Rajya Sabha Member BALBIR K. PUNJ against Christians

Who killed the 84-year-old swami? Sabyasachi Panda, the Maoist leader who owned up to the killing, said the swami was eliminated for reviving Brahminism. Strangely, Panda turned a blind eye to evangelism. But he divulged an interesting fact—that the Christian Panas (an SC group) provides cadres to the Maoists in Orissa.  I for one don't know how to reconcile evangelism, which believes in the harvesting of souls, with Maoism, which believes there's no soul. In Europe, wherever Communism succeeded, the Church had to go underground, if not disappear. But in Orissa, perhaps there is some kind of 'strategic alliance' happening. Did the Church outsource the swami's assassination?  Now to the alleged rape of a nun in Kandhamal. Such 'Rape of nun by Hindu fascist' stories have turned out to be false in Jhabua, Jajjhar and Baripada in the past.Unfortunately, by then the 'hot story' had gone cold for the media. We are witnessing another edition of this in Kandhamal. The nun would not attend the identification parade, the SC ruled out a CBI inquiry, but the National Commission for Minorities still jumped into the fray. Is the nun a pawn in the church's game of chess?   read it all 

SCM Dharna in Protest Against Religious Violence in India

StudentChristian Movement of India, North Tamil Nadu Region, organized a Dharna in front of the Gurkul College, Chennai, on Saturday, 11th October, 2008.to protest against the continuing violence against minorities in several Indian states.  The SCM was  denied permission by the police to conduct a  protest rally.  

The Dharna was inaugurated by Dr. Ponniah Manoharan, Director of Gurukul.  Students from  various colleges in the city participated. Dr. K. Rajaratnam, Director Emeritus, Gurukul, Dr. Suneel  Bhanu, Acting Principal, Gurukul, Moulvi O.M.Muzzamill Ahmad H.A., Sister Elsa from the  Catholic church and  Rev. Ebenesar Kiruba Karan from the  CSI Church addressed the Dharna.  The speakers emphasised that by raising the question of  relgious conversions the communal forces are trying to bring back caste oppression in India. Communal forces in India are a minority and in the name of Hinduism they  are trying to bring back brahminic hegemony over India and to suppress the rise  of the former untouchables from gaining social and economic freedom.  The heart of Hinduism is pluralistic, tolerant and secular. The Christians who have been  attacked in Kandhamal, Orissa, are Dalits. The attackers are primarily interested in burining houses and destroying property  to prevent the economic independence of  Dalits. Swamy Laxmananda, the BJP missionary  in Kandhamal came from Uttar Pradesh and was instigating the Kandha tribals against Pana dalits and forcibly converting tribals and Dalit Christians to Hinduism.  No forced conversions  to Christianity  were  reported in Orissa or in any part of the country.  The issue of conversion was  raised as a ploy to attack the Dalit Christians and to create panic among the secular  Hindus. The organized attacks against Christians started in December 2007. Mass raping of the nun is only a symbol of  the violence that is in the heart of  its perpetrators. Violence agaisnt women is preceded by violence and rape of the earth and its resources. The secular as well as the non-political Hindu leaders should no longer turn a blind eye to the damage done by the VHP and its youth wing Bajrang Dal to the secualr fabric of India. The Indian heritage of  relgious tolerance need to be safeguarded. The Central Government should show the courage to dismiss the Orissa Governemnet which protects the communal forces and ban Bajrang Dal which turns Indians against Indians, the worst act of terrorism.  Dalits will not get justice under the present BJP supported Naveen Patnaik government and thousands of Christians living in refugee camps and in forests will not be able to return to their villages if  the Bajrang  Dal and VHP are allowed to continue to hold their sway over the villages. 

 In the afternoon there was a seminar on Youth's role against Communal violence in a Democratic Nation, in the Ziegenbalg Auditorium of Gurukul. Rev. Samuel Prabhakaran, General Secretary of  the National Missionary Society spoke on Christian Mission in the Context of Communal Violence.  He exhorted the students that retaliation is not a Christian option: "it is not in our blood." The Church need to be educated how to live and die for Christ in times of persecution. He reminded the audience the early Christian response to persecution in the Roman Empire. We are approaching difficult times. We should be spiritually equipped to meet the challenge of communalism without becoming communalistsMs. Geetha Ramakrishnan spoke on Violence and Negligence  of Human Rights in Communal Violence.  Prof. Bernard D. Swamy  spoke on the question,  Is  Conversion Unconstitutional?' Ms. Hannah led the discussion on the Role of Media in the Context of Communal Violence Mr. Eby  Ebenzar Thomas, Programme Secretary SCM North  Tamil Nadu Region, and Mr. Aravind Jeyakumar, Gurukul Unit President organized the  programmes.

Blunting this sharp divide by Sitaram Yechury

Hindustan Times  October 08, 2008

In Kandhamal, there are two major tribes — the Kandhas and the Dalit Panas. Over the years, sections of the former embraced Hinduism while sections of the latter embraced Christianity. It is the latter that the RSS and its tentacles target in order to consolidate their ‘Hindu vote-bank’.

