The other side of Kandhamal…
Came across this very well-researched article last week that looks at the other side of the story of Kandhamal.
It is written by Shri P Chand Dogra, a retired IPS officer who personally spent time in Kandhamal earlier this year to find out the “truth” of what happened in the district.
Shri Chand Dogra makes a few interesting points in the article, namely:
1.�Hindu households and dwellings were also attacked during the violence and in much larger numbers - a fact that has been overlooked by most of mainstream media.
2. The roots of the problem lie in social issues rather than religious ones.
There had been simmering tension in the area because of the demands by Panas (Schedules Castes who converted to Christianity and thus�lost their place in the reserved quota) to get themselves categorised as a Scheduled Tribe�(and thus regain the benefits of reservation). The claim for Scheduled Tribe was made on the basis of a dialect -�”Kui” - that they spoke.
This “claim” was contested by the Kondhs (the original Scheduled Tribe in the area) who happened�to be Hindus and were apprehensive of their “rights” being curtailed and taken away by Panas who�were converted Christians (Shades of the Gujjar agitation here?)
The Panas claim to a quota was accepted by the Central Government but contested by the�State Govt who maintained that “Kui is a dialect and not a tribe” and that the�Panas’ claim�was not based on historical and anthropological facts.
The matter soon became politicised and was picked up by�the Congress and an NGO called World Vision.
3. Another issue that added fuel to this was the increasing frustration amongst the�Kondhs (original tribals from the area)that in spite of court orders asking for restoration of land belonging to them, about�22 acres continued to be “allegedly under illegal occupation of the Church and the Christians”.
4.�Shri Chand Dogra also suggests that it would be wise for the government�to scrutinize a little more closely the activities of several charitable organisations that operate in the region. As per the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs under the head “Receipt of Foreign Contributions by Voluntary Associations”, although “Maintenance of priests/preachers /other religious functionaries is the 15th on the list of purposes”, it still�receives�$21 million of all foreign funding!
See this NDTV report on Kandhamal which makes no mention of Hindu houses being burnt or being targeted.
See this post that looks�at issues surrounding the current system of reservations and quotas and this post that offers a few fresh ideas.
* The article in full:�”Violence in Kandhamal –The other side of the story” by P Chand Dogra, published in the Organiser,�Mar ‘08.
“an NGO called World Vision.”
This is not an NGO - it’s a Christian religious group seeking to harvest souls….
Comment by Chandra | March 15, 2008
Chandra: Thanks and well spotted.
I believe this is the charity mentioned above:
http://www.worldvision.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.11
Comment by B Shantanu | March 15, 2008
I came across this interesting website. There is a new initiative to protect non-exclusive religions around the world. Please do take a look.
Thanks
Comment by Vidhya | March 16, 2008
Sorry forgot the link:
http://protectreligions.org/
Comment by Vidhya | March 17, 2008
Its time, christian missionaries must be declared as Terrorist Organization, banned and chrushed once for all. Enough is enough. This is called 85% Hindu majority nation, where Hindus get massacred by the christian missionary terrorrists one side and Jihadi terrorists on the other. It must come to an end soon, before we all Hindus get perished.
One nation will not remain one nation, if we tolerate and keep watching silently these anti-Hindu crusades and Jihads. HIndu Nation will be destroyed to create Jihadistan and Roman Republics.
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Anti-conversion swami, 4 others shot dead
Subhasis Mohanty | Bhubaneswar
Late night attack on ashram in Orissa’s Kandhamal
Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, the 80-year-old monk who spearheaded the anti-conversion movement in Orissa’s tribal dominated areas for decades, was shot dead at his Jalespata Ashram under Tumudibandha block in Kandhamal district late Saturday night.
Reports reaching Bhubaneswar said a group of 20 to 25 people, armed with guns, barged into the ashram at 9.35 pm and attacked him. They lobbed a hand-grenade and fired indiscriminately. Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four others who lived in the ashram died on the spot. Among them was a woman.
