PRAYER: India -- 2 million Hindus and tribals and social kumbh

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 095 | Wed 16 Feb 2011

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INDIA: TWO MILLION (EST.) HINDUS AND TRIBALS AT SOCIAL 'KUMBH'
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Christians described as blood-sucking bed bugs that must be killed.

By Elizabeth Kendal

The Sangh Parivar (combined Hindu nationalist forces) held their second 'Samajik Kumbh' (social gathering) on the banks of the Narmada River in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, on 10-12 February 2011. In the preceding two weeks some 28,000 volunteers from the RSS (a Hindu nationalist paramilitary) distributed literature to some 80,000 families across all 19 districts of
the neighbouring Mahakoshal region, home to Madhya Pradesh's largest city, Jabalpur. According to one priest, many Christians were forced to sign forms declaring their intention to accept Hinduism. Alarmed by the abundance of the virulent anti-Christian propaganda, Christian leaders in Mandla petitioned the High Court for protection and the weekend church services were held under police guard.

An estimated two million tribals and Hindu devotees drawn from all over Mahdya Pradesh and central India attended the event. According to Christian eye-witnesses, speeches delivered on the final day particularly vilified Christianity and Christian 'missionaries'. Using familiar language, one speaker raged: 'Christians are like bed bugs, who hide under the guise of so called missionary work, and drink the blood of the innocent vulnerable people and bed bugs should be killed or else they will continue drinking blood.' (AsiaNews, 14 February 2011)

The social Kumbh is a key element in the Sangh's strategy to advance Hindutva (fascist Hindu nationalism) through the tribal belt for political gain. According to the Sangh's propaganda, India's national security, territorial integrity and sovereignty are under threat from foreign forces seeking to divide and weaken India. The only solution, according to the Sangh, is national unity through Hindu solidarity. To this end the Sangh tells the indigenous, non-Aryan, non-Hindu, traditionally Congress Party-voting tribals that the only reason they do not know they are Hindus is because secular governments have neglected to educate them. Fortunately (so the propaganda goes) the Sangh is there to 'inform' and 'enlighten' the tribals so they can 'return' to their Hindu roots, join the Hindu mainstream and (literally) fight for mother India.

The first social Kumbh was held in February 2006 in the tribal district of Dangs, Gujarat, a long-time Congress stronghold known for its sizable Christian minority. According to the Sangh it was a great success because, they claim, the pace of 'reconversion' of Christians to Hinduism subsequently gathered momentum in the area. According to local RSS chief, Sharad Dhole, about15,000 Dangs Christians 'returned to the Hindu fold'. Also some 70 pastors are said to have embraced Hinduism and are now active in the service of the Sangh, holding reconversion ceremonies every 25th December (Indian Express 12 February 2011). Furthermore the BJP (Hindu nationalist) candidate Vijay Patel won the Dangs seat in the December 2007 Assembly elections by more than 11,000 votes, defeating Madhu Bhoya of the Congress. Then, in Gujarat's October 2010 municipal polls, the BJP fielded five Christian candidates on its Dangs ticket and swept the district. According to Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, Christians in Dangs support the BJP because of its 'development politics'. However, this is a Sangh deception. The equity, liberty and national salvation the Sangh holds out as sweet-smelling bait to the hungry, poor and marginalised will never materialise under Hindutva.

The next social Kumbh will be held in Chhattisgarh, drawing in tribals and Hindu devotees from across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. According to the Sangh's website this social Kumbh 'will accelerate the work of Sri Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati', who, it falsely claims, 'was brutaly (sic) murdered in 2008 by Christian missionaries.' (The Sangh used the August 2008 Maoist assassination of Swami Laxmanananda as an excuse to launch a massive communal pogrom against Christians. Hundreds died and some 500,000 were displaced, many of whom still languish in camps. The Sangh lumps Christians and Maoists together because they both seek an end to the inequities of the Hindu caste system.)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD WILL --

• work powerfully in all Christians who are being pressured, threatened or seduced by the Sangh Parivar, enabling them to discern between truth and lies and to remember the awesome greatness and faithfulness of their Lord, looking to him and trusting him with steadfast hearts.
  
  
• defuse the communal reaction potentially ignited by the Sangh through the recent Mahdya Pradesh social Kumbh; may tribals and Hindus reject all provocation to hatred, intolerance and violence, and may they too be given discernment.
  
  
• use the Kumbh's focus on Christianity to achieve the exact opposite of what the Sangh intended: may the Kumbh ignite mass curiosity for the gospel along with an appreciation of the ministry and witness of believers in Mahdya Pradesh.

Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11 ESV)

Social kumbhs, Hindutva, and the politics of perpetuating caste privilege

On 20 May 2010, Compass Direct News issued an immensely important News Flash entitled: "Hindu Nationalists Plan 'Religious Cleansing' in Madhya Pradesh District".

As Compass Direct News (CDN) reports, the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh will host a social kumbh (pilgrimage / festival) on 10-12 February 2011. It will be held in the predominantly tribal Mandla district, in Mandla city which is situated on the banks of the Narmada River. Some "20 lakh" (i.e. 20,00,000 or 2 million) Hindu devotees are expected to attend this Maa Narmada Samajik Kumbh (Mother Narmada Social Kumbh).
See also:
Mahakumbha to be held from Feb. 10 to 12 in Mandla
Maha Media, 19 April 2010

Vanvasi Mahakumbh at Mandla from February 10 to 12 next year
15 April 2010 press release, Dept of Public Relations, Madhya Pradesh

The Social Kumbh

A "social kumbh" is not a traditional Kumbh Mela, but the recent invention of Hindutva (Hindu Nationalist) forces. It is a new tradition, built upon new mythologies.

