The Great Joke that is Indian Media – Part XIV
…or how some news is best left out of the main pages. Courtesy Ashok-ji, my attention was drawn to this brief news-item about a Dutch missionary who was asked to leave Jammu & Kashmir within weeks – just after his visa was renewed for four years. Read on:
A Dutch missionary of the Institute Mill Hill working in the Kashmir region of India has been asked by authorities to leave the country by the end of July.
His expulsion came as a surprise since the government had just renewed his visa until 2014.
But a coworker, Predhuman Joseph Dhar, contends that Father Jim Borst is being expelled because of jealously that his educational institutes are too successful.
Some believe that the motive may be more than just “jealousy”…
Some Muslim groups have accused him of using the school as a cover for converting people.
Bishop Elampassery said the conversion charge is “baseless.â€
Father Borst has been “very careful†about his actions “after he was threatened with a similar order in 2004,†the Capuchin prelate said.
Continued below…
Image Courtesy: UCA News.com
As Ashok-ji pointed out, “If this had happened in a BJP ruled state, the tone would have been one of hysteria. And allegations against Hinduism would have peppered the article in no small measure….this item would have been in the English mainstream as a lead item, with Father Jim being made into a hero.”
Of course, this is Jammu & Kashmir. Not much chance of anything like that happening. Forget “lead item“, I would be surprised if the story even makes it into a print edition. Jai Ho “Kashmiriyat”.
Read the earlier posts in the series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12 and Part 13
First things first.
Dutch Missionary Jim Borst should have no “business” in J&K.
X churches are trying to bring N.India under control. Just see how they are building churches in Rishikesh.
What has the Catholic Christian fundamentalist John Dayal done about this issue? He probably swallowed the insult and remained silent, because Christian proselytizers know that it is not wise to mess with Muslims.
Missionaries convert. That is their job. Media make money. If they don’t make money, they won’t survive. These are facts of life whether you like them or not. Where is the Joke? What is new? Why waste time? How many of those visiting this site don’t know all this already?
Some of the owners of Indian English merdia are Gospels of Charity, Southern Baptist Church, St. Peters Pontifical Church, Joshua Society etc..
Some of them also own Schools of Journalism.
@Sandeep: “First things first. Dutch Missionary Jim Borst should have no “business†in J&K…” Good one!
If you have any statistical evidence/data/photographs re the activity in Rishikesh, pl email me at jaidharma AT gmail.com
@ us-nri: The point is how some news is best left out of the main pages
As for why bother with reporting this when everyone knows this already, “knowing” is not enough. These things should be documented, recorded and indexed so that they can be referred when (if) need be.
@Anup: Only partially true (and harder to substantiate)…I think the bigger problem we have is the bias in reporting (and the presence of a particular slant).
==.
“Media make money. If they don’t make money, they won’t survive.”
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Why so cynical and negative? Seems like you’ve given up even before trying. Is this another example of that (in)famous “chalta hai” attitude?
us-nri says: Missionaries convert.
Robbers rob. Murders murder. Rapists rape. And so the point is…?
Kartik (#7) & us-nri (#4),
Point is that we must be aware and make others aware. There are people who would love to look at the other way, it is our responsibility to help them understand threat level.
@5 B Shantanu
I don’t quite see the ‘HOW’ part out of your explanation ‘how some news is best left out of the main pages’ in the post. I just see the statement that it is left out of main pages.
Also, I don’t notice any indexing or systematic recording. I merely see a casual note that incident X happened and media reported in X fashion.
@7 Kartik The point is simple. It is the function of the State to maintain law and order. That arm deals with Robbers Murderers and Rapists.
As per Indian constitution, one has a right to propagate one’s religion. It is legal to convert. Some methods are deprecated, but some methods are alright.
I would have appreciated the post if it really discussed HOW the news got left out (someone paid money, someone pulled strings etc.) or if this incidence was indexed. If the post said Incidence 34 of month August of year 2010 or whatever..
The bottom line is this. The job of monitoring foul methods used in conversion (which itself is a valid constitutional engagement) should be done by an apex organisation, not by stray bloggers.
@ us-nri: The “how” is used in the sense of an example here rather than an explanation (e.g. here is how a word in italics looks italics)..Perhaps at #5, I should have said, the post is about “…some news (that) has been “left out of the main pages…”
As for indexing and recording, I do what I can…you will notice that this is the 14th post in the series covering the Indian media…have a look at some of the past ones…and also a look at the whole category of “Indian Media”.I am under no illusion that this is comprehensive or perfect – or even sufficient…but we do what we can…
As for “The job of monitoring foul methods used in conversion (which itself is a valid constitutional engagement) should be done by an apex organisation, not by stray bloggers”, bloggers cannot – even of they wished – match the resources of the goverment to monitor such activity. Bloggers can however point out where such foul methods have gone unreported or have been ignored. Not just bloggers, that is the responsibility of all active citizens, I feel.
us-nri:
>>It is legal to convert.