Director-General of Police Gopal Nanda confirmed the murderous attack on Swami Laxmananda Saraswati’s ashram. The police suspect the killers to be Maoists. The district administration has mobilised police force and rushed CRPF companies to the spot. The District Collector and the SP have also rushed to Tumudibandha to take stock of the situation.
Widescale violence is feared in Orissa. People have started resorting to road blockade to ventilate their anger in different parts of the State. People in Dhenkanal district came out openly and blocked the roads.
An alert has been issued and all District Collectors have been asked to maintain strict vigil.
Swami Laxmananda Saraswati had received a letter, threatening that he would be kidnapped from his Chakapada Ashram in Kandhamal district in the next seven days. Ashram authorities received the letter on Friday. It had been posted from Barinipur post office.
They also filed an FIR on Friday. The letter-writer had identified himself as a member of the ‘Pahari Group’.
Viswa Hindu Parishad general secretary Gouri Prasad Rath had subsequently sought increased security cover for Swami Laxmananda Saraswati.
Before the police could react, he was shot dead.
Swami Laxmananda Saraswati came to tribal-dominated Kandhamal in 1966. Since then he has been leading a campaign against conversion activities of Christian missionaries. He has also been in the forefront of the campaign against cow-slaughter. It was because of his sustained efforts that thousands of tribals who had embraced Christianity returned to the Hindu fold.
Later, he set up an ashram at Chakpada and a Kanya Ashram (girls residential school) at Jalespata in Kandhmal district. He spent his life promoting literacy and combating conversions in this tribal-dominated district. For this, he earned the wrath of Christian missionaries and was attacked on several occasions.
On December 25, 2007, he was attacked by a section of the Christian community and his security guard was severely injured. Later, clashes erupted in Phulbani and other areas.
Curfew was imposed in Baliguda, Daringbadi and Brahmani Gaon as well as the district headquarters of Kandhamal for more than a month to restore peace. Swami Laxmananda Saraswati’s murder could give rise to tension.
Reacting sharply to the ghastly incident, the State BJP president said the culprits should be arrested immediately. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad expressed shock over the killings.
The Pioneer article
and Swami Lakshmanananda, four others killed
Comment by Bharat | August 25, 2008
Looks like there were more than just “Maoists” involved in the attack:
Comment by B Shantanu | August 25, 2008
Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, A Man with a Mission
Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, who was killed by unknown assailants at Jaleshpata Kanya Ashram on Saturday night, was a man of strong determination and ideology. His message was loud and clear - “Believe in your religion, don’t disband it”. He never used double standards. He preached what he believed and always stuck to that.
read here.
http://www.orissatimes.net/
Widespread anger in Kandhamal
…The police have arrested Pradesh Kumar Das, an employee of the World Vision, a Christian Charity, from Khadagpur while escaping from the district at Buguda. In another drive, two other persons Vikram Digal and William Digal have been arrested from the house of Lal Digal, a local militant Christian, from Nuasahi at Gunjibadi, Nuagaan. They have admitted to having joined a group of 28 other assailants.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story5%2Etxt&counter_img=5
Comment by Bharat | August 25, 2008
From: Why Kandhamal is a battleground over conversion
Comment by B Shantanu | August 31, 2008
Dear Sir,
It has been admitted even by the Christians that religious conversions are the cause of these problems. It was very clearly spelt out by a Minister in the BJD led government that there were no problems as long as the Adivasis and tribals were left alone and the “HINDUS” left them alone.
When the XTIANS came out with there “TRUE GOD” concept through bribe and chicanery, for the tribals even a coke bottle is matter of worship, the problems became multifold.
The Xtians wanted do destroy the edifice on which the Adivasi and Tribals lived; The swamiji wanted to let them continue with tit; The christians could not “HARVEST” as their leader a non Indian wanted the indian Xtians to do and hence the problem.