The Hindu nationalists instigate social kumbhs for the purpose of:

• bringing the traditionally animist Adivasis (lit. first inhabitants) -- whom the Hindutva forces call Vanavasis (lit. forest dwellers) -- into the "mainstream": Hinduising them (effecting religious conversions that translate into political conversions) and communalising them so they can be recruited into sectarian militias;
  
• stirring up hatred against Christians whose welfare and education ministries threaten the Hindu elites' ability to enslave the tribals into the future; and
  
• shattering Adivasi minority solidarity by polarising the indigenous tribal communities along religious lines and setting them against each other.

Integral to the Hindutva strategy is the demonisation of Christians as evil and of Christianity as a foreign conspiracy and existential threat to Indian national security and sovereignty. Indian unity, under the banner of militant Hindu nationalism, is then presented as the only solution.

Shabari kumbh - Feb 2006

In February 2006, the Shabari Kumbh Mela -- a social kumbh organised around newly invented, purpose-built mythology -- seriously threatened the lives of some 8,000 tribal Christians living in Dangs, Gujarat.

For full background see:
India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
By Elizabeth Kendal, for WEA RLC, 26 January 2006

www.shabarikumbh.org 2006 (this site contains a number of articles that exemplify Hindutva rhetoric against Christianity and freedom of religion)

God intervened in Dangs in February 2006 in answer to the prayers of many (2 Corinthians 1:11) and despite unprecedented incitement, the planned "cleansing" -- the Hindu "kranti" (revolution) -- did not materialise. Regardless, after the event the Sangh Parivar (body of Hindu nationalist organisations) boasted of "great gains" in Dangs -- i.e. many tribals allegedly made the religious-political conversion to Hindutva.

Abhishek Kapoor reported for Ahmedabad Newsline (13 February 2006): "End of the three-day Shabari Kumbh here marked the beginning of a new experiment on mobilising Hindu forces. Led by the RSS, organisations have planned to use this new tool — more such kumbhs across the country in a semi-religious setting — to gather Hindus to counter Christian missionaries and conversions.

"According to plans, these congregations would be different from the regular Kumbh Melas held at Prayag, Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik and focus on reform and social engineering within Hinduism to consolidate its followers as a single block."
See:
RSS wants more such kumbhs
Abhishek Kapoor, Express India, 13 Feb 2006

India: Hindutva advances while communal violence bill flounders.
By Elizabeth Kendal, for WEA RLC, 3 March 2006

India: Gujarat and Orissa prefigure Indian crisis
By Elizabeth Kendal, for WEA RLC, 1 Sept 2008

The Shabari Kumbh Mela held in Dangs, Gujarat, in February 2006, will doubtless be the prototype for the Maa Narmada Samajik Kumbh to be held in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, in February 2011.

As with the February 2006 kumbh in Dangs, the Mandla social kumbh will likewise be built on a foundation of lies and incitement. Sectarianism and violence against Christians is destined to escalate. According to the report by CDN, this is indeed the stated intent of the Sangh Parivar.

Mandla kumbh -- Feb 2011

On 22 April 2010, Hindu nationalists held a ceremony at the proposed site of the Mandla kumbh to break ground for the event.

Compass Direct News (CDN) reports: "More than 100 Hindu devotees from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra attended the ground-breaking ceremony in Mandla, reported Patrika newspaper. A source present disclosed that leaders announced a list of objectives to be achieved before the festival, with one prominent agenda item being to drive away Christian pastors, evangelists and foreign aid workers from the district.

"The newspaper quoted four Hindu leaders who have spoken out against foreign Christians and renewed their oath to obtain 'reconversions' from supposed Hindus who had become Christians. The leaders pledged to 'cleanse Mandla of Christians' and cleanse the Narmada River by means of the kumbh."

On Sunday 2 May 2010, only 10 days after the ground breaking ceremony, local pastor Bhag Chand Rujhiya (36), his family and his fellowship were attacked by a mob of around 40 armed, abusive and belligerent Hindu militants. Eventually Pastor Rujhiya was taken away by police to be interrogated, intimidated and harassed. He was released from detention after being forced to sign papers promising that he would cease evangelisation in the area, and would no longer lead worship or prayers.

Forced into hiding for a time, Pastor Rujhiya returned to his village on 7 May, though he said he was still fearful as threats from Hindu nationalists continued. "My wife and children say that we are ready to face whatever comes our way", he told CDN. "We will not renounce our faith."

Hindutva: the politics of perpetuating caste privilege

Because Hindutva forces target their activity to the religious sphere, it slips under the radar of most political analysts. But while the Hindutva forces target the religious sphere, it is all for political gain.

Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) is all about politics -- about securing Hindu power in a Hindu State for the sole purpose of perpetuating racist caste privilege. The social kumbhs merely provide Hindu elites with a religious platform upon which they can lie and deceive, whipping up fear and hatred for the sole purpose of dragnetting the tribal masses for exploitation as vote cattle.

What the tribals do not seem to realise, is that by believing the lies and being drawn into religious-political conversion, they are voting to perpetuate their own enslavement.

By Elizabeth Kendal

MORE BACKGROUND
an old but excellent and extremely helpful report:
Human Rights Watch
INDIA: POLITICS BY OTHER MEANS:
Attacks Against Christians in India
October 1999 Vol. 11, No. 6 (C)

UK: Equality Bill Passes through Parliament

Homosexuals and transsexuals delighted

High caste Indians protesting; UK "Dalits" rejoicing

Employers extremely anxious

Religious liberty advocates concerned

Lawyers anticipate boom in business

Equality Bill Passes through Parliament

On Tuesday 6 April 2010, the House of Lords' amendments to the controversial Equality Bill passed through the UK parliament. Thus the Equality Bill has now completed its progression through the parliament and now only awaits Royal Assent to become law.