There is no right to convert. It is legal to oppose conversions. Since I oppose bigotry, I oppose proselytizers. Shantanu is not wasting your time. He did not invite you to his blog. _You_ are wasting people’s time here with your defence of religious extremism.
>>I would have appreciated the post if it really discussed HOW the news got left out
I would have appreciated if instead of defending Christian proselytism, you had stuck to the subject at hand. As it appears you are here to justify missionaries.
>>The point is simple. It is the function of the State to maintain law and order.
You mean if somebody (not necessarily a missionary) is raping a woman, you’ll just sit aside and do nothing because rapists rape after all, and it is the state’s job to do anything about it?
I thought you were only a defender of Christian fundamentalists …
@us-nri
..don’t under-estimate the capacity of blogs and bloggers!
Proselytization is a demographic warfare. The sponsoring state is Vatican. Though interests of many states are served form time to time. Huge money is involved.
Any sane society will not allow it on their land, and ban it like it has been done by Sri Lanka and Israel.
Let there be no mincing of words here!
@12 Kartik
I have doublechecked that invitation bit. I have read this blog’s purpose and I am satisfied that I am writing something relevant and sensible.
#7 was a wayward attempt to digress and #11 and #12 was rage. It isn’t useful. Read Ramkrishna or Mahatma Gandhi for curing it. About #12, may I suggest you travel to a place where a missionary is doing his job in India and try to stop him? If you did that, you will soon realise that a single person has limitations. A small group also has limitations.
Illegal conversions happen because there is no apex body to keep tab on such activities. The sad truth is that even after 6-7 years of copious blogging, nobody has identified a single body that ALL can support. Random rage isn’t going to work. Take it from me.
About media. Money makes Media go. Conversion activities are backed by huge resources, both money and manpower. No sensible media manager is going to offend those with big purse. That is why the unorganised will suffer the most.
Mediamen are not jokers. nonIT professionals too need to earn their living. They cannot be as value-neutral as IT workers and tech-professionals. If you could empathise a little with the medimen and mediahouses, you might find a way to address this problem. Else, you will see this same blog entry even in 2050, if India still remains a Hindu majority country by then.
Shantanu’ji, Jim Borst is a peanut compared to Ron and Dorothy Watts from the Seventh Day Adventist Church who are in gross violation of visa rules for many years now by indulging in open conversions, many of them at an industrial scale. They blatantly invite fellow North Americans using tourist and business visas on conversion tourisms in India. It is an outrage how they openly flout their visa rules without any regard for the law of the land. There should be a concerted organized effort to weed out these parasites by exposing their illegal activities.
Without a serious organized effort to tackle this clear and present danger of demographic conversion war, India as we know it today may not be the same in another 50-100 years. Totalitarian supremacist ideologies are targeting India in ways the ordinary Hindu on the road can’t even imagine thanks to the media and the government. Of course, this isn’t anything new, but now its a multi-pronged attack.
us-nri
So according to you
money makes media go, so media persons can do whatever they want to make money, nobody has a right to complain about it? We are supposed to endorse all corruption because somenon-ITperson has the right to earn livelihood? What is the status of the democracy if the media behaves this way?Blogging is not supposed to be an organized activity. Some people want to write blogs because they want the world to know it. Blogging, in this case, is an end. There are some other bloggers who are political activists who write blogs to communicate. Blogging is this case is a means, not an end. To build or sustain a political movement you still need to go to ground and get involved in the old-fashioned struggle. There is no substitute to it. You want bloggers to create an APEX body? Who gives that APEX body authority? Bloggers?
Bloggers will do well to begin by talking about an organisation, but my first comment in this thread was motivated by a different anguish. I imagined three different observers – a local person educated to a school level, an educated but not widely travelled person, and third, a widely travelled ex-venture capitalist – looking at the issue of foul conversions. I thought that the reaction of this blog’s owner had to be more mature, more calibrated, more insightful than the other two.
Consider this. Today, Indian government blocked a big mining company’s license on a particular site in Orissa. Just a few weeks back, the Church of England sold a decent stake in that company. Tribals from Orissa are involved. You know the rest.
If the activities of a single person interest you more than the designs of the big bullies, talk about them, by all means. I just thought it was beneath the calibre of this blog.
@us-nri/All: This is my last comment on this particular thread.