Unable to defend such atrocities unleashed by his ‘parivar’, L.K. Advani claimed that he has a soft corner for Christians as he studied in a missionary school in Karachi. In the same breath, he repeated his favourite pastime of calling for a ‘national debate’ on religious conversions. This is a perfidious argument. If animist tribals embrace Hinduism, then it is not ‘conversion’. However, if they embrace Christianity or any other religion, then it is ‘religious conversion’. 

Moreover, Advani has also called for an ‘inter-religious dialogue’ to strengthen ‘Indian-ness’.

However, his RSS and BJP have all along maintained that Hinduism alone qualifies as a religion while all others are only sects. This is amplified in their demand to replace ‘dharma nirpekshata’ in our Constitution with ‘panth nirpekshata’. Will Advani seek an inter-religious dialogue where all religions are treated on a par?  more

BJP looking to ease anti-Christian sentiments

By Iftikhar Gilani NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani on Wednesday met the archbishops of Delhi and Orissa in a bid to defuse the unending anti-Christian violence. The two-hour long dialogue came just hours before the Union Cabinet considered banning Bajrang Dal, a frontline organisation of Hindu nationalist BJP, allegedly involved in attacks on Christians. The meeting concluded with a call for restoration of peace and dialogue in a unanimous joint statement signed by Advani, the Christian leaders, and Swami Chidanand Saraswati of Rishikesh, who had taken initiative for the meeting.  more

Action should be taken against perpetrators: Vijayakant

Chennai (PTI): Tamil film actor-turned politician Vijayakant on Thursday said strict action should be taken against perpetrators of attacks on places of worship in Tamil Nadu and such incidents should be nipped in the bud in the state.

"Stray incidents which went unchecked snowballed into major violence against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka and the same should not be repeated in Tamil Nadu," Vijaykant, who heads the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), said in a statement here.

"Votebank" politics should not come in the way of ensuring action against such crimes, he said adding the police should act tough.

"Police is aware of communally sensitive areas in the state but did not initiate preventive steps by stepping up security," he said.  read 

Maoist mrutyu danda (the death penalty) to continue in Orissa: Sabyasachi Panda

A top Maoist leader has claimed responsibility for the murder of VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda, which led to large-scale Hindu-Christian communal strife in the tribal dominated district.

Secretary of the CPI (Maoists) Orissa state committee, Sunil alias Sarat alias Sabyasachi Panda, on Sunday said that the outfit had assassinated the VHP leader in Kandhamal on August 23 night.

“We had already decided to give mrutyu danda (the death penalty) to Lakshmanananda after the communal riots in Kandhamal in December last year,” he revealed. Accusing the Orissa government of being guided by Hindu organisations like the VHP and Bajrang Dal, Panda, the son of a former local BJD leader in coastal Nayagarh district, said that they had already decided to “give the death penalty” to fourteen other VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders in Kandhamal.

“All of them will be assasinated soon like Lakshmanananda.

However, we may forgive them if they apologise for their activities and leave Kandhamal for good”.

Insisting that the Maoists have no hand in the ongoing communal clashes in Kandhamal, Panda said that all the political parties were trying to garner as much political advantage as possible out of the communal violence in the tribal-dominated district.

The Maoist leader’s TV interview is set to trigger a fresh controversy as Hindu groups have rejected Panda’s claim. “The people of Orissa are not going to believe what the Maoist leader has said in his TV interview,” a leader of the VHP’s Orissa unit Subash Chouhan said. The Orissa government, which had initially held the Maoists responsible for the murder and subsequently ordered a crime branch probe into the incident, has not yet reacted to Panda’s interview.  read 


 Panda to Orissa TV





Sabyasachi Panda, leader of the Orissa unit of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), has said on television that his group killed Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others in Jalespata Ashram in Kandhamal district.

He also warned that the rebels would kill around a dozen people who he alleged were responsible for the communal tension in Kandhamal unless they stopped their activities.

"Swami Laxmanananda was a leader of the VHP and was working to bring back Brahminism that was almost disappearing. He was supported by unscrupulous traders who were exploiting poor people," Orissa TV, a local television channel, showed Panda as saying Sunday.

"Hindu organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are targeting minorities, mainly Christians, attacking them, killing them and burning their homes," said Panda, secretary of the Orissa state committee of the CPI-Maoist.

"The tribals are not Hindu. They are nature worshippers. There are now five lakh (half a million) Hindus in Kandhamal and this number has grown because of these forces," Panda said.

"They are playing riot politics," he said.

"We ordered the death penalty for Swami Laxmanananda. He was the main member of the VHP. They used money from non-tribal traders to build up the Bajrang Dal and ran a propaganda against Christians," he alleged.

"They falsely accused Christians and attacked them. This is why we killed Laxamanananda," said Panda.

He also claimed that the rebels had left two letters claiming responsibility for the murders. But the state government suppressed both, he added.

When a journalist on the show asked him whether he was responsible for the violence that erupted in the state after the killing of the VHP leader, Panda clarified that the rebels are not responsible.

"It is the VHP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party that have caused the violence to strengthen their vote bank."

He also criticized Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for "his failure to protect the minorities" and acting on behalf of the 'RSS-VHP-Sangh' which killed Christians and destroyed their property.

However, Subash Chouhan, one of the national coordinators of the Bajrang Dal, told IANS: "The Sangha Parivar is not involved in the communal clashes."