As the UK Parliament website Equality Bill 2008-09 to 2009-10 states: "The Bill will harmonise and in some cases extend existing discrimination law covering the 'protected characteristics' of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. . ."

(This website has a chart illustrating the progress of the Bill, as well as links to the Act and other relevant documents.)

Below are a few selected articles, with a few selected quotes, representing a few selected responses to the Equality Bill.

Homosexuals and transsexuals delighted

Equality Bill passes through parliament
By Jessica Green, Pink News, 7 April 2010 By

Quoting Pink News: "A flagship feature of the bill is equality duty on all public bodies, which will require institutions such as schools, councils and the NHS to actively promote equality.

"Employers will be permitted to use positive action to select candidates from under-represented groups when two people applying for a job have the same qualifications.

"The bill will also prohibit private members’ clubs from discriminating against members or guests based on their sexual orientation or gender reassignment. . ."

However, the Gay Rights lobby groups are disappointed that the government yielded to "the House of Lords over an amendment clarifying who churches can refuse employment to.

"Provisions in the bill would have clarified the law requiring churches only to discriminate in terms of sexual orientation when hiring those who will teach doctrine or lead worship.

"But after the Pope publicly criticised the bill, equality minister Harriet Harman backed down. She is thought to have made the climbdown to avoid a continuing dispute with church leaders.

"The new laws will begin to take effect in the autumn [October 2010]. The public sector equality duty will be introduced in April 2011. . ."

High caste Indians protesting; UK "Dalits" rejoicing

UK bill links caste to race, India red-faced
By Manoj Mitta, Times of India, 31 March 2010,

Quoting Times of India: "In the first such legislative move anywhere in the world, and much to the embarrassment of India's official position, the British House of Lords has passed a law that treats caste as 'an aspect of race'. . .

"Though the bill originally contained no reference to caste, the Gordon Brown government agreed to its inclusion even as it commissioned a research on the nature of the problem that is believed to have come into Britain through the Indian diaspora. A parliamentary committee, while recommending last year that caste be considered as a subset of race, cited specific instances of caste discrimination in Britain."

India clashes with Britain over Equality Bill racism law
Dean Nelson, in New Delhi, for Telegraph UK, 31 Mar 2010

Quoting the Telegraph: "The bill, which has been passed in the House of Lords, has been welcomed by campaigners for India's 'dalits' or 'untouchables', a caste which suffers extreme violence and persecution, but has been rejected by their [Indian] government. . .

"Ministers in London have become increasingly concerned about discrimination and persecution against lower caste Indians in Britain following a report last year which claimed thousands had been ill-treated because of their caste. . ."

As Nelson notes, the Indian government has long fiercely resisted any suggestion that caste discrimination be linked with racism. "'India's position on this issue has been clear and consistent. Caste and race discrimination are two separate issues and there is no case to equate the two. We are opposed to attempts at international fora to equate the issues,' said an official source."

In an article in Himalsouthasian magazine (April 2010 issue) entitled, Dominating the diaspora , Priyamvada Gopal, an academic and writer based in Cambridge, UK, says: "The vehement arguments of some high-profile Hindu groups notwithstanding, the UK’s new Equality Bill will include some reference to caste."

As Gopal notes: "immigrant communities often carry with them the most vicious dispositions and hierarchies of the societies they travel away from geographically. Indeed, such communities often entrench such biases further as they settle into other (at times hostile) cultures, and as they carve out new political niches for themselves.

"Often seen within a liberal multicultural and human-rights framework as homogeneously victimised by racism and anti-immigrant sentiments, Southasian communities in Britain often escape nuanced critical scrutiny. . . In the current climate of a national preoccupation with Islam in the context of the US-led 'war on terror', British Hindu and Sikh communities have become even less accountable for some of the more unsavoury features of their collective existence. . .

"Two important factors have contributed to this willed looking-away on the part of the British government. The first is the vehement lobbying by groups such as the Hindu Council UK and the Hindu Forum of Britain – both of which share historical links to chauvinist groups such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the memberships of which are heavily dominated by upper-caste Hindus. The second is the insistence of the Indian government in high-profile forums such as the UN Racism Conference, where activists have tried to raise the issue, that caste discrimination cannot be equated with racial discrimination. Therefore, despite the claims by some, it is not clear that caste discrimination in Britain will be redressed without challenge under existing race-discrimination legislation."

(Note: For millennia, the high caste white Aryans have basically enslaved the indigenous "black" tribal peoples of India -- Dalits/untouchables -- by means of the Hindu caste system which is, quite simply, institutionalised racism.)

Employers extremely anxious

Equality Bill: what employers need to know
Sandra Wallace, HR (Human Resources) Magazine, 9 April 2010

This article is in Question & Answer format.
Quoting from HR Magazine: "It [the Equality Bill] will affect all recruiters and employers because, while having been designed to make the law simpler, it will now make it much easier for individuals to bring complaints of discrimination if they feel their employer has treated them unfairly. Some of the changes to the law will mean employers will have to significantly change some of their established processes - such as they way they recruit staff - if they want to avoid complaints."

Concerning "positive action" HR magazine writes: "Positive action is probably more commonly known as 'positive discrimination'. Under the new rules employers are allowed to discriminate in favour of a minority candidate who is as qualified as another candidate for a role, if that group is under-represented in the workforce.

