must now consider, is whether you have enough strength to survive through this struggle? Three types of strength are known to man: (i) Manpower, (ii) Finance and (iii) Mental Strength. Which of these, you think that you possess? So far as manpower is concerned, it is clear, that you are in a minority. In Mumbai Presidency, the untouchables are only one-eighth of the total population. That too unorganized. The castes within themselves do not allow them to organize. They are not even compact. They are scattered through the villages. Under these circumstances, this small population is of no use as a fighting force to the untouchables at their critical moments. Financial strength is also just the same. It is an undisputed fact that you at least have a little bit of manpower, but finances you have none. You have no trade, no business, no service, no land. The piece of bread thrown out by the higher castes, are your means of livelihood. You have no food, no clothes. What financial strength can you have? You have no capacity to get redress from the law courts. Thousands of untouchables tolerate insult, tyranny and oppression at the hands of Hindus without a sigh of complaint, because they have no capacity to bear the expenses of the courts. As regards mental strength, the condition is still worst. The tolerance of insults and tyranny without grudge and complaint has killed the sense of retort and revolt. Confidence, vigour and ambition have been completely vanished from you. All of you have been become helpless, unenergetic and pale. Everywhere, there is an atmosphere of defeatism and pessimism. Even the slight idea, that you can do something does not enter your mind.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Muslim Example</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">If, whatever I have described above is correct then you will have to agree with the conclusion that follows. The conclusion is, if you depend only upon your own strength, you will never be able to face the tyranny of the Hindus. I have no doubt that you are oppressed because you have no strength. It is not that you alone are in minority. The Muslims are equally small in number. Like Mahar- Mangs, they too have few houses in the village. But no one dares to trouble the Muslims while you are always a victim of tyranny. Why is this so? Though there may be two houses of Muslims in the village, nobody dares to harm them, while the whole village practices tyranny against you though you have ten houses. Why does this happen? This is a very pertinent question and you will have to find out a suitable answer to this. In my opinion, there is only one answer to this question. The Hindus realize that the strength of the whole of the Muslim population in India stands behind those two houses of Muslims living in a village and, therefore, they do not dare to touch them. Those two houses also enjoy free and fearless life because they are aware that if any Hindu commits aggression against them, the whole Muslim community from Punjab to Madras will rush to their protection at any cost. On the other hand, the Hindus are sure that none will come to your rescue, nobody will help you, no financial help will reach you. Tahsildar and police belong to caste Hindus and in case of disputes between Hindus and Untouchables, they are more faithful to their caste than to their duty. The Hindus practice injustice and tyranny against you only because you are helpless.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Outside Support</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">From the above discussion, two facts are very clear. Firstly, you can not face tyranny without strength. And secondly, you do not possess enough strength to face the tyranny. With these two conclusions, a third one automatically follows. That is, the strength required to face this tyranny needs to be secured from outside. How are you to gain this strength is really an important question? And you will have to think over this with an unbiased mind.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">From this, you will realize one thing, that unless you establish close relations with some other society, unless you join some other religion, you cannot get the strength from outside. It clearly means, you must leave your present religion and assimilate yourselves with some other society. Without that, you cannot gain the strength of that society. So long as you do not have strength, you and your future generations will have to lead your lives in the same pitiable condition.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Spiritual Aspect of Conversion</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Uptil now, we have discussed why conversion is necessary for material gains. Now, I propose to put forth my thoughts as to why conversion is as much necessary for spiritual wellbeing. What is Religion? Why is it necessary? ... 'That which govern people is religion'. That is the true definition of Religion. There is no place for an individual in Hindu society. The Hindu religion is constituted on a class-concept. Hindu religion does not teach how an individual should behave with another individual. A religion, which does not recognize the individual, is not personally acceptable to me.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Three factors are required for the uplift of an individual. They are: Sympathy, Equality and Liberty. Can you say by experience that any of these factors exist for you in Hinduism?</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">No Equality in Hinduism</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Such a living example of inequality is not to be found anywhere in the world. Not at anytime in the history of mankind can we find such inequality, which is more intense than untouchability... I think, you have been thrust into this condition because you have continued to be Hindus. Those of you who have become Muslims, are treated by the Hindus neither as Untouchables nor as unequals. The same can be said of those who have become Christians...