It is neither economic or development. It is the destruction of a way of life that led to this problem.
Regards,
vck
Comment by v.c. krishnan | August 31, 2008
From: A Wrong Message, 1st Sept ‘08
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My comment:
Where are the educational institutions for Hindus in Bharat (that is India)? Christian call the institutions run by them as christian institutions, muslim-run call muslim institutions (under banner of minority). So, they are religion-based institutins, they are not secular.
Remaining all insitutions comes under Secular tag. Hindus are easy targets to fool, coerce and intimidate.
Where are the Hindu insitutions? Why Hindus does not have any insitutions to call them as Hindu Insitutions? Its time, all institutions outside christian and muslim domain, must be declared as Hindu Instituions. We must call them as Hindu Insitutions. Hindus must learn to get their right. Either Secularism for all, else it must be dumped.
Bharat
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Comment by Bharat | September 1, 2008
Fully agree with you. We need to fight for secularism as was promised at the time of forming our nation. Passivity of the so-called majority community in the name of being secular has led to the organized communities getting away with with the most unsecular and anti-Indian nation activities.
Comment by Hrishi | September 2, 2008
Extracts from Offstumped’s recent post:
Offstumped will now detail the Evangelical Project in Orissa and the foreign entities behind it.
To understand this Project better, Offstumped draws the attention of its readers to foreign evangelocal entities “World Encounter” and LCMC (a Lutheran Church Congregation). The LCMC has a quarterly newsletter and in its edition for the first quarter of 2007 , the LCMC newsletter carried a detailed 1 page story focused on Orissa where it invited congregations in the U.S.A for what it called
For a life-transforming experience, join World Encounter, in association with LCMC, on a short term outreach to India October 5-22, 2007. Orissa Evangelical Fellowship (OEF), an LCMC association of churches in India, has invited congregations in the US to encourage them in their efforts to share the Good News with the unreached people of India.
What’s interesting is why this project zeroed in on Orissa of all places, in its own words.
The people of Orissa are primarily tribal/animists and Hindus who worship spirits, trees, rocks, and other objects of nature. The heart of the OEF vision is focused on church planting, discipleship, and leadership…Groups of believers worship inhomes and thatch-roofed churches. In the midst of opposi-tion to the Gospel,they are committed to reaching their Hindu neighbors and families with the Good News that has transformed their lives .
This precisely is the problem in Orissa - aggressive proselytization with foreign funding and support thats invasive of people’s privacy with a clear objective of “planting churches”, expanding to “new villages” and evangelizing to “Hindu Neighbors”.
This not about the practice of Christianity in Orissa.
This is about changing the social demographics and the fabric of society in poor rural pockets of Orissa, one village, one neighborhood at a time.
To appreciate how well prepared this Evangelical Project in its targetting of Orissa, consider this compilation of target Villages in Orissa by geo-cordinates.
To further appreciate the sophistication and subterfuge with which proselytization is conducted in Orissa in the post-Staines era read this blog post by a Brian Zahnd, founder and senior pastor of Word of Life Church, a 4,000 member congregation in St. Joseph, Missouri.
I was never allowed to sit on the platform and was never introduced as a preacher. P.G. would say that he and his wife, Lilly, and his daughter, Grace, were the preachers. They would get up, speak for five minutes, and then P.G. would say he had a friend he wanted to introduce and bring a “greeting.” P.G. would introduce me as a friend bringing a greeting, and then as he handed me the microphone, he would whisper, “Preach for an hour and a half.” We did this twice a day and every evening. So three times a day I would bring a 90 minute “greeting.” I was told the police were wondering, “Who is this greeting man?” Because several thousand local people were coming at night, the evening meetings took on the tone of an evangelistic event. The last three nights I preached strong evangelistic messages….