"This is likely to be a particularly tricky area of the new law. However, employers are not legally obliged to take such action, but merely have the opportunity to do so if they wish. Therefore, employers should treat this provision with care and take legal advice before making a decision, as those who get it wrong could face legal action from unsuccessful candidates who feel they have been discriminated against."

See also: Equality Bill: Top 10 issues employers must prepare for
Louisa Peacock, 7 April 2010

Religious liberty advocates concerned

Harman’s Equality Bill passes in Parliament
Christian Institute, 9 April 2010

Quoting the Christian Institute: "The Equality Bill was passed in Parliament on Tuesday, with the Government forced to accept defeat over church employment freedom.

"However, other measures in the Bill – championed by Equality Minister Harriet Harman – may interfere with the religious liberty of Christians.

The Tories and the Lib Dems welcomed the Bill. Labour vowed that the Bill will be 'driven and pressed through society' if they win the General Election. . .

"The Bill also imposes a legal duty on public bodies, like schools and the police, to promote homosexual and transsexual rights.

"While the Bill also introduces a 'religious equality' duty, such measures have in the past resulted in Christianity being sidelined from public life in a misguided attempt to avoid offending other faiths."

Parliament passes Equality Bill
Christian Concern for our Nation, 9th April 2010

Quoting ccfon: "As part of the ‘Wash-Up’ to clear legislation before the end of this Parliament, the Government accepted all the Lords’ amendments. These include protection against discrimination for pregnant schoolgirls and young mothers; removal of the ban on civil partnerships taking place in religious premises; and retention of the rights of a church to refuse to employ people in leadership roles who practice sexual ethics incompatible with its beliefs.

"A Lords’ amendment aimed at rescuing faith-based adoption agencies from being closed down by homosexual equality laws was not included. . ."

(The Christian Institute and Christian Concern for our Nation have excellent resources on their websites to enable understanding and tracking of religious liberty in the UK.)

Lawyers anticipate boom in business

Employment tribunal claims to jump after parliament passes Equality Bill
Thursday, 8th April 2010

"EMPLOYERS in the UK are bracing themselves for a jump in employment tribunal claims after parliament yesterday passed the Equality Bill. . .

"Employment tribunals are expected to hear up to 370,000 new claims within the next three years, costing employers £2.6bn.

"The number marks a 46 per cent hike on previous years. . ."

India: Gujarat and Orissa prefigure Indian crisis.

Date: Tuesday 2 September 2008
Subj: India: Gujarat and Orissa prefigure Indian crisis.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal


A violent anti-Christian Hindu pogrom erupted in Orissa (northeast India) on 23 August 08 that has claimed dozens of lives, including that of a 20-year-old nun burned to death in an orphanage. Numerous others have been injured, many seriously, including another young nun who was pack raped. Casualties are mounting daily in the wake of ethnic-religious cleansing.

Compass Direct (CD) reports (1 Sept): "While many parts of Orissa remained under curfew today, over 13,000 people were reportedly living in relief centers set up by the state government in seven places in Kandhamal." Dr. Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission told reporters, "More than 50,000 Christians are living as refugees following the violence in Orissa. All the political parties are sitting as mute spectators." In Kandhamal district alone, around 1,000 Christian houses, hundreds of churches and numerous Christian institutions and businesses have been demolished by rampaging Hindus. (Link 1)

While this anti-Christian violence is shocking, it is not surprising. Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) elements acting with legal impunity and state government support have for decades been stoking the flames of hatred, cultivating an incendiary environment in Orissa. Now Orissa, like Gujarat, is primed for genocide. And hot on the heels of Gujarat and Orissa are numerous other
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.

It was a brilliant strategy of the Sangh Parivar -- a collection of Hindu nationalist organisations co-operating towards making India a Hindu State -- to weave religion and politics strategically together in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enabling the Sangh to exploit religion for political gain. Indeed, the present persecution is not primarily about religion. India's Christians are pawns in a deadly struggle between modernity and the beneficiaries of traditional Hindu culture who are desperate to secure the political power that would guarantee their privileged status into the future by perpetuating the racist, fatalist, immoral Hindu caste system.

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GUJARAT AND ORISSA PREFIGURE INDIAN CRISIS
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The strategic brilliance and alarming effectiveness of the Sangh Parivar's campaign for a Hindu Rastra (Hindu State) has never been sufficiently appreciated.

Even after the 2002 anti-Muslim Hindu pogrom in Gujarat that left some 2000 Muslims dead, India and the world failed to fully appreciate what was happening. Then an anti-Christian Hindu pogrom in Orissa over Christmas 2007 left a swath of destruction and turned hundreds of thousands of Christian into traumatised IDPs (Internally Displaced Peoples). Yet again India and the world did not understand what was happening.

The ringleaders and inciters of the Gujarat 2002 and Orissa 2007 pogroms -- Narendra Modi and Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati respectively -- not only remained free, but were elevated and to many they became national heroes! In Gujarat, Narendra Modi was even rewarded by being re-elected as Chief Minister -- twice! The "kranti" (revolution) in Gujarat, through which the majority, caste-perpetuating Hindu community terrorised the minority Muslim community into submission, is now held up by Hindutva protagonists as the model.

In January 2006 it became clear that the Modi government was planning to set the Dangs (in Gujarat) alight with an anti-Christian pogrom following the Shabri Kumbh Mela that February. (See link 2).

However, alarm bells rang out, opposition mounted and the Church prayed (see link 3).

And God answered the prayers of many. While the Shabri Kumbh Mela may have effected mass religious-political conversions (converting tribal Congress-voting animists into BJP-voting Hindus), the Sangh's strategy to ignite another Hindu kranti -- this time a genocidal massacre of Christians -- failed.