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">That God is all pervading is a principle of science and not of religion, because religion has a direct relation with the behaviour of man. Hindus can be ranked among those cruel people whose utterances and acts are two poles apart. They have this Ram on their tongues and a knife under their armpits. They speak like saints but act like butchers...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Thus we are not low in the eyes of the Hindus alone, but we are the lowest in the whole of India, because of the treatment given to us by the Hindus.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">If you have to get rid of this same shameful condition, if you have to cleanse this filth and make use of this precious life; there is only one way and that is to throw off the shackles of Hindu religion and the Hindu society in which you are bound.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The taste of a thing can be changed. But the poison cannot be made amrit. To talk of annihilating castes is like talking of changing the poison into amrit. In short, so long as we remain in a religion, which teaches a man to treat another man like a leper, the sense of discrimination on account of caste, which is deeply rooted in our minds, can not go. For annihilating caste and untouchables, change of religion is the only antidote.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Untouchables are not Hindus</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">What is there in conversion, which can be called novel? Really speaking what sort of social relations have you with the caste Hindus at present? You are as separate from the Hindus as Muslims and Christians are. So is their relation with you. Your society and that of the Hindus are two distinct groups. By conversion, nobody can say or feel that one society has been split up. You will remain as separate from the Hindus as you are today. Nothing new will happen on account of this conversion. If this is true, then why should people be afraid of conversion? At least, I do not find any reason for such a fear...</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Revolution - Not Reform</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Changing a religion is like changing a name. Change of religion followed by the change of name will be more beneficial to you. To call oneself a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist or a Sikh is not merely a change of religion but also a change of name.. Since the beginning of this movement of conversion, various people have raised various objections to it. Let us now examine the truth, if any, in such objections...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">A congenital idiot alone will say that one has to adhere to one's religion because it is that of our ancestors. No sane man will accept such a proposition. Those who advocate such an argument, seem not to have read the history at all. The ancient Aryan religion was called Vedic religion. It has three distinct characteristic (features). Beef-eating, drinking and merry-making was part of the religion of the day. Thousands of people followed it in India and even now some people dream of going back to it. If the ancient religion alone is to be adhered to why did the people of India leave Hinduism and accept Buddhism? Why did they divorce themselves from the Vedic religion?... Thus this Hindu religion is not the religion of our ancestors, but it was a slavery forced upon them...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">To reform the Hindu society is neither our aim nor our field of action. Our aim is to gain freedom. We have nothing to do with anything else.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">If we can gain freedom by conversion, why should we shoulder the responsibility of reforming the Hindu religion? And why should we sacrifice our strength and property for that? None should misunderstand the object of our movement as being Hindu social reform. The object of our movement is to achieve social freedom for the untouchables. It is equally true that this freedom cannot be secured without conversion.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Caste can't be destroyed</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I do accept that the untouchables need equality as well. And to secure equality is also one of our objectives. But nobody can say that this equality can be achieved only by remaining as Hindu and not otherwise. There are two ways of achieving equality. One, by remaining in the Hindu fold and another by leaving it by conversion. If equality is to be achieved by remaining in the Hindu fold, mere removal of the sense of being a touchable or an untouchable will not serve the purpose. Equality can be achieved only when inter-caste dinners and marriages take place. This means that the Chaturvarnya must be abolished and the Brahminic religion must be uprooted. Is it possible? And if not, will it be wise to expect equality of treatment by remaining in the Hindu religion? And can you be successful in your efforts to bring equality? Of course not. The path of conversion is far simpler than this. The Hindu society does not give equality of treatment, but the same is easily achieved by conversion. If this is true, then why should you not adopt this simple path of conversion?