This post is *not* about conversions…As I mentioned in my comment #5, it is “about “…some news (that) has been “left out of the main pages…â€
There are other posts on this blog on the issue of conversions where I have shared my thoughts.
As for “organisation”, I hope most most of you are aware (and keeping track) of my activities related to FTI.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
P.S. If you do not mention an email address while leaving a comment, it is likely to get classified as spam and/or get stuck in the moderation queue. If you do not wish to share your real email address, you can always use satyacomment@gmail.com
us-nri,
It seems you are not particularly strong in the logic and reason department. I will do my best to make it easy for you to grasp, and I’d encourage you to try and comprehend as well. I hope you are not pretending not to comprehend, and that even if you cannot easily grasp reason, you’re willing to approach it with an open mind.
You claimed: “Missionaries convert. That is their job.”
Proselytism in general, and Christian proselytism in particular, are acts of religious bigotry. (A lot of bigotry is “legal”; I state this fact just in case leaving “legality” out of the picture gives you dissatisfaction.) Ergo, there are millions of people in this world (Gandhi, to name one), who do NOT accept that whatever “job” that missionaries are doing is a “job” that the world must live with.
When people like you make the claim that acts of religious bigotry are just a job for some (“Missionarying? Oh, that’s a job, like speaking to customers in a call center, you know?”), you are either effectively rationalizing and legitimizing that bigotry (assuming innocence on your part) or are being way too clever (assuming you’re a padre yourself). Of course, I lean toward the former possibility; I have no rage against you trust me! I _do_ think there are many misguided people in this world, including terrorists.
Of course, media people need to survive. But must media people compromise principle, ethics and integrity? Must the female employee sleep with the boss to get a promotion? Must the male subordinate shine the boss’s boots to achieve the same? That’s what you seem to be advocating. You don’t counter-bribe the media because the church is bribing them. That’s a bad idea. You try and turn people around with reason. Perhaps media folks are misguided too. Perhaps logic and reason will work with them as well. The key is to consistently make the point that proselytism is despicable, that it doesn’t belong in the realm of respectable ideas.
Do think about the issue from the above angle, coolly, logically, without imagining rage against you or other conspiracies.
@19 Shantanu: The main point that I have made is that Indian mediamen and houses are not jokers. The comment system here has allowed irate comments by some. So a bit of consequent digression is inevitable while replying to such comments. If you really wish to improve adherence to topic, you should probably upgrade the software.
@20 Kartik. I doubt you have done any formal training in ‘logic and reason’ deparment. No wonder your comment #20 too is a random combination of words. A job is a job. I didn’t endorse it. Quite likely, each one of us accepts some compromises while doing one’s jobs. Some, like those in high finance, who were ultimately responsible for imposing misery on hundreds of mortgae seekers didn’t even know they were doing something wrong till the roof fell. One should not take a high moral position in todays’ world. There are not many who will pass the test.
To get back to the subject. Do not judge mediamen by your moral standards. See if you can use their methods to achieve your objectives instead.
us-nri
“To get back to the subject. Do not judge mediamen by your moral standards. See if you can use their methods to achieve your objectives instead.”
We will. Especially since media is acting like the cheer leader/establishment henchman of the Congress govt. At the same time they are donning the mantle of ‘saviours of democracy’. They have arrogated themselves to be the judge, jury and the executioner(of character). So, it is high time someone like Santanu and other bloggers point out that the ‘Emperor’s new clothes don’t exist’.
us-nri said:
“Some, like those in high finance, who were ultimately responsible for imposing misery on hundreds of mortgae seekers didn’t even know they were doing something wrong till the roof fell.”
Wrong, they knew exactly what they were doing. GS did not keet any of the ABS on its books, they offloaded those to hapless investors.
“One should not take a high moral position in todays’ world. There are not many who will pass the test”
Talk about yourself. A lot of us do an honest days job.
I noticed this in Malavika‘s comment (original poster is us-nri):
“To get back to the subject. Do not judge mediamen by your moral standards. See if you can use their methods to achieve your objectives instead.â€In other words, become like them. Next time, if I become a victim of fraud, I am not supposed to use my moral standard and call him a fraud, but I, too, should indulge in fraud, right?
It is sad to see that lessons from history have not been learnt. Instead of uniting against adharm and asatya, people keep bickering over complete non-issues. Ironically when they are more or less speaking for the same side, only with different perspectives. us-nri makes some practical suggestions,
"See if you can use their methods to achieve your objectives instead". @Sid, in Kalyug when dealing with the asuras, Shakuni niti is quite often more applicable than Ram niti. This ridiculous bickering has to stop! Lets not forget if the Rajputs had united instead of indulging in petty internal feuds, all invaders would have been crushed like bugs, and South Asia would have looked very different today.@To all
Prithviraj Chauhan has made a very pertinent point in his comment #25. And he has chosen a very apt name for himself!
