Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March, 25, 2006
Instead of denouncing Emmanuel Mission's scurrilous
screed called 'Haqeeqat', evangelists are brazenly abusing the Rajasthan Government
On Monday, March 20, Assist News Service,
based in Lake Forest, California, USA, which circulates news about the work
of evangelists around the world, put out a story by Michael Ireland, its chief
correspondent, headlined 'India's Prime Minister launches investigation into
arrest and persecution of Indian Christians'.
According to this story, "India's Prime
Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has launched an investigation into the arrest
of Hopegivers International President Dr Samuel Thomas.
'Our letter writing campaign is working,'
says Hopegivers Executive Director Michael Glenn, 'we must continue to write
and fax letters of protest this week.'
Glenn said that because of the campaign, 'The
Prime Minister of India has today appointed a four-member commission to investigate
the persecution in Kota where our president and top administrative staff have
been falsely accused and jailed. This is simply a naked effort to force Emmanuel
to shut its doors'."
The story then goes on to urge Christians
in the US to petition Senators, Congressmen and the US President against what
it portrays as outrageous action by the Government of Rajasthan, prodded by
'Hindu fascists', against Dr Thomas and his fellow evangelists of Emmanuel
Mission International that operates five registered societies in that State.
These are: Emmanuel Bible Institute Samiti, Emmanuel Anath Ashram, Emmanuel
School Society, Emmanuel Chikitsalaya Samiti and Emmanuel Believers Fellowship,
all funded by the US-based Hopegivers.
What it does not mention, however, is the
reason why Dr Thomas and his associates have been booked for violating Sections
153(a) and 295(a) of the IPC, "which deal with deliberately outraging
religious feelings or insulting the religious beliefs of another community."
Dr Samuel Thomas has been arrested and his father, Mr MA Thomas, has been
declared an absconder.
And, while choosing not to elaborate on the
nature of charges, the report quotes Ms Shelley Thomas, wife of Dr Thomas,
who is at present in the US: "Nothing that my husband has done was intended
to outrage or insult any other religion... This is a totally false charge
and unrelated to the organised violence, threats, and attacks that have been
conducted against us for the last six weeks."
It also points out that the Government of
Rajasthan has "revoked without due process or hearing, all the operating
licenses of the Hopegivers-supported bookstores, churches, the hospital and
leprosy or HIV-AIDS outreaches, orphanages, printing presses, schools and
other institutions."
Dr Thomas has been quoted saying, "Of
course, none of these actions are legal. The terrorists and hate groups have
taken the law into their own hands and sadly, we have lost confidence in the
local Government to control them."
Since evangelist advocacy groups have willfully
refused to tell the full story, it would be in order to place the facts on
record.
The immediate provocation that led to the
arrest of Dr Thomas and others involved with the Emmanuel mission's work in
Kota is born of the contents of a book that he and his associates have been
distributing among the people. The book, Haqeeqat, is authored by a Kerala-based
evangelist, MG Matthew, and purports to be a rebuttal of MS Golwalkar's writings
that have been published by the RSS as Bunch of Thoughts.
In reality, it is unadulterated abuse of Hindu
scriptures, faith, ritual and tradition. It denigrates every tenet of Hinduism
and pours undiluted scorn on Hindu icons and gurus. It casts aspersions on
the chastity of Hindu women and questions received wisdom.
Published by the Kerala-based Truth &
Life Publications, which puts out evangelist literature, it has been translated
into Hindi by Dennis Nathaniel, associated with the Emmanuel mission, who
has been arrested by Rajasthan Police. The book has been banned in Rajasthan.
The author, against whom a non-bailable warrant has been issued, is believed
to be hiding somewhere in Kerala.
Here are some samples of what Haqeeqat, which
was being used by the Thomases and their associates to convince Hindus in
Kota to abandon their faith and embrace Christianity, has to say:
* "Hindu gods and goddesses are fictitious
and were invented to persecute Dalits" (Page 9).
* "To prevent indigenous people from
acquiring knowledge, Saraswati invented difficult Vedas (which nobody can
understand)". (Page 16)
* "With the progression of time, people
all over the world (except India) were freed of their ignorance and they began
to disown wicked and cruel gods and goddesses. But in India, because people
are (enveloped) in the darkness of ignorance, imaginary gods and goddesses
are still worshipped." (Page 17)
* "Naked sanyasis are worshipped by (Hindu)
women. The moment (Hindu) women see naked sanyasis, they fall on the ground
and prostrate themselves before the sanyasis. (Hindu) women pour water on
the sanyasis' penises and then happily drink that water. Ling Devata is gratified
when he sees all these repulsive things and feels empowered... These people
are ignorant and do not know the difference between what is right and wrong."