</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion is a simplest path</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">According to me, this conversion of religion will bring happiness to both the Untouchables as well as the Hindus. So long as you remain Hindus, you will have to struggle for social intercourse, for food and water, and for inter-caste marriages. And so long as this quarrel continues, relations between you and the Hindus will be of perpetual enemies. By conversion, the roots of all the quarrels will vanish... thus by conversion, if equality of treatment can be achieved and the affinity between the Hindus and the Untouchables can be brought about then why should the Untouchables not adopt the simple and happy path of securing equality? Looking at this problem through this angle, it will be seen that this path of conversion is the only right path of freedom, which ultimately leads to equality. It is neither cowardice nor escapism.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sanctified Racism</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Although the castes exist in Muslims and the Christians alike, it will be meanness to liken it to that of the Hindus. There is a great distinction between the caste-system of the Hindus and that of the Muslims and Christians. Firstly, it must be noted that though the castes exist amongst the Christians and the Muslims, it is not the chief characteristic of their body social.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">There is one more difference between the caste system of the Hindus and that of the Muslims and Christians. The caste system in the Hindus has the foundation of religion. The castes in other religions have no sanction in their religion ...Hindus cannot destroy their castes without destroying their religion. Muslims and Christians need not destroy their religions for eradication of their castes. Rather their religion will support such movements to a great extent.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion alone liberates us</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I am simply surprised by the question, which some Hindus ask us as to what can be achieved by conversion alone? Most of the present day Sikhs, Muslims and Christians were formerly Hindus, majority of them being from the Shudras and Untouchables. Do these critics mean to say that those, who left the Hindu fold and embraced Sikhism or Christianity, have made no progress at all? And if this is not true, and if it is admitted that the conversion has brought a distinct improvement in their condition, then to say that the untouchables will not be benefited by conversion, carries no meaning...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">After giving deep thought to the problem, everybody will have to admit that conversion is necessary to the Untouchables as self-government is to India. The ultimate object of both is the same. There is not the slightest difference in their ultimate goal. This ultimate aim is to attain freedom. And if the freedom is necessary for the life of mankind, conversion of Untouchables which brings them complete freedom cannot be called worthless by any stretch of imagination...</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Economic Progress or Social Changes?</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I think it necessary here to discuss the question as to what should be initiated first, whether economic progress or conversion? I do not agree with the view that economic progress should precede...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Untouchability is a permanent handicap on your path of progress. And unless you remove it, your path cannot be safe. Without conversion, this hurdle cannot be removed...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So, if you sincerely desire that your qualifications should be valued, your education should be of some use to you, you must throw away the shackles of untouchability, which means that you must change your religion...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">However, for those who need this Mahar Watan, I can assure them that their Mahar Watan will not be jeopardized by their conversion. In this regard, the Act of 1850 can be referred. Under the provisions of this Act, no rights of person or his successors with respect to his property are affected by virtue of his conversion...</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Poona Pact</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">A second doubt is about political rights. Some people express fear as to what will happen to our political safeguards if we convert...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">But I feel, it is not proper to depend solely on political rights. These political safeguards are not granted on the condition that they shall be ever lasting. They are bound to cease sometime. According to the communal Award of the British Government, our political safeguards were limited for 20 years. Although no such limitation has been fixed by the Poona Pact, nobody can say that they are everlasting. Those, who depend upon the political safeguards, must think as to what will happen after these safeguards are withdrawn on the day on which our rights cease to exist. We will have to depend on our social strength. I have already told you that this social strength is wanting in us. So also I have proved in the beginning that this strength cannot be achieved without conversion...</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Political Rights</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Under these circumstances, one must think of what is permanently beneficial.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In my opinion, conversion is the only way to eternal bliss. Nobody should hesitate even if the political rights are required to be sacrificed for this purpose. Conversion brings no harm to the political safeguards. I do not understand why the political safeguards should at all be jeopardized by conversion. Wherever you may go, your political rights and safeguards will accompany you. I have no doubt about it.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">If you become Muslims, you will get the political rights as Muslims. If you become Christians, you will get the political rights as Christians, if you become Sikhs, you will have your political rights as Sikhs. In short, our political rights will accompany us.