Author: I.M. Rao
Publication: India Tribune
Date: October 8, 2008
The recent outbreak of violence in the state
of Orissa, India, where places of worship were destroyed and many lives lost
in a matter of grave concern. A dispassionate understanding of the root causes
of such violence is necessary to avoid the chances of repetition of this tragedy.
It all began with the brutal murder of Swami
Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples, in the Kandhamal district
of Orissa on August 23. Ranjit Tigga and his colleagues claim that, "he
was leading a campaign to reconvert Hindus from Christianity." According
to the press reports, he was associated with a Hindu radical group. Swami
Laxmanananda was a sanyasi. This is what brought him and his disciples to
the tribal areas of Orissa. While the Christian missionaries were on a warpath,
converting these innocent tribals who are Hindus to Christianity by foul and
fraudulent means, he was coming to the aid of these tribals who desired to
return to Hinduism to which and where their ancestors belonged.
The reports claim that the butchering of this
holy man and his disciples was the work of Maoists. I fail to understand how
these Communists would target a Hindu Swami exclusively. This is a smoke-screen
to conceal some inconvenient truths.
Ranjit Tigga claims that Christians account
for a mere 2.3 percent of the Indian population. This is a figure that seems
to be carved in stone, never to be changed despite changing demography. The
census of 2000 states that the Christian population in Orissa to be 3.9 percent.
Christians account for 20 percent of the population in the Kandhamal District.
Six percent of the total Indian population of one billion was Christian. In
Jharkhand, it ws 4.1 percent in 2000. In general, the Christian population
in India has tripled since Indian gained Independence. The Muslim population
has doubles to 14 percent from the time when India became Independent in 1947.
Religious Demography in India, a book published
by the Center for Policy studies, predicts that if present trends continue,
only 52 percent of India weill be Hindu in the year 2071, which is approximately
80 percent of its current population. This is the grand plan for proselytizing
religions that operate in India, funded by the overflowing coffers of their
patrons abroad.
Hinduism is the last bastion of ancient human
civilizations and cultures. It is a timeless culture that truly belongs to
all of humanity and should be preserved. Religion is interwoven with the culture
of a people.
Pope John Paul II came to India as a guest
of the government in 2000. He declared that he intended to plant the cross
in Asia for the third millennium. He stated that the cross was planted in
Europe in the first millennium, in America for the second millennium, and
it would be planted in Asia for the third millennium. He resolved to Christiaanize
all of Asia with India as the main target. All the existing religions and
cultures in Europe and the Americas were wiped out with the planting of the
cross.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a revered scholar
and traditional teacher of Hindu scriptures, wrote an open letter to the Pope
pointing out the dangers inherent in the Pope's grand plan. In response to
the Pope's Apostolic Letter, Swami Dayananda Saraswati pointed out to the
status of the world religions, which was a means of preparing them fo Christ.
The church does not accommodate other religions except in this context. The
swami appealed to the Pope to recognize that every person has the freedom
to pursue his or her own religion.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati pointed out to the
Pope that conversion is an act of violence. It destroys the core person, alienates
him from his family, community and village. The tribals, who are called Dalits,
on conversion, become hyphenated. They become Dalit-Christians. They become
a vote-bank to be exploited to direct elelctions and held up to the Human
Rights Watch as people whose human rights are trampled upon. The economic
condition of these converts in no way improves.
Creating conflict is part of the missionary
agenda. They covertly and overtly encourage Dalit-Christians to intimidate
the non-converts. The killing of Swami Laxmanananda and his disciples is a
gory example of such violence perpetrated by Dalit-Christians. Three of them
- Pradesh Kumar Das, Vikram Digal and William Digal - were arrested soon after
the assassination. All three are Dalit-Christians. They have admitted to joining
a group of 28 others in the slaying of the swami. It has been the violence
by the Dalit-Christians that has been at the root of the Orissa communal conflicts.