As of 13th September the violence to Christians in Orissa is as mentioned at http://www.efionline.org/articles/1620.htm.
Apart from the murders and raping and burning and bringing down buildings in Orissa, there was violence to Christians in Karnataka also. In Mangalore police lathi charged on Nuns! One can only wonder how such things can happen in a civilized society.
But there are people who defend such barbarism. Their standard technique is to invoke ‘conversion’. When churches were burnt in Gujarat in 1999, then prime minister AB Vajapayee came to Gujarat to visit the affected areas. Instead of focusing on finding the culprits and punishing them, he asked for a “national debate on conversion”. Now if the prime minister himself indirectly says that because of conversion such things are happening, you’d not expect state government to do anything. And state government didn’t do anything. Same technique was deployed by current chief minister and home minister of Karnataka state. The home minister even went on to say that the violence happened because of conversions and insulting language used for Hindu deities. He didn’t offer any proof for either of those outrageous claims. The violence to the Nuns or stoning and destroying parts of church building is OK if there is a feeling that conversions are going on. In 90’s in Gujarat bibles were burnt by some violent outfit and then home minister of state, publicly (on TV) justified the burning of the bibles. So the motto of these politicians is “blame it on conversion”. If some Christians are beaten or murdered or burnt alive or raped, it is simply because of ‘conversion’. What a way to defend the barbarism!
I’m not going to play in the hands of such politicians by discussing about conversions. It is an important issue, but not now. For now important issue is violence. Law and order. I’m concerned about the families who’ve lost someone. I’m concerned about the woman who was raped and about her family. I’m concerned about people who’ve lost their property, people who’ve become homeless, kids who are hungry (even relief camps were attacked and food stolen, in presence of police).
So the question is: Some people go and destroy a church building and beat other human beings. Should criminal proceedings be initiated against such persons? If women are raped (gang raped in recent case), should the perpetrators of the crime be brought to the law or not? Should home minister make completely false accusations when people are asking him to bring law and order? Or is it that they internally support such violence but find some false excuses to evade the responsibility? (Actually Karnataka never witnessed such barbarianism before current government came into the power).
As an Indian think this through. Can a citizen in free India be made homeless, property-less and fearful just in a blink of time? That’s not like India. Pakistan never threw Hindus out officially. But the administration looked the other way when majority Muslims were dominating over minority Hindus. I don’t know what all happened from 47 till now, but the numbers speak that population of Hindus in Pakistan is very low now compared to in 47. Are we going to become like Pakistan? Or like Kashmir valley?
Report on violence in Orissa.
A. Number of People Affected:
It is estimated that over 50,000 people have been rendered homeless due to the violence. Around 13,000 people are in the relief camps at Chakapada, Tikabali, G. Udaygiri, Raikia, Baliguda, K.Nuagoan and Phiringia. Many others continue to hide in the forest and elsewhere.
B. Number of Schools and Colleges Affected: 12
* De Paul School bus burnt in Ganjam District.* School & hostel attacked in Bargarh District.* William Carey School attacked in Jatni, Five school buses were broken.
C. Number of NGO attacked : 4
1. World Vision in Kalahandi District.2. Discipleship Centre's in Bhadrak District.3. Action Ministries office ransacked in Bhubaneswar.4. Compassion East India office ransacked and looted in Bhubaneswar.
World vision did lot of work for people in Gujarat at the time of Kachchh earthquake.
D. Number of Deaths: 58
Some people were burnt alive. How much sadist we’ve become. We burn people alive!
E. Number of Churches attacked/burnt/looted: >300
F. Number of Christians and Pastors attacked
* The mobs in Balliguda, Kandhamal caught hold of two boys of the Catholic hostel and tonsured their heads.
* Father Edward was doused with petrol and set on fire but managed to escape.
* No less than 18,000 Catholic have been beaten up in Kandhamal alone according to Archbishop Cheenah.
* Rev. Thomas Chellen, undergoing treatment at a Catholic hospital in Bhubaneswar, India, a Hindu mob lead by VHP nearly set him on fire.
* A nun named Mina Barua was raped Nuagaon in Kandhamal and Father Thomas Clave was paraded naked. Fr Thomas, director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Kanjimendi, Bargarh and another Nun were injured when the centre was attacked. They were taken to the police station in a disheveled state as the armed mob bayed for their blood. So you rape women if you don’t like some people getting converted to some religion, huh?