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So nobody should be afraid of it. On the other hand, if we remain Hindus and do not convert, will our rights be safe? You must think carefully on this. Suppose the Hindus pass a law whereby the untouchability is prohibited and its practice is made punishable, then they may ask you, 'We have abolished untouchability by law and you are no longer untouchables...</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Looking through this perspective, conversion becomes a path for strengthening the political safeguards rather than becoming a hindrance. If you remain Hindus, you are sure to lose your political safeguards. If you want to save them, leave this religion. The political safeguards will be permanent only by conversion.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The Hindu religion does not appeal to my conscience. It does not appeal to my self-respect. However, your conversion will be for material as well as for spiritual gains. Some persons mock and laugh at the idea of conversion for material gains. I do not feel hesitant in calling such persons as stupid.</span><br/><strong><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Conversion brings Happiness</span></strong><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I tell you all very specifically, religion is for man and not man for religion. To get human treatment, convert yourselves.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">CONVERT -For getting organized.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">CONVERT -For becoming strong.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">CONVERT -For securing equality.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">CONVERT -For getting liberty.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">CONVERT -For that your domestic life may be happy.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I consider him as leader who without fear or favour tells the people what is good and what is bad for them. It is my duty to tell you, what is good for you, even if you don't like it, I must do my duty. And now I have done it.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">It is now for you to decide and discharge your responsibility.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Reference: "Bhim Chakra 1996" published by Oil & Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. Tripura project, Agartala.</span><br/><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1152699072694985202006-07-12T03:11:00.000-07:002006-07-12T03:11:12.750-07:00Why should we pray and act for the suffering church?<a href="http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-persecutedchurch.html">Why should we pray and act for the suffering church? - ChristianAnswers.Net</a>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11072588.post-1151401824002874352006-06-27T02:48:00.000-07:002006-06-27T02:50:24.023-07:00Living in fear<p align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI<br /><br /><br /></span><i><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">in Bhopal<br /></p></span><p align="justify"></i> </p><p align="justify"><table bg border="0" style="color:white;"><tbody><tr><td><b><p align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Attacks on the Christian community have registered a sharp increase in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh in recent times.<br /></p></span></b></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A.M. FARUQUI<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img height="219" src="images/20060630002403301.jpg" width="350" align="center" border="1" /><br /><br /></span><b><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">BAJRANG DAL DISTRICT convener Devendra Rawat arguing with Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission member Indira Iyengar (left) at a press conference she held in Bhopal.<br /></span></b><br /></p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><p align="justify"><br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">FEAR has gripped the Christian community in Madhya Pradesh as right-wing Hindu organisations have stepped up their attacks in the name of preventing religious conversion. Christians, who comprise 0.3 per cent of the State's population, are afraid to organise prayer meetings even at their homes or hold religious functions in the open as these could attract the ire of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh affiliates.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This was the experience of a group of Christians in Bhopal in April. Bajrang Dal activists stormed into the house of Rev. San Francis where a prayer meeting was on and beat up those present for "perpetuating conversion to Christianity". Eighteen of them were dragged to the police station. Although it became clear that no conversion had taken place, the authorities did not take immediate action against the assailants.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">More recently, on June 5, when Indira Iyengar, who represents the Christian community on the State Minority Commission, addressed a press conference in Bhopal to highlight the plight of two tribal women from Khargone who were allegedly raped by some right-wing activists on May 28 for converting to Christianity three years ago, she was heckled. Bajrang Dal activists, led by district convener Devendra Rawat, warned her of dire consequences if she did not stop "maligning the RSS and other Hindu organisations".<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">If such blatant attacks, that too in full media glare, are possible in the State capital, the situation in the interior areas can only be imagined.