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| India-Pakistan |
| Hindus thrash Christians over conversions |
| 2007-05-09 |
| Hindu hardliners on Tuesday attacked two Christian missionaries in public the latest violence against priests accused of trying to convert lower-caste Hindus to Christianity by right-wing Hindu groups. Indian TV channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching two young priests while dragging them through Kolhapur town. News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus and handed them over to the local police but a local Christian leader said the baptised had willingly changed their faith. “Whether it was a forced conversion or not is subject to a police investigation and should not be judged by a mob,” Dolphy D’Souza said. Police, however, said the two missionaries had been arrested on complaints that they were fraudulently converting people. Hardline Hindu groups some linked to India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have accused Christian priests of bribing poor tribesmen and lower caste Hindus to change their faith. Several states ruled by the BJP have passed anti-conversion laws. Last week, Hindu zealots beat a pastor with sticks and left him bleeding in Rajasthan state where the BJP is in power. Christian groups say lower-caste Hindus who convert do so willingly to escape the highly stratified Hindu caste system. Christians make up around 2.3 percent of India’s 1.1 billion population. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 The mass conversion, expected to be a social and political landmark, comes 51 years after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar called on lower castes to abandon Hinduism and become Buddhists Ambedkar wrote the Indian constitution |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-05-09 17:15 |
| #4 India’s largest religious mass conversion will be held at Mahalaxmi Racecourse on May 27. Laxman Mane, a nomadic tribal whose autobiography Upara (Outsider) is a celebrated work of Marathi Dalit literature, will preside as lakhs of his supporters from 42 nomadic tribes convert to Buddhism. Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama will perform the rites. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed the Royal Western India Turf Club to let the organisers hold the rally. A citizens’ group, Public Concern for Governance Trust, had filed a petition in 2005 requesting the court to disallow such public functions at the racecourse. The mass conversion, expected to be a social and political landmark, comes 51 years after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar called on lower castes to abandon Hinduism and become Buddhists at a function to be held at the racecourse. But he passed away before the event could be held. “It’s a small effort to realise Ambedkar’s dream,” said Mane, who converted to Buddhism in Nagpur on October 2, 2006. On May 27, Mane said, 1,000-odd nomadic families will be brought before the gathering — organisers say about 5 lakh people will attend in all — to lead the conversions. Over one lakh others will embrace the religion simultaneously. Asked why he chose Buddhism, Mane (56) said tribals had been following Lord Buddha’s teachings without knowing it. “But now we’ve realised that our practices are similar to Buddhism’s,” he told HT. Mane refused to term the rally as an exercise in conversions. “We tribals never followed Hinduism, so there’s no question of relinquishing it,” he said. Mane said the conversions were a protest against “government apathy”. “Forget a decent standard of living, most of us don’t even get shelter and food. Our literacy level is just 0.06 per cent,” he pointed out. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-05-09 17:14 |
| #3 By what use of force were these unwilling Hindus converted? Were they beaten? Threatened with beheading? Kidnapped, tortured, jailed? Or, were they spoken to? bleah |
| Posted by: AlanC 2007-05-09 09:44 |
| #2 Another piss-poor ass-backwards religion, only marginally less grotesque than Islam. |
| Posted by: Sonar 2007-05-09 09:08 |
| #1 Hindu hard-liners? You mean terrorists born Hindu. |
| Posted by: Annon 2007-05-09 07:20 |