The Christmas 2007 anti-Christian pogrom in Orissa however was not heralded. Hindutva forces kept secret their plans for a pogrom for Christmas Day 2007 under the guise of a bandh (strike) in protest of the Pana (Dalit/Scheduled Caste) Christians request for Schedule Tribe status -- something they need in order to benefit from affirmative action programs in a caste driven society that denies benefits to Dalits/Scheduled Castes that convert to Christianity. (Under the rules, Scheduled Tribes who convert to Christianity continue to enjoy reservations/affirmative action, but Dalits/Scheduled Castes who convert do not.)

While police were withdrawing from the districts to take up their positions at the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) 10-year anniversary celebrations in the capital, Hindus were felling trees and blockading roads around Kandhamal district in preparation for the anti-Christian pogrom that Hindu communalists vowed would "teach them a lesson!". (Link 4)

Thousands of Hindus then rioted crying, "Stop Christianity. Kill Christians!" Across Kandhamal district alone, more than 700 Christian homes and around 100 churches and 95 Christian institutions were vandalised, looted, destroyed and torched. Leading the incitement was the state's principal Hindutva ideologue and proselytiser, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. After falsely claiming to have been wounded in a violent attack by a vicious Christian mob, he told his followers via a mobile phone message (in the presence of police and journalists) to burn Christian homes and churches and repeat the kranti (revolution) that brought "shanti" (peace) to Gujarat (i.e. the 2002 Hindu pogrom in which some 2000 Muslims were brutally massacred). (Links 4 and 5)

(For a comprehensive account of the Orissa Christmas 2007 anti-Christian Hindu pogrom, see:
Dr Angana Chatterji's sworn affidavit.
To The Commission of Inquiry of Honourable Justice Panigrahi
Re. Kandhamal, Orissa. Submitted 30 May 2008.

Dr Chatterji is an Indian citizen resident in the USA. She is Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Californian Institute of Integral Studies. She has been conducting extensive research on the communalisation of Orissa since June 2002.)

ORISSA: A TINDERBOX

In 1960 the RSS launched Goraksha Andolan, a Hinduisation program focused initially on banning cow slaughter. In 1965 the Hindu paramilitary organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS: National Volunteer Corps) deployed a Hindutva proselytiser named Lakan to oversee the implementation of the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act in Orissa. Orissa subsequently passed a Freedom of Religion Act in 1967 which prohibited conversions to Christianity by force or fraudulent means. (This Act was subsequently strengthened in 1999.) In 1969 Lakan establish an Ashram (Hindu religious centre) in Kandhamal, changed his name to Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, and committed himself to countering the work of Christian missionaries in Orissa.

While Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati never succeeded in stopping conversions to Christianity, he did succeed in creating a tinderbox, hot with Hindutva, anti-Christian hatred, majoritarianism and communalism. Appalling crimes have been perpetrated against Christians in Orissa, with numerous forced conversions into Hinduism, assaults and killings, including the martyrdom of Graham Staines, burned alive with his two young sons Phillip and Timothy in January 1999.

The advance of Hindutvaisation over recent years has given rise to some alarming developments. Today it is not just individual Christian evangelists at risk of assault and assassination, whole Christian communities are now at risk of genocide. No longer are the murderers "loose cannon" Hindus and militants from the Bajrang Dal (the Sangh's militant Hindutva youth militia), they are simply local Hindus raping, beating, looting and killing their
Christian neighbours with impunity. Reporting on the Christmas 2007 pogrom, Tehelka Magazine (an Indian magazine) noted in January 2008 that when a 1,000-strong mob of rampaging Hindus attacked Balliguda's Mt Carmel Convent, the Carmelite sisters were shocked that local Hindu beneficiaries of Mt Carmel's vocational courses were among the rioters. (Link 5)

According to Dr Chatterji, it is this violence with impunity along with a complete breakdown in trust that has led to the "ghettoisation" of the Christian community over recent years.

So at the behest of the Sangh Parivar and with the support and encouragement of the BJP-BJD Orissa state government, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati turned Orissa into a tinderbox of communal tension, and on 24 December 2007 he lit the fuse in Kandhamal.

23 AUGUST 2008: ORISSA BURNS AGAIN

Unlike the anti-Christian Hindu pogrom of Christmas 2007, the anti-Christian violence that exploded in Kandhamal on 23 August 2008 was not premeditated. It was however incited by VHP (World Hindu Council) activists. Immediately after Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati (85) was ambushed and shot dead in a girls' orphanage in Kandhamal district, VHP leaders were publicly charging that the Christians were responsible. VHP state general secretary Gouri Prasad Rath demanded a high-level probe and ban on churches in Kandhamal, and told the media: "Christians have killed Swamiji. We will give a befitting reply." (Link 6)

This charge was levelled against the entire Christian community despite evidence that it was a targeted assassination carried out by a group of some 40 well-armed Naxalite/Maoist militiamen. (Egalitarian left-wing Naxalite/Maoists are natural enemies of caste-perpetuating right-wing Hindu nationalists.) Many analysts believe the Maoists are intervening to take sides in the communal tensions in Orissa in the hope of winning Christian support. (See link 7)

However the VHP subsequently claimed to have received a letter from the Maoists denying any involvement but offering that some wayward cadres may have been paid by "communal Christian miscreants" to murder of the VHP leader. The alleged letter stated that Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was murdered because of his opposition to religious conversion. (Link 8)

According to a CD report entitled, "Maoists in India Say They Killed Hindu Leader" (1 Sept): "The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, an extreme Marxist group banned by the Indian government, released a statement today saying that Sangh Parivar . . . have deliberately misled people about Saraswati's death.