The Orissa Government maintains a list of foreign contributions to NGOs in Orissa. The list is worth reading to appreciate how much money was pumped from International sources to further the evangelical project in Orissa during the earlier part of this decade - 2.3 crores to Orissa Fellowship Ministry, 12 crores for Cuttack Roman Catholic Diocese, 2.73 crore for Indian Evangelical Association, 1.4 crores for Brethren in Christ Church, 2.8crores for East India Mission, 4.4 crores for Joypore Evangelical Lutheran Church … the list goes on.
Comment by B Shantanu | September 2, 2008
Mahatma Gandhi on Conversion
Gandhiji was not awarded the Nobel peace prize because he refused to be converted. Now that missionaries are spreading their tentacles far and wide in India converting people by allurement, inducement and fraud (In the north east killings and threats are becoming commonplace) Gandhiji’s message is all the more relevant in understanding and reacting to this problem. Missionary Terrorism will become as dangerous as Islamic terrorism if ignored. Please read & distribute.
Compiled by Swami Aksharananda
(Track No. 010119.1, Jan. 19, 2001)
I Call Myself a Sanatani Hindu
I call myself a Sanatani Hindu, because I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, and all that goes by the name of Hindu scripture, and therefore in avataras and rebirth; I believe in the varnashrama dharma in a sense, in my opinion strictly Vedic but not in its presently popular and distorted crude sense; I believe in the protection of cow. I do not disbelieve in murti puja. (Young India: June 10, 1921)
Why I am Not a Convert
Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being. When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. (Young India: June 8, 1925)
I Disbelieve in Conversion
I disbelieve in the conversion of one person by another. My effort should never to be to undermine another’s faith. This implies belief in the truth of all religions and, therefore, respect for them. It implies true humility. (Young India: April 23, 1931)
Conversion: Impediment to Peace
It is impossible for me to reconcile myself to the idea of conversion after the style that goes on in India and elsewhere today. It is an error which is perhaps the greatest impediment to the world’s progress toward peace. Why should a Christian want to convert a Hindu to Christianity? Why should he not be satisfied if the Hindu is a good or godly man? (Harijan: January 30, 1937)
No Such Thing as Conversion
I believe that there is no such thing as conversion from one faith to another in the accepted sense of the word. It is a highly personal matter for the individual and his God. I may not have any design upon my neighbour as to his faith which I must honour even as I honour my own. Having reverently studied the scriptures of the world I could no more think of asking a Christian or a Musalman, or a Parsi or a Jew to change his faith than I would think of changing my own. (Harijan: September 9, 1935)
No Conversion Designs Upon Me
I am not interested in weaning you from Christianity and making you Hindu, and I do not relish your designs upon me, if you had any, to convert me to Christianity. I would also dispute your claim that Christianity is the only true religion. (Harijan: June 3, 1937)
Conversion
Conversion must not mean denationalization. Conversion should mean a definite giving up of the evil of the old, adoption of all the good of the new and a scrupulous avoidance of everything evil in the new. Conversion, therefore, should mean a life of greater dedication to one’s country, greater surrender to God, greater self-purification. (Young India: August 20, 1925)
Aping of Europeans and Americans
As I wander about through the length and breath of India I see many Christian Indians almost ashamed of their birth, certainly of their ancestral religion, and of their ancestral dress. The aping of Europeans by Anglo-Indians is bad enough, but the aping of them by Indian converts is a violence done to their country and, shall I say, even to their new religion. (Young
India: August 8, 1925)
Why Should I Change My Religion
I hold that proselytisation under the cloak of humanitarian work is unhealthy to say the least. It is most resented by people here. Religion after all is a deeply personal thing. It touches the heart.