G. Number of Houses, Shops, Villages destroyed
* Around 1,800 houses have been destroyed in Kandhamal alone.
H. Reconversion
♦ Fundamentalists are roaming in the whole of Kandhamal dist &threatening the Christians to reconvert. Otherwise they will be killed. 5 families are forcefully reconverted in Adaskupa, Kandhamal( near Udaygiri).♦ Christian leaders said Hindu activists had forced about 3,000 Christians in riot-affected parts of the state to renounce their religion in the past few days. ♦ Reconversion drive is underway in different villages of Kandhamal namely Bogapada, Boriguda, Kutti Guda, Danniguda where 70 famililies have been brought back into Hindu fold. (Info received as on September 9).
And it is frequently said by Hindu friends that they consider all religions are equal!!!
I. Relief Camps attacked
* The Government Relief Camps set up at Vijay High School Raikia block, Kandhamal reported that drinking water was poisoned on 3rd September 2008.
* An attempt to poison the drinking water source of the relief camp in Habaq High School, Relief Camp at G. Udayagiri, Kandhamal was foiled by an alert security guard at 9 pm on 2nd September.
* On Sept 4th a group of nearly 2500 Hindutva extremists barged into the Relief Camp at Tikabali Govt. High School shouted at the Christian refugees and took away supplies meant for the Christian refugees, while police were silent spectators to the event.
Think of that...even relief camps are not safe!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
The myth of Akhand Bharat
Original blog at The myth of Akhand Bharat
One upon a time there was a very good lecturer in political science department. I heard him few times. He gave me quite a few shocks. Here I’m thinking on one of them.
The statement he made was “India as the political unit you observe today never existed before British rule”. It frankly made my blood boil and I couldn’t agree with him. India? It has been a country ever since. But as I grew older I knew some new facts. I could now put lot of facts together and think carefully.
Remember Tippu Sultan? Do you know who his opponents were in the last battle which proved his end? No, it wasn’t British only. It was the combined front of British, Nizam and Marathas. Other political kingdoms along with British brought the end of Tippu.
Once I heard a person from north east saying that even Aurangzeb couldn’t conquer our territory. I checked the history (how blissfully aware we happen to be about history of north east?) and found it true. No earlier kingdom from west has ruled over north-east region. The closest came Maurya Empire, they ruled only a small part of north-east India. (As a side note: we in Gujarat know only that there is some form of terrorism in that part of India. But how many of us really know the background? How much we know of their history which made them to take weapons?)
Let’s go little back in history. We kept reading in our history books that this attacker came from Khyber Ghat and invaded India. Once Gunvant Shah made a statement, “if all the attackers came through Khyber Ghat, why Indian kings didn’t didn’t build a wall like great wall of china to keep invaders out?” He meant well. But frankly speaking he doesn’t know history. There was no single or one kingdom in India at that time. There were states. Kingdoms. And they kept fighting with each other. I read that when sultan of Delhi mounted the offensive against Malawi, the neighboring states Gujarat (remember Ray Karan ghelo?) and marwad/mewad kept quiet. Later the sultan came for Gujarat and marwad/mewad gave him free passage. Finally Marwad/Mewad got conquered and amalgamated in the Delhi sultanate. The only thing I want to bring to reader’s notice is that there existed separate political entities that kept fighting with each other.
I heard someone asking, “why it is that history of Gujarat starts from Muslim rule?” but I remember studying something different in our Gujarati history books. In our history books the history of Gujarat starts from Vanraj Chavda who freed Gujarat from foreign (?) rule. It is believed that this foreign ruler was from south. Why would it be called freeing Gujarat? From foreign rulers, if all Indians are part of same country? But clearly, such a thing didn’t exist in those times. Gujarat was a different political entity and it viewed any rule from south or from Malawi as enslaving.
Some might say well Harshavardhan’s empire was very big and India was one in his time. Wrong!!! Most of the south India was under equally powerful Chalukya Empire. Actually Pulkeshi defeated Harshavardhan.
Well, we can agree that Maurya kingdom was bigger. But still it didn’t encompass whole India as we know today. Cholas and Pandyas had their own kingdoms in south. And as said before, most of the north east wasn’t part of their kingdom.