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"The situation is bad in Jabalpur, Indore, Dhar, Jhabua and Ratlam. Attacks on Christians have gone up sharply in the past three years," says the Archbishop of Bhopal, Dr. Pascal Topno. Indira Iyengar says in Jabalpur more than 20 cases have been slapped on the Christians in the past two months for alleged conversion. "I have been writing to the government, highlighting the plight of the Christians, but nothing happens," she says. She said the press conference was organised to draw public attention to the plight of the two abused tribal women as no FIR had been registered.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">What, however, is disconcerting, is that the Bharatiya Janata Party government does not appear to be taking the complaints seriously. How else can one explain the attitude of the Chief Minister or even senior government officials who dismiss the allegations?<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"Things are being blown out of proportion by Indira Iyengar because she wants to project herself as the messiah of Indian Christians in order to be nominated to the National Commission for Minorities [NCM]," says Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, echoing what Devendra Rawat told this correspondent.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Even if the incident involving Indira Iyengar is set aside, how can the Jhabua riots of January 2004 be ignored? Not a single right-wing activist has been booked until now for rioting against Christians. Instead, 16 Christians were arrested. They were released only recently after the High Court declared them "not guilty". Not a single person has been booked for the assault on Fr. Stan Fareira, principal of Don Bosco School in Jhabua. Fr. Fareira's life has been saved but he is in no condition to continue as the principal of the school. The NCM had, in a letter dated March 12, 2004, to the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, demanded "immediate action" against those responsible for the riots and against the officials concerned for dereliction of duty, an independent inquiry into the riots, and full security to members of the Christian community, missionaries and institutions including churches. The government is yet to act on it. "We had instituted an inquiry into the riots and its report has come only now. We are still studying the report. The report holds conversions responsible for those incidents," said the Chief Minister. The government's plan of action on the basis of this report is predictable.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The State government, he said, was greatly concerned about conversions, which he claimed were going on. "Even though we have a law in place to prevent this, conversions are happening in large numbers. We are determined to stop this and since the present law has not proved to be effective, we are considering either making suitable changes in the law or introducing a fresh law," he told <i>Frontline</i>. However, the Chief Minister's claims that his government is committed to providing freedom of religion to all, ensuring that no physical harm comes to anyone and preventing individuals from taking the law into his own hands, sound hollow.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"The Chief Minister may be a man of noble intentions, but his officials certainly lack in sympathy for Christians," said Archbishop Topno. According to him, Christians in far-flung areas feel insecure. "I keep getting reports from here and there. The number of complaints has certainly gone up," he says. According to him, if it is true that somebody resorts to forceful conversion, through either threats or allurements, there are provisions in the law to prevent this. But instead of "letting the law take its course, individuals are taking the law into their own hands and this is what we are protesting against," he says.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Surprisingly, the State Minority Commission, which is supposed to safeguard the rights of the minorities, speaks the same language as the Bajrang Dal or the Chief Minister. Instead of expressing concern at the attacks on Christians, Commission Chairman Anwar Mohammad Khan denied that the Christian community had come under any calamitous attack in the State. Also, instead of expressing solidarity with Indira Iyengar, he said he was planning action against her for "trespassing the propriety of her post as Commission member by addressing a press conference without bringing the matter to his notice first".<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">No wonder then that Hindu fundamentalist organisations feel emboldened to declare that "we will now run the campaign against conversions on our own, and will give and even take any sacrifice required for this". Rawat told <i>Frontline</i> that since the government had proved to be "ineffective" in stopping religious conversions, "the Bajrang Dal has decided to initiate direct action". Direct action, he said, would mean awareness campaigns and also action similar to the one witnessed at the recent Bhopal press conference. "We will not allow so-called intellectuals to continue indulging in unsubstantiated propaganda against Hindu organisations any more. We are committed to stopping religious conversions and the malicious campaign against us," he maintained.<br /></p></span><p align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Declarations such as this with a patronising government at the helm, make the Christian community tremble. "We can only protest peacefully and hope that the Chief Minister will ensure that we continue to get the rights enshrined in the Constitution."We only demand that the law should take its own course. Is that asking for too much?" wonders Bishop Topno. </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></p>Christian Persecution Indiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14631722868977885977noreply@blogger.com0