Author: Editorial
Publication: News Today
Date: August 26, 2008
URL: http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=10226%20&%20section=13
Almost every media house has reported the
alleged burning of a 'Christian nun' in a 'orphanage' in Bargah district of
Orissa, by VHP cadres, in its front page and prime time.
But when Christian terrorists barged into
Swami Laksmnananda Saraswathi's Ashram on Krishna Jayanthi Day and murdered
him along with five disciples, the electronic media chose to ignore it and
the print media reported the incident as yet another crime story tucked in
some obscure corner.
.
The VHP and BJP have observed a bandh against the dastardly killing of the
Swamiji and his disciples on Krishna Jayanthi day and during the bandh they
have resorted to arson in order to register their anger and protests against
the unending menace of evangelisation and Christian terrorism.
It may be recalled that the Kandhamal district
of Orissa experienced heavy communal riots between converted Christians and
Hindu Tribals in December 2007. Even then an attempt was made on the life
of 90 years old Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswathi.
In his forty years of yeoman service to the
tribals of Orissa, Christian militants have attempted to liquidate him more
than half a dozen times and finally they succeeded on Friday.
Though the xhurches and the 'secular' media
try to brand the killers as Maoists, the arrest of Pradesh Kumar Das an employee
of 'World Vision' and two Christian militants Vikram Digal and William Digal
have established the unholy nexus between the missionaries and the Maoists.
They are together in persecuting Hindu organisations, which render social
services in the tribal villages.
The presence of VHP and RSS is an obstacle
for the churches to carry out their mission of 'harvesting of souls' and hence
they take the help of Maoists to unleash terror on the Hindu activists like
Swamiji. Maoists, who are always in need of money to buy arms and ammunition,
have found in the missionaries and the church a source of fund and that is
how the Hindus have become a common enemy for both. The nexus between the
Missionaries and Naxals is not new to India, as it has witnessed enough in
the 'Northeast', which has become totally 'Christian' in just fifty years
with no end to insurgency.
The government has a huge responsibility in
identifying the root cause of the problem, which has been occurring perennially
through out the country. The various commissions of enquiries over the years
have clearly established that the conversion activities of the church and
the missionaries have been at the core of the problem. Justice Niyogi Commission
constituted by the Madhya Pradesh government in 1956 has reported after extensive
inquiries that the missionary activities in and around the tribal areas are
blatantly coercive and illegal causing immense damage to the secular fabric
of the society and recommended the enacting of a suitable anti-conversion
Law.
The Madhya Pradesh government could not promulgate
a law banning conversions due to the interference of the then Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was known for his minority appeasement. But later in
1968 the Congress government formulated an anti-conversion Law in Madhya Pradesh
only after the Orissa Congress government passed a law in 1967.
Similarly, the Justice Venugopal commission
constituted by the Late MGR government in the wake of the Mandakaadu riots
in Kanyakumari district, also come out with similar kind of findings in 1984
and clearly established that the root cause of the riots as evangelisation
and recommended for an anti-conversion law. MGR's attempt to bring one such
law was curtailed by the then Congress government at the Centre. Likewise,
the Justice Wadhwa Commission, which probed the Father Stain's killing, also
came out with identical findings along with severe indictment of the media,
which indulged in false reporting.
The western media and the Indian mainstream
media do not seem to have even an iota of responsibility, as evidenced by
their biased and one-sided vituperative reporting in the present case too.
The Indian Constitution ensures 'freedom of religion' subject to public order,
morality and health. As long as the Churches restrict themselves to practising
their religion things will be fine, but the moment they resort to conversions
showing scant regard to Constitution and the law of the land, they have to
face the consequences. The government must also screen the foreign mercenaries
and missionaries, their source of funds and other activities, which they do
in the guise of education and health care. The media must ensure responsible
reporting with the realization that misplaced sympathy is the second cause
of the problem.