So my reader-biradar, if someone shows a map of Akhand Bharat which includes present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka, use your knowledge of history and ask the person when was such an Akhand Bharat existed? (I’ve myself seen such map at so-and-so organization’s meeting). Such an Akhand Bharat existed only under British rule. Such organizations just want to grab what others (British) won with their own power and cleverness. They paint the events of partition in 1947 as something so very tragic which torn the “nation” apart into two!!! But let’s face the facts if we can. British put the nation called India together from myriad number of political entities and they split it into two.
Now some people will say we should be patriotic and love India. Nothing wrong in that. I am patriotic, but I don’t want to base my patriotism on false understanding of past.
I welcome healthy discussion on this issue. Let me know if there is any historical error in what I said. I’ll go through sources again if need be.
One upon a time there was a very good lecturer in political science department. I heard him few times. He gave me quite a few shocks. Here I’m thinking on one of them.
The statement he made was “India as the political unit you observe today never existed before British rule”. It frankly made my blood boil and I couldn’t agree with him. India? It has been a country ever since. But as I grew older I knew some new facts. I could now put lot of facts together and think carefully.
Remember Tippu Sultan? Do you know who his opponents were in the last battle which proved his end? No, it wasn’t British only. It was the combined front of British, Nizam and Marathas. Other political kingdoms along with British brought the end of Tippu.
Once I heard a person from north east saying that even Aurangzeb couldn’t conquer our territory. I checked the history (how blissfully aware we happen to be about history of north east?) and found it true. No earlier kingdom from west has ruled over north-east region. The closest came Maurya Empire, they ruled only a small part of north-east India. (As a side note: we in Gujarat know only that there is some form of terrorism in that part of India. But how many of us really know the background? How much we know of their history which made them to take weapons?)
Let’s go little back in history. We kept reading in our history books that this attacker came from Khyber Ghat and invaded India. Once Gunvant Shah made a statement, “if all the attackers came through Khyber Ghat, why Indian kings didn’t didn’t build a wall like great wall of china to keep invaders out?” He meant well. But frankly speaking he doesn’t know history. There was no single or one kingdom in India at that time. There were states. Kingdoms. And they kept fighting with each other. I read that when sultan of Delhi mounted the offensive against Malawi, the neighboring states Gujarat (remember Ray Karan ghelo?) and marwad/mewad kept quiet. Later the sultan came for Gujarat and marwad/mewad gave him free passage. Finally Marwad/Mewad got conquered and amalgamated in the Delhi sultanate. The only thing I want to bring to reader’s notice is that there existed separate political entities that kept fighting with each other.
I heard someone asking, “why it is that history of Gujarat starts from Muslim rule?” but I remember studying something different in our Gujarati history books. In our history books the history of Gujarat starts from Vanraj Chavda who freed Gujarat from foreign (?) rule. It is believed that this foreign ruler was from south. Why would it be called freeing Gujarat? From foreign rulers, if all Indians are part of same country? But clearly, such a thing didn’t exist in those times. Gujarat was a different political entity and it viewed any rule from south or from Malawi as enslaving.
Some might say well Harshavardhan’s empire was very big and India was one in his time. Wrong!!! Most of the south India was under equally powerful Chalukya Empire. Actually Pulkeshi defeated Harshavardhan.
Well, we can agree that Maurya kingdom was bigger. But still it didn’t encompass whole India as we know today. Cholas and Pandyas had their own kingdoms in south. And as said before, most of the north east wasn’t part of their kingdom.
So my reader-biradar, if someone shows a map of Akhand Bharat which includes present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka, use your knowledge of history and ask the person when was such an Akhand Bharat existed? (I’ve myself seen such map at so-and-so organization’s meeting). Such an Akhand Bharat existed only under British rule. Such organizations just want to grab what others (British) won with their own power and cleverness. They paint the events of partition in 1947 as something so very tragic which torn the “nation” apart into two!!! But let’s face the facts if we can. British put the nation called India together from myriad number of political entities and they split it into two.
Now some people will say we should be patriotic and love India. Nothing wrong in that. I am patriotic, but I don’t want to base my patriotism on false understanding of past.
I welcome healthy discussion on this issue. Let me know if there is any historical error in what I said. I’ll go through sources again if need be.
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