Why should I change my religion because the doctor who professes Christianity as his religion has cured me of some disease, or why should the doctor expect me to change whilst I am under his influence? (Young India: April 23, 1931)
Missionary Aim: Uprooting Hinduism
My fear is that though Christian friends nowadays do not say or admit it that Hindu religion is untrue, they must harbour in their breast that Hinduism is an error and that Christianity, as they believe it, is the only true religion. So far as one can understand the present (Christian) effort, it is to uproot Hinduism from her very foundation and replace it by
another faith. (Harijan: March 13,1937)
Undermining People’s Faith
The first distinction I would like to make between your missionary work and mine is that while I am strengthening the faith of people, you (missionaries) are undermining it. (Young India: November 8, 1927)
Physician Heal Yourself
Conversion nowadays has become a matter of business, like any other. India (Hindus) is in no need of conversion of this kind. Conversion in the sense of self-purification, self-realization is the crying need of the times. That however is never what is meant by proselytization. To those who would convert India (Hindus), might it not be said, “Physician, heal yourself.” (Young India: April 23, 1931)
Missionaries: Vendors of Goods
When the missionary of another religion goes to them, he goes like a vendor of goods. He has no special spiritual merit that will distinguish him from those to whom he goes. He does however possess material goods which he promises to those who will come to his fold. (Harijan: April 3, 1937)
If I had the Power and Could Legislate.
If I had the power and could legislate, I should stop all proselytizing. In Hindu households the advent of a missionary has meant the disruption of the family coming in the wake of change of dress, manners, language, food and drink . (November 5, 1935)
The Only Begotten Son of God?
I regard Jesus as a great teacher of humanity, but I do not regard him as the only begotten son of God. That epithet in its material interpretation is quite unacceptable. Metaphorically we are all sons of God, but for each of us there may be different sons of God in a special sense. Thus for me Chaitanya may be the only begotten son of God. God cannot be the exclusive Father and I cannot ascribe exclusive divinity to Jesus. (Harijan: June 3, 1937)
Western Christianity Today
It is my firm opinion that Europe (and the United States) does not represent the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan’s successes are the greatest when appears with the name of God on his lips. (Young India: September 8, 1920)
I consider western Christianity in its practical working a negation of Christ’s Christianity. I cannot conceive Jesus, if he was living in flesh in our midst, approving of modern Christian organizations, public worship, or ministry. (Young India: September 22, 1921)
Christianity and Imperialistic Exploitation
Christianity in India has been inextricably mixed up for the last one hundred and fifty years with British rule. It appears to us as synonymous with materialistic civilization and imperialistic exploitation by the stronger white races of the weaker races of the world. Its contribution to India has been, therefore, largely negative. (Young India: March 21, 1929)
No Room For Them
In the manner in which they are working there would seem to be no room for them. Quite unconsciously they do harm to themselves and also to us. It is perhaps impertinent to say that they do harm to themselves, but quite pertinent to say that they do harm to us. They do harm to those amongst whom they work and those amongst whom they do not work, i.e., the harm is done to the whole of India. The more I study their activities the more sorry I become. It is a tragedy that such a thing should happen to the human family. (Harijan: December 12, 1936)
Outrage!
Only the other day a missionary descended on a famine area with money in his pocket, distributed it among the famine stricken, converted them to his fold, took charge of their temple, and demolished it. This is outrageous. (Harijan: November 5, 1937)
Let the Hindu be a Better Hindu
I came to the conclusion long ago that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu. But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian. (Young India: January 19, 1928)
Welcome Them Back
If a person through fear, compulsion, starvation, or for material gain or consideration goes over to another faith, it is a misnomer to call it conversion. Most cases of conversion have been to my mind false coin. I would therefore unhesitatingly re-admit to the Hindu fold all such repentants without much ado. If a man comes back to the original branch he deserves to be welcomed in so far as he may deem to have erred, he has sufficiently purged himself of it when he repents his error and retraces his steps. (Collected Works: Vol. 66, pp. 163-164)
NOTE: As a Hindu courtesy, please acknowledge Swami Aksharanandaji who compiled this information and Vidya Bharati, New York who produced it. Please circulate as widely as possible.