The time is to get united. There should be a move to bring Right/Center/Liberals under one umbrella. Minor issues should not dissuade people from uniting for a cause that is bigger than their smaller selves.
If the motive is to save India, why can’t we listen to a slightly different view and see how we can make use of it?
At this time what is required is UNITY.
Dear friends,
Sorry for this spam, but I didn’t know where [or how] to post my experience with respect to a ‘watch” forum (namely the http://www.islammonitor.org/) which claims to do the monitoring and discussion of various terrorist activities carried out by islam cult.
There was an article about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, “exposing” his double standards. I originally liked the post with a sincere hope that they are doing a critical analysis of Gandhi for his follies, without getting abusive or character assassination.
However to my astonishment, eventually I found that their grudge on Gandhi was not about his blunders committed during partition, but it was more due to the fact, that Gandhi refused to convert to christianity. There were other points too ofcourse, that dealt with his siding towards muslims in preference to Hindus, etc.
I tried to correct them, challenging them to show, how their missionary idealogy was different from islamic cult, citing the examples that both have been ‘spreading religions’ albeit with differences in the approach to the goal.
Then, I tried posting examples from Sitaram goel’s excellent work on Gandhi, which shows blow by blow account of examples of how the cunning jesuit missionaries tried to persuade him throughout his life, and what had been his reaction each time.
A couple of my postings for this article, before this one, could make through the comments. But from this posting onwards, the name calling and abuses started pouring in.. My IP was blocked, user name was blocked. Now if I try to access their site “http://www.islammonitor.org/”, I get a forbidden error.
Actually, I don’t support or oppose Gandhi. He is a man of both good and bad points to his score. I was trying to reason with these bigots about my view point, by quoting practical examples.
If any of you can access this site, you can search for Gandhi, and find an article by one Mr.Timothy. My replies can be found in the comments section with the name ‘Ravi’.
regards,
Ravindranath.
Dear all, do have a look at this link. Some true eye openers in the article(for me, at least):
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kashmirs-mufti-azam-summons-Christian-priest-to-explain-alleged-conversions/articleshow/10518322.cms
Excerpts: ‘A shariat court has existed in J&K since the early 1960s; Mufti Bashir-ud-din is the judge of the court and the appeal against this court lies in the civil court. Mufti Bashir said that the court was recognized by the state government because of the majority Muslim character of the state.’
‘”I will take all necessary measures in exercise of the powers vested in me by Islamic shariat,” the mufti said when asked what course he would take if the priest failed to appear in his court.’
‘ “It is a matter of grave concern that Christian missionaries active here should be running an organized and integrated campaign to convert young Kashmiri Muslims to Christianity,” he said.’
I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions.
Thanks for sharing this Vikram.
More related to comment #28 above..
From Pastor held on conversion charge:
…The police on Saturday arrested pastor C.M. Khanna of the All-India Saint’s Church for his alleged involvement in conversions in the Valley.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Central Kashmir range) Abdul Gani Mir toldThe Hinduthat the pastor was arrested from his residence in Church Lane Sonwar. “He has been arrested in connection with the FIR registered at the Ram Munshi Bagh police station under Sections 153-A and 259 and 186 of the Ranbir Penal Code.†The FIR pertained to allegations of his involvement in conversions of youth in the Valley.
The police earlier arrested seven persons in this case.
…The case was later taken up by the Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Mufti Bashiruddin, who summoned him two days ago and sought his explanation in front of 15 other Ulemas. The Mufti toldThe Hinduthat pastor Khanna had confessed to his involvement in converting the people. The Mufti, who heads the Supreme Court of Islamic Jurisprudence in Kashmir, has again convened a meeting of the scholars for November 21 to deliberate upon the issue.
Meanwhile, this happens in Maharashtra..
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_dna-special-rogue-ngo-separates-sex-worker-mother-from-baby_1614950
“Seshu points out that many faith-based American organisations that are flush with donations obtained in the name of anti-trafficking work are sending workers to interior towns like Sangli. “These NGOs and their volunteers suffer from ‘targetitis’ and get ultra-aggressive in their approach,†she says. According to Seshu, the number of such foreigners in Sangli (Maharashtra home minister RR Patil’s home district) has risen sharply in the last five years. “I’d like to know why they’re here. Will I be allowed to do anything similar in the US when I’m there on a tourist visa?†she asks. “Instead of asking these questions, our police only seem too keen to hobnob with the goras.â€