"The Maoist statement warned the VHP of 'more such punishments if it continued violence against religious minorities in the country' and called for a ban on groups linked to the Sangh Parivar, such as the VHP, its youth wing Bajrang Dal, right-wing Hindu political party Shiv Sena and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)." (Link 9)

STRATEGY OF SANGH PARAVAR

WEA RLC has stated numerous times over several years that the strategy of the Sangh Parivar is brilliantly strategic and hugely successful.

As noted in the WEA RLC News & Analysis annual Religious Liberty Trends posting of 2006-07 entitled Hindutva's Advance: "Because the Hindutva forces are active primarily in the religious sphere -- Hinduising the animist tribals and creating new exploitable Hindu mythology -- their activity is slipping under the radar of most political analysts. But while the Hindutva forces are
focusing on the religious sphere it is all for political gain. This strategy of effecting political conversion by means of religious conversion is hugely successful." (Link 10)

In her sworn affidavit, Dr Angana Chatterji comments likewise on the strategy and methodology of the Sangh Parivar, noting that instead of pursuing its earlier strategy of conversions by means of forced re-conversion ceremonies, "The Sangh Parivar has instead increased its emphasis on the Hinduisation of Adivasis [indigenous tribals, traditionally animists] by making them a part of Hindu rituals and ceremonies (as during the Sammelan), which, in effect, 'converts' Adivasis into Hinduism by assuming that they are Hindu. Such 'conversion' tactics are diffused and no longer have to negotiate certain legalities, which public and stated conversion ceremonies did. On converting/'reconverting' to Hinduism, Adivasis are expected to join Hindu caste society as Sudras, a 'higher' placement than Dalits in the caste hierarchy, Sangh activists say.

"Dalit Christians are doubly discriminated against, as Dalits and as Christians. Post-Hinduisation, Adivasis are being mobilised against Christian groups. Adivasis are incited into targeting Dalit Christians, both fomenting Adivasi-Dalit divides and vitiating the historical solidarities between them. This is crucial to Hinduisation. It also acts to warn non-Christian Dalits against conversion to Christianity.

"The Hindutvaisation of the Hindu community, and Hinduisation of the secular, allows the Sangh's escalation. This process unfolded in Brahmanigaon, for example, where the growth of the business community has supported the rise of the Sangh Parivar. Hindutva conversions served to terrorise the Adivasi and Dalit community, via which the Sangh Parivar achieves its preliminary expansionist goals. While ceremonial conversions continue sporadically, a more protracted and dispersed strategy of Hinduisation through incorporation and assimilation is aggressively pursued as effective methodology."

This Hinduisation by means of "incorporation and assimilation" was described in the WEA RLC News & Analysis posting of January 2006 (link 2): "One of the main strategies used by the Sangh Parivar to win the allegiance of the tribals is the campaign to convince them that they are actually Hindus who are just practising local and maybe corrupted expressions of mainstream Hindu traditions. Slowly the animist practices are redefined as Hindu, given Hindu names, and gently refined to suit Brahmin sensitivities.

"Part of this campaign is the renaming of the Adivasis (first inhabitants) as Vanvasis (forest dwellers). Upon this foundation the proponents of Hindutva then claim that the tribals and the Indo-Aryans are all one people (there is no indigenous population and no Indo-Aryan invasion) and the "Vanvasis" are really historically Hindu. They use this lie as a basis to 're-convert', absorb, communalise and exploit the Adivasis."

It must be noted that the BJP unexpectedly lost power in the May 2004 elections by only the slimmest of margins and on 22 July 2008 the Congress-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh only survived a confidence vote by the slimmest of margins, having lost the support of its left-wing allies. Meanwhile, the Sangh has been busy Hinduising the masses with a strategy so brilliant and so successful that it is quite likely that the 2009 federal elections could restore the BJP to power in the centre. And this at a time when increasing numbers of radicalised individuals -- indeed whole Hindutvaised communities -- are ready to kill, terrorise and ethnically-religiously cleanse Muslims and Christians on command, ostensibly in defence of the motherland.

-----------------

Has the future of India been prefigured in the Hindu pogroms in Gujarat and Orissa? Let India and the world be warned: if the violent, fascist Hindutva fire that the power- and privilege-hungry Sangh Parivar is presently spreading across the nation is not successfully challenged and countered soon, then a holocaust surely awaits.

By Elizabeth Kendal

Links

1) Orissa: Hindu extremists burn one nun alive, rape another
25 August 2008, by Nirmala Carvalho
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13056&size=A
ALSO
Thousands homeless after Hindu-Christian violence in India
By Hari Kumar, 29 August 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/29/asia/29india.php
FOR UPDATES follow the news and Compass Direct http://www.compassdirect.org

2) India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
WEA RLC News & Analysis, 26 January 2006
By WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.

3) India Shabri Kumbh Mela Threatens 8000 Christians in Dangs
WEA RL Prayer 364, 8 February 2006

4) Dr. Angana Chatterji's sworn affidavit
To The Commission of Inquiry of Honourable Justice Panigrahi
Re. Kandhamal, Orissa. Submitted 30 May 2008.
http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/angana_may2008.html

5) Next Stop Orissa
Tehlka Magazine. Vol 5, Issue 2, Dated 19 January 2008
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=Ne190108next_stop.asp#
NOTE: Tehelka is an independent Indian magazine committed to investigative
journalism. Whilst it can be commended for its investigations into high level
government corruption and destructive communalism, its hugely controversial
and provocative claims against the CIA, NGOs, missionaries and Christians in
its January 2004 feature entitled "Preparing the Harvest" reveal just how
widely the Sangh's anti-Christian conspiracies are accepted.
See "India: Liberty, persecution, and conspiracy theories."
WEA RLC News & Analysis 20 February 2004
By WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
http://www.ea.org.au/default.aspx?id=bf0c29b8-1f75-4408-8e4b-c504f91a6221
This must be noted as the article linked to above -- Next Stop Orissa --
whilst detailing and condemning the Hindutva violence, also perpetuates the
conspiracy theory that Christian NGOs are actively supporting the Maoist
insurgency.