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/mahatma_gandhi_on_conversion.htm
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Comment by B Shantanu | September 2, 2008
From Maoists deny role in VHP leader’s murder
Comment by Viji | September 2, 2008
*** COMMENT COMBINED ***
Orissa: Here, clashes are not one-sided
2 Sep 2008, 0235 hrs IST, Sandeep Mishra,TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Orissa_Here_clashes_are_not_one-sided/rssarticleshow/3434175.cms
Barakhama offers a sample of how gradual rise in the Christian population has caused religious intolerance in Kandhamal.
Also read, readers feedbacks.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/3434175.cms
***
Watch.
Orissa:- Christian Terrorism on Hindus in India
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7OwEcW-1ZE
Comment by Bharat | September 2, 2008
Dear Shantanu
I mentioned sometime ago about the very negative reputation of VHP all over the world. Please refer to today’s following news item in The Age, Melbourne:
http://www.theage.com.au/world/indians-flee-from-antichristian-attack...
It appears that even though the Maoists have claimed to have shot a Hindu leader, Hindu fanatics are busy doing what they do best: creating a situation where the minorities (and I use this word after due consideration) are forced into self-defensive violence. It will not surprise me if, as has happened to many Muslims in India (not the ones supported by Pakistan but the indigineous terrorists), Christian youth resort to mindless violence in retaliation. .
“Maoist rebels operating in Orissa have since claimed responsibility for the swami’s death but that did not put an end to the attacks. A hard-line Hindu leader in Orissa, Subhash Chauhan, said that Christians were behind the murder of the Swami and demanded they apologise for the brutal killing.”
I trust that you will condemn the killings of these innocents on your blog and directly name VHP as the perpetrator. Let VHP sue the press and clear its name if it is innocent. It can sue the Western press (eg. in Melbourne) if it thinks the Indian judiciary will be biased against it.
As far as I am concerned, there is just too much evidence of its wrong doings. I have formed an extremely poor bad opinion of such fanatic organisations which are completely undoing the good work of people like Vivekananda and bringing great shame to Hinduism as a whole, and India in particular.
Comment by Sanjeev Sabhlok | September 5, 2008
Sanjeev: Thank you for your note…Below are my thoughts, including some facts.
1] The attack on Pujya Swamiji was the 10th attempt on his life. The police and state adminstration had been slow in responding to requests to provide more security cover. The latest such request was made after a threat was received on friday - the day before he was shot dead. Pl. do not forget that the last attack (before this one) was in December 2007 and is said to have been coordinated by a section of the Christain community (as reported in the press). You would of course know that he was not particularly popular amongst the Christian missionary organisations in the area due to his focus on getting converted tribals back into the fold. There is also a social dimension to this issue which I had mentioned in my post:
http://satyameva-jayate.org/2008/03/15/the-other-side-of-kandamahal/
2] While the media (Indian MSM as well as western) has been uniform in identifying the killers as Mao-ists, this has still not been proven. In fact one of the first suspects to be arrested has links with a Christian charity! …and at least one Maoist group has denied responsibility and/or involvement…(pl. see the comments section of my post above)
3] The Christian population in the area has gone up from just a few thousand in the 70s to almost two lakhs (this cannot be accounted by births alone). In this context, pl. do read comment No. 12 in my post above which details the Christian evangelical project in Orissa.
4] The attacks have not been limited only to “minorities” - as I am sure you know…and something which has also been grudgingly reported by MSM: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Orissa_Here_clashes_are_not_one-sided/rssarticleshow/3434175.cms
5] Regardless of who was responsible for the murder of Swami-ji, there can be no justification for the killing of innocents - christians or anyone else - by any individual, group or organisation. In a democracy, only the state must have the right to use force.
6] Finally, I would encourage everyone to not rely solely on the western or the Indian MSM media for news and reports on events such as these. Please broaden your news sources to get a different
perspective.
Comment by B Shantanu | September 5, 2008
Brief excerpt from a recent article by Swapan Dasgupta:
Comment by B Shantanu | September 6, 2008