Author: Vivek Bharat
Publication: Desicritics.org
Date: October 6, 2008
URL: http://desicritics.org/2008/10/06/051310.php
Reacting sharply to the attack on Churches
in Karnataka, the Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore fumed indignantly
that Christians were deeply hurt. I, too, have been badly traumatized, dear
Father, not once but repeatedly. Your compatriots have consistently trampled
upon my sensibilities and those of millions of others like me for sometime
now. The only difference is that I am a Hindu and in the broad framework of
India's warped secular ideology, Hindu sentiments are dispensable to maintain
this hollow but grandiose show of communal harmony that has been essentially
built on the backs of the Hindu community. So, neither you or nor the authorities
have bothered to take any corrective action to assuage the Hindu hurt. It
does not even register as a cause for remedy on your moral radar.
Lest this be dismissed as the rant of a hate
mongering Hindu fundamentalist (a label that is promptly assigned to anyone
taking up the Hindu cause) let me place before you certain facts and analyze
the sequence of events that lead to the present Hindu Christian fracas to
put things in true perspective. Also at the outset, let me unequivocally condemn
the violence that has accompanied this controversy for any defense of Hinduism
is promptly blown up and misrepresented as a defense of violence. It is not.
The immediate provocation for the current
imbroglio appears to be a pamphlet titled Satya Darshini (everybody agrees
to that) that was being freely distributed among members of the New Life Fellowship
sect of the Pentecost Mission in Mangalore and which contained derogatory
references to Hindu Gods and Goddesses. The book, originally written in Telugu
by one Rev Paravastu Sooryanarayana, has been translated into Kannada by Sriramreddy
of Bangalore, and revised by Rev Samson S Malekar of Davangere.
The book replete with disparaging remarks
about Hinduism, is basically a litany of hate. I reproduce below a couple
of excerpts (translated into English) that reflect the ugly tenor of the publication:
Urvashi - the daughter of Narayana- is a prostitute. Vashitha is the son of
this prostitute. He in turn married his own Mother. Such a degraded person
is the Guru of the Hindu God Rama. (page 48)
?When Krishna himself is wallowing in darkness
of hell, how can he enlighten others? Since Krishna himself is a shady character,
there is a need for us to liberate his misled followers. (page 50)
To brush this aside as an isolated example
of vilification or dub it as an aberrancy would be naive. For this is a microcosm
of the larger Machiavellian game plan that has been in play in this country
for over a hundred years; a deceptive practice that has never been aggressively
countered by the timid Hindu community until now.
To bolster my contention let me present to
you other instances of unadulterated hate that have been the hallmark of missionary
propaganda in India:
The Indian sub-continent with one billion people, is a living example of what
happens when Satan rules the entire culture... India is one vast purgatory
in which millions of people .... are literally living a cosmic lie! Could
Satan have devised a more perfect system for causing misery?" (Gospel
of Asia, Texas: reproduced from Arun Shourie's book, Missionaries in India.
(Harper Collins 1998)
On a personal level, I have first hand experience
with similar offensive remarks during my school tenure in a prominent Jesuit
institution. In one instance, a Jesuit priest categorically remarked in front
of a class of docile seventh graders that Rama would never qualify as a God.
On another occasion, a reverend smirkingly questioned the veracity of immersion
in the Ganges absolving one of his/her sins. Religion is an act of personal
faith. Whether I dip myself into a river or not as an act of ablution is my
prerogative and not for anybody else to comment upon. This is the line in
the sand that religions in a pluralistic society like ours should abide by.
I still remember that morning in eleventh
grade when I entered the Principal's office with a great deal of trepidation
to explain why I had chosen an additional Mathematics subject for my ISC exam
in preference to Biblical Scriptures that had been recommended by the authorities.
Inwardly defiant but lacking the courage to speak up, I mumbled something
about getting better grades. Acts of subtle intimidation like this one are
all too common.
While the Bajrang Dal and its associates cannot
be in any way excused for the present violence if proven guilty, there is
something that must be highlighted in its favor. In 2006 when Satya Darshini
was first released, the Bajrang Dal had registered a formal protest with the
police. No action was taken.
When the Satanic Verses, a novel published
in the UK can be banned in India in deference to Muslim sentiments and when
The Da Vinci Code, a movie produced in the United States can be proscribed
from our movie theaters to appease Christians, why couldn't remedial action
be taken against a book derogatory to Hindus? The only answer that I can think
of is what I have repeatedly maintained: Hindu sentiments are dispensable
in secular India.
I have used these examples as a prop to pose
some important questions that are relevant to the controversy at hand: While
the respected Archbishop now seethes with righteous anger, I would like to
ask the Reverend whether the Christian leadership has done enough to police
itself? Have they taken measures to ensure that their religious zeal does
not violate the sentiments of another? Have guidelines been issued to its
proponents regarding the rules of a civilized society? Would proactive condemnation
by the Christian leadership of such hate literature have preempted this spate
of violence?
Hindus of India have another legitimate grouse
against the Christian establishment: they are the recipients of an unfair
largesse doled out by the government at the expense of the Hindu community.
Money collected through Hindu temples is illegally siphoned off to support
Churches and madrassas.
Here are some figures from the Karnataka State government to support this
claim.
Of the 52 crore rupees entered into the government
coffers by Hindu temples in 1997, barely 17 crores was earmarked for Hindu
causes; the remaining 35 crores was diverted to finance Churches and madrassas
and other government sponsored projects. A purview of figures for the succeeding
years upto 2002 (for which information is available) exhibit a similar deceptive
strategy. This practice probably has been in place since independence without
the Hindus even being aware of it.
This travesty of justice pains me greatly,
dear Father and irks me, as well. But who cares: Hindus in India are the children
of a lesser God. Finally in 2006, the Karnataka High Court intervened and
categorically decreed: "Devotees of Hindu temples provide money for temple
purposes and it cannot be spent for non-Hindu causes."
In summary the picture is very clear. As long
as the Hindu community stoically bears the load of insults heaped on it, as
long as the Hindus do not protest the large tracts of land doled out to Christian
institutions and as long as the Hindu community overlooks the crores of rupees
siphoned from its temples to support Churches, the Christians are willing
to co-exist peacefully with Hindus.
But God forbid if the Hindus register even
a syllable of protest. Christians will raise a hue and cry and seek the support
of extraterritorial agencies to muscle the government in order to persist
with their unhealthy practices.
While physical violence in a civilized society
is unacceptable and must be dealt with firmly, every effort should be made
to aggressively counter those events that have the potential to engender violence.
We would be better off if we nip in the bud the seeds of violence before they
are sown. Prevention is better than cure. That is the premise of this article.
The path to Hindu-Christian amity as I see
it is two-fold:
1. The Christian leadership must make a conscious effort to delete any derogatory
references to Hinduism by any of its manifold churches and continuously monitor
them for infractions. This to me is a simple proposition.
2. Desist from active proselytization. This is a much more complex area and
will need another article to address this when I eke out some time.
We can start with the first step if the Christian
community is really serious of co-existing peacefully with the Hindus.
References
1) The Katherine Mayos and Pat Robertsons of India. Part I. V. Sundaram. Newstoday
September 24, 2008.
2) Hindu Temples in the Age of Pseudo-Secularism. Lies, Lies and More Lies.
The Campaign to Defame Hindu Nationalism.p96-99. iUniverse. June 2007.