6) Leader's death: VHP calls for Orissa bandh
25 Aug 2008, By Sandeep Mishra, TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/VHP_calls_for_Orissa_bandh/articleshow/3400754.cms

7) Indian Maoists kill Hindus over Christian conversions
DAILY TIMES (Pakistan) 25 August 2008
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\08\25\story_25-8-2008_pg4_10

8) Maoists deny role in VHP leader's murder. 29 August 2008
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/29/stories/2008082952080300.htm

9) See Compass Direct News
ALSO
Orissa: Maoists warn of more attacks. 1 Sep 2008.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Orissa_Maoists_warn_of_more_attacks_/rssarticleshow/3429413.cms

10) Religious Liberty Trend (2) - India: Hindutva's advance
WEA RLC News & Analysis, 5 February 2007
By WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal

ANOTHER REPORT ON THE DEC 2007 ORISSA POGROM
Continuing Orissa Riots: First Report By A Fact-Finding Team
BY Professor Prabhu Guptara. Published 14 January 2008
http://www.southasianconnection.com/blogs/561/Continuing-Orissa-Riots-First-Report-By-A-Fact-Finding-Team.html

Human Rights Watch report on the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.
"We Have No Orders To Save You"
State Participation and Complicity in Communal Violence in Gujarat
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/india/

Religious Liberty Trend - India: Hindutva's advance

Date: Monday 5 February 2007
Subj: 2. RL Trend - India: Hindutva's advance
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (RL) TRENDS: 2006-2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
TREND: INDIA - HINDUTVA'S ADVANCE
-----------------------------------------------------------

While India's Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) forces suffered a shock-loss in the 2004 federal elections, the Hindutva sharks are alive and well and extremely active just below the surface, generating more and more heat and momentum as they gather the masses into their Hindutva stream. Meanwhile the skaters - the secular liberal progressives presently in power - seem unaware or unconcerned that the ice is melting and eroding beneath their feet.

India has a population of some 1.2 billion. There are more than 25 million Christians and an active, sacrificial and growing Indian cross-cultural missionary movement.

The Hindutva forces worked solidly through 2006. Their plan doubtless is to consolidate their gains and advance further through 2007. They are clearly in the midst of a four-year re-election campaign.

Caste as social order, not Hinduism as a religious philosophy, is the greatest bulwark and challenge to religious liberty and Christianity in India. Without a supernatural work of divine grace in the heart, Hindus can only be appalled and threatened by the biblical concept that all men and women are created equal. This is particularly true of the higher castes, those privileged elite who profit most from the caste system and are the real influencers and power-brokers of India.

(Equality is always welcomed by those who are so to speak "below the bar": those who will benefit from being elevated and liberated such as the poor and persecuted. Those "above the bar", for whom equality means levelling and some degree of sacrifice, are generally less enthusiastic. Hindus are not the only people guilty of this selfishness. Christians can be good at
tolerating the injustices they benefit from too! With Christians this is an issue of sin. In a Hindu society however, caste is systemic, deeply ingrained in the Hindu psyche and embedded in Hinduism's fatalistic religious philosophy.)

The leaders and ideologues behind the Hindutva forces are not driven primarily by a commitment to religious (Hindu) dogma. They are primarily driven by their desire to secure for themselves the privileges of power and caste.

After losing central power in 2004 the Hindutva forces spent much of 2005 bickering, blaming and jockeying as well as analysing the situation and debating policy. Then in early 2006 the Hindutva strategy for re-election emerged for all to see through the Shabri Kumbh Mela in Dangs, Gujarat. This became the subject of the first WEA RLC posting for 2006: "India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'a death blow' in Dangs." (26 January 2006)

The Hindutva forces are aiming for re-election in 2009, preferably with a majority so they can change the constitution and establish their fascist Hindu state.

The Hindutva strategy is as outlined in that posting:

1. Hinduise the animists, effecting religious conversions for political gain;
   
   
2. create new exploitable mythology and tradition for political gain;
   
   
3. create for political gain a climate of fear and anger intense enough to motivate all "Hindus" to unite against a perceived threat to their security.

The Hindutva forces portray Christians as a threat to India's unity, social harmony and national security. In Hindutva-produced DVDs, videos, tracts, books and speeches Christians are described as terrorists, separatists and subversive or unwitting agents of Western imperialistic forces that seek to divide and weaken India in preparation for conquest! Because of this, persecution against Christians has dramatically escalated in frequency, severity and geographical scope. Christians are no longer being attacked only by Hindutva forces and militants, they are now also being attacked by their Hinduised neighbours while police stand idly by, watching and waiting for the chaos to settle so they can arrest and charge the victims! What's more, this persecution is no longer mostly limited to BJP-led (Hindutva) states. Violent and legislative persecution of Christians is escalating in all states across the nation.

Because the Hindutva forces are active primarily in the religious sphere - Hinduising the animist tribals and creating new exploitable Hindu mythology - their activity is slipping under the radar of most political analysts. But while the Hindutva forces are focusing on the religious sphere it is all for political gain. This strategy of effecting political conversion by means of religious conversion is hugely successful. It is however built on lies, deceit and manipulation. Furthermore Hindutva will not produce the harmony and security it promises - only repression, persecution and communal conflict. Instead of growing prosperity and international engagement, a Hindutva India would face destructive turmoil and crippling sanctions.

National and international campaigns are urgently needed to combat the Hindutva deception and propaganda and promote religious liberty in India. If the Hindutva forces are permitted to continue in their highly strategic, exploitative, deceptive, unrestrained and unchallenged advance, then they will regain federal power in the 2009 election, change the constitution and establish a fascist Hindu state where religious repression and persecution will be equal to the world's worst.


"O Thou, my friend, forget no more
The friend who all they misery bore;
Let every idol be forgot,
But, O my soul, forget him not."

(verse 1 of a hymn by Indian Hindu convert, Krishna Pal.)

India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs

Date: Thursday 26 January 2006
Subj: India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.


Before entering into the details of what is about to take place in Dangs district, southern Gujarat, India, I will clearly define the main terms for the benefit of those not totally familiar with Indian religio-politics. I will also outline the socio-economic and religious situation in Dangs.

The "Citizen's Inquiry Committee" (CIC) report mentioned and used as a primary source throughout this posting is entitled, "The Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselytisation) of Adivasis (Tribals) in Dangs, Gujarat". It was published on 8 January 2006 in the Milli
Gazette.

DEFINITIONS

• Hindutva: the ideology of Hindu supremacy which has as its goal the creation of a Hindu nation.
• Sangh Parivar: the umbrella body dedicated to the advancement of Hindutva.
• RSS: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps), the Sangh's paramilitary force.
• Bajrang Dal: the Sangh's ultra-violent Hindutva youth militia.
• VHP: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), the "cultural arm of the Sangh Parivar, committed to advancing Hinduism through"cultural" means.
• BJP: The Barantya Janata Party, the political wing of the Sangh Parivar.

• Adivasis: (literally: first inhabitants), the indigenous tribal people of India. Because Adivasis are considered to be outside/beneath the Hindu caste system they are massively and systematically discriminated against and exploited by Hindu Indo-Aryan society.
• Vanvasis: (literally: forest dwellers) the Sangh's hinduised name for Adivasis, whom the Sangh does not recognise as indigenous.
• VKP: Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, an offshoot of the RSS comprising hinduised tribals.

• Kumbh Mela: a traditional Hindu pilgrimage/festival that takes place four times every twelve years and rotates across four set venues – Prayag (Uttar Pradesh), Haridwar (Uttar Pradesh), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Nasik (Maharashtra).

OUTLINE OF DANGS

Dangs district is in southern Gujarat. Gujarat, northwest India, is a BJP stronghold.

Dangs has more than 90% rich forest cover.

While the Christian population of Gujarat is 0.05%, the Christian population of Dangs is around 5%. The total population of Dangs is 186,000; of whom around 8,000 are Christian. Ninety-two percent of Dangs residents are tribal (main tribes: Bhils, Kokanis, Warlis).

The CIC report comments, "The post-1947 political economy of Dangs presents a typical case of utter neglect, dispossession and non-development. Over the last fifty years the Dangi Adivasis have been systematically deprived of their traditional rights over forestland, forest and forest resources and left to fend for themselves. Neither agriculture nor industry has been developed as a source of secure employment and income. Wages and working conditions are strongly exploitative. The social sectors such as health and education are in a state of utter neglect and disarray."

The CIC report explains how Dangi Adivasis aiming to reclaim their traditional rights and freedoms are being driven to take recourse through resistance and struggle. The state is keen to scuttle this, and is doubtless willing to divide the Dangi Adivasis, polarise them along religious lines and set them against each other. The report describes the Sangh Parivar as having tentacles in every nook and corner of Dangs for the purpose of suppressing religious liberty and diverting Dangi Adivasi anger into Hindutva zeal and sectarian conflict.

----------------------------------------------------------------
THE DICTATORS OF HINDUTVA AIM FOR "A DEATH BLOW" IN DANGS
----------------------------------------------------------------

The Sangh Parivar is moving its game to a whole new level. Having lost power in the centre, the dictators of Hindutva are sparing no effort to re-energise and advance Hindutva through an aggressive campaign to co-opt the tribals as BJP voters and VKP Hindutva militants.

Sangh Parivar strategy includes eradicating obstacles to Hindutva; the main obstacle being Christians who serve, empower and liberate India's impoverished, enslaved, sub-caste tribals. The Sangh is creating a whole new localised mythology and tradition with which to deceive, seduce, pressurise and Hinduise the tribals. If successful in Dangs, this strategy could be repeated all across the tribal belt of India.

Once again we are witnessing a battle between openness through liberty and literacy versus religious dictators who seek to enslave through false histories, lies, deceit, persecution, repression and the removal of liberty. The dictators of Hindutva, just like all religious dictators, are doing this not for the good of the people, but in an effort to shore up their own power and prosperity.

HINDUISING ANIMISM

In the 7th Century, Mohammad won the allegiance of the pagan Arabs of Mecca primarily by letting them keep the pre-Islamic pagan practices that sustained their economy and formed their tradition. Thus he redefined as Islamic and absorbed, the crescent moon, the kahba, the month of fasting, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and more into his religion of Islam, making it easier for the Arabs to accept.

A very similar process is gradually and quietly underway throughout the tribal belt of India. One of the main strategies used by the Sangh Parivar to win the allegiance of the tribals is the campaign to convince them that they are actually Hindus who are just practising local and maybe corrupted expressions of mainