Wednesday, October 8, 2008
What made Hindus angry in Karnataka ? by Francois Gautier
Francois Gautier
06 Oct 2008 02:12:00 AM IST
Source: Express buzz
I WAS born in a Catholic family. My uncle was a priest, a wonderful man of warmth and compassion and I spent most my early years in Catholic boarding schools. When I was young I wanted to become a missionary and to ‘convert’ pagans in Asia. What I was taught by priests was that Hindus worship false gods and they needed to be brought back to the True Word by Jesus Christ.
Then of course, I came to India and discovered that actually Hindus, far from being the heathens, as had been portrayed in Europe, not only believed God’s diversity, the wonderful concept of avatar, but had given refuge to all persecuted minorities of the world, whether the Syrian Christians, the Parsis, the Jews (India is the only country in the world where Jews were not persecuted), the Armenians, or today the Tibetans.
NCCI, CBCI, EFI: TOWARDS A COMMON VISION & UNITED ACTION
| NCCI, CBCI, EFI Meeting in Delhi for Joint Action in Orissa |
TOWARDS A COMMON VISION & UNITED ACTION In the context of the ongoing violence on Christians all across India, the National United Christian Forum (NUCF), the united platform of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) had a meeting of solidarity, shared vision and united action. The meeting was held on Tuesday, the 7th October 2008 at Bible Bhavan, New Delhi from 10 a.m. 4.30 p.m. Archbishop Vincent Concessao, President of NUCF & Catholic Bishop of the Delhi welcomed the gathering and moderated the proceedings. Bishop Taranath Sagar, President of NCCI, shared the Biblical reflection on sufferings and called on the people to be united in countering all forms of violence against the minorities in India. Fr. Thomas Sequeira, the Deputy Secretary General of CBCI, Bishop D. K. Sahu, General Secretary of NCCI and Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, General Secretary of EFI briefed the role of the Indian churches in situations of crisis and violence.  Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, Co-Chairperson of Orissa United Christian Forum (OUCF) and Catholic Bishop of Cuttack- Bhubaneswar, Bishop Samson Das, President of Utkal Christian Council (UCC) and Co-Chairperson of the OUCF, Bishop AC Khosla, Bishop of Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC), Prof. Dr. HH. Watson, Secretary Karnataka Council of Churches, Fr. Onil D’ Souza from Mangalore, Mr. Shekar from New Life Church, Bombay and several others shared the gravity of violence and briefed the meeting with an analysis of the happenings. ..................... The relief agencies (CASA, CARITAS, CRS, World Vision, EFICOR, CMAI, etc.) shall work joint mechanisms in pooling the resources for relief and rehabilitation both short term and long term in coherence with the need expressed by the Churches was one of the major decisions at the plenary. The other decisions include, that Christian Legal Association shall be the fulcrum point for all legal interventions on behalf of the Churches in India, to articulate a position paper on conversion in countering the allegations on Christians, to encourage in writing to the vernacular press on views and news on issues related to human rights and to encourage engagement of Christians with civil society. Towards the end, Mr. Shanti Bhushan, former Union Law Minister and Ms. Kamla Bhasin leading social activist addressed the gathering on the civil societies solidarity with Christians.
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Monday, October 6, 2008
Where to go? Nowhere for Orissa Christian Refugees
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List of Places attacked by Bajrang Dal in Karnataka
Jharkhand Yahoo groups October 6, 2008
Bajrang Dal people claim that they have only attacked New Life Fellow
Ship Centers in Karnataka giving the reason that they are involved
into forcible conversions. But they have attacked number of Roman
Catholic and protestant churches and their prayer centers. Irony is
that there is not even a single complaint lodged for forcible
conversion all over India. Also there are several reports of forcible
reconversion to Hinduism in Orissa and other parts of the nation.
In fact at the beginning Bajrang Dal people openly claimed
responsibility for the attacks. Later on they changed their statement
and said all attacked places belongs to New Life Fellowship only. But
now slowly they change their statement once again saying that they are
not behind these attacks. May be they are now frightened that the
group will be named as terrorist and banned.
The list of places that were attacked by them on 14th September 2008
and the following day. Also four Roman Catholic churches in the next
Sunday (21st September). Three churches in Bangalore and one in Kodagu
District. I got total list of 33 places of attacks. There may be some
more left out apart from these. click here to read the list
Orissa arrests 2 Christians for Hindu leader's murder
By Jatindra Dash
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Police arrested two Christians in Orissa on Monday in connection with the murder of a Hindu leader that sparked weeks of deadly
clashes, a killing which is also blamed on Maoist rebels.
The arrests were the first in the killing of Laxmanananda Saraswati in August, a Hindu proselytiser linked with India's main Hindu-nationalist opposition party.
The murder unleashed a wave of retaliatory attacks by Hindus on Christians in the rural Kandhamal district of Orissa -- leaving at least 35 people dead -- that has been a zone of Christian missionary activities for decades.
"We have arrested two people," Arun Kumar Ray, inspector general of police, told Reuters, adding that those held were Christians.
A police officer said the two had links with the Maoist rebels. Ray said a third person had been also detained.
The violence against Christians in Orissa was followed by similar attacks in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Hindu nationalists either share power or rule outright in all the three states.
Despite posting thousands of policemen, violence has continued, especially in Kandhamal where thousands of Christians now live in government camps because their homes are destroyed or they are too fearful to return.
Police have arrested about 1000 people, mostly Hindus, in connection with the attacks in Orissa. Hindu groups deny their involvement in the violence, which have been condemned by Pope Benedict. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called it a "national shame". Read
'Majority of Maoist supporters in Orissa are Christians'
'Majority of Maoist supporters in Orissa are Christians'
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Admitting that Maoist groups in Orissa derive major support from minority communities, a prominent Maoist leader has said there was reportedly pressure from both Christians and Dalits to eliminate VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.
Sabyasachi Panda alias Sunil, who met a group of journalists at an undisclosed hideout on Saturday, said Saraswati was killed as he did not pay any heed to Maoist's warning. The transcript of Panda's meeting was made available to PTI on Sunday.
"We had asked Laxmanananda to desist from anti-Christian activities. He created a riot in December 2007 and subsequently targeted people indulging in cow slaughter," he said, adding people of both the communities were opposed to the seer. Noting that most of the cadre members and supporters in Orissa belonged to Christian community, Panda said, "It is a fact that Christians are in majority in our organisation. Our supporters in Orissa's Rayagada, Gajapati and Kandhamal also belonged to Christian community."
The Maoist leader, however, pointed out that though Christians were major support base of the outfit in Orissa, the situation was not similar across the country. "We do not believe in any religion or are attached to any religious groups. We are not in favour of any religion," he said claiming Laxamananda was working to revive Brahminism which was almost disappearing. read
Sunday, October 5, 2008
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."
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