(Page 93)
* "Sita was abandoned in the forest as
per Ram's wishes... Ram later asked Lakshman to kill Sita. In the end, Ram
frustrated with life, drowned himself in Saryu. Such are the teachings of
half-naked rishis who are praised by Hindutvawadis." (Page 100)
* "Lord Shiva, to get people to worship
him, dropped his penis on Earth (Devi), shaking the ground and the sky! ...
. Poor Dharti Devi was shaken by the weight of his penis. Seeing this, all
the Gods were scared. It seems Gods would use their penises as bombs! Whenever
and wherever they wanted to, they would drop their 'penis bombs' to terrorise
the people. Thus, they were able to enslave the people... But compared to
foreign bombs, these penis bombs were a damp squib." (Page 106-107)
* "(Ramakrishna) Paramahansa should have
known that Ganga is the world's filthiest and dirtiest river. How many dead
bodies float down this river every day? How many half-burnt dead bodies are
dumped into it every day? And Hindus call it the holy river! In fact, all
the rivers of India are dirty and polluted... Hindutvawadis pollute the rivers...
and then depend on their false Gods to cleanse them..." (Page 122-123)
* "(For Hindus) men can be Gods, women
can be Goddesses... animals are gods, snakes are gods... they (Hindu Gods)
fight among themselves, marry among themselves, throw out their wives, run
away with others' wives, they steal, get intoxicated, drink blood, are reincarnated
as animals, fish and tortoise, some of them can lift mountains... Some Gods
are in same-sex relationships and are yet able to produce babies. These Gods
and Goddesses are always armed because they believe in killing and plunder.
Some Gods think their penises are more powerful than nuclear bombs. Others
like animals live naked among their followers. Some of them spend their time
in yogic exercises, others are in samadhi and happy to see the number of blind
followers swell... You can wash away your sins by worshipping the penises
of Gods" (Page 146)
* "How could Arya Hindus bring Aryanisation
on this earth. To be Arya, one has to be born of an Arya womb... If Arya Hindus
want to bring Aryanisation then they must lend or rent out all Arya wombs
to non-Aryans. Non-Aryans should be given Brahmin women so that children are
born from Brahmin womb" (Page 182-183).
* "In modern India, many Ramas of this
belief are living a carefree life. They marry several times, desert their
wives, marry several times, and leave them. Many Ramas kill their Sitas. They
are following their God Rama." (Page 269)
* "(Lord) Krishna had a despicable sex
life... Shri Krishna is famous because of his love life. He had 16,008 wives.
And all Yadav women were his illegitimate lovers. (Hindu) women are drawn
towards him because of pornographic and vulgar tales of his sex life."
(Page 391)
This is not the first time that the Emmanuel
mission has run foul of the local administration and upset Hindus. On February
24, 2005, there was a near riot situation following the mission's crude attempt
to convert Hindus through allurement and false propaganda. On that occasion,
the mission head, Mr MA Thomas, had promised not to continue with such provocative
activities.
The agenda papers at the National Integration
Council meeting held under the tutelage of the UPA Government had this to
say about Emmanuel mission and similar evangelist outfits:
"Communal tensions due to alleged conversion/reconversions:
In recent years, the issue of conversion/re-conversion
has also become a major cause of communal tensions in some parts of the country.
Allegations of forced conversions/ reconversions and subsequent communal tensions
have surfaced from time to time. On many occasions even apprehensions, not
founded on facts, on this account have given rise to communal tensions. Cases
in point are the recent events on the occasion of the annual religious Assembly
of the Emmanuel Bible Institute Samiti at Kota, Rajasthan, in February 2005.
The situation was controlled due to prompt measures taken by the District
States of Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have already
passed legislations to regulate conversions by coercive means or offering
allurements."
And yet, there is outrage over action against
the Thomases. Such perverse drivel, such horrendous hate, as exemplified by
the contents of Haqeeqat, the operating manual of Emmanuel mission, of course,
is of no consequence to those who have taken up cudgels on behalf of its peddlers
masquerading as Good Samaritans and Christian evangelists.
Instead, they are faxing letters to the White
House, the US State Department, the United Nations, and Indian ambassadors
to the US and the UN to paint the Government of Rajasthan in communal colours.
And, if Hopegivers Executive Director Michael
Glenn is to be believed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appointed a four-member
commission to inquire into the "persecution" of peddlers of anti-Hindu
hate. If this is true, then a public statement is called for from the Prime
Minister's Office. If it's untrue, then the least the PMO can do is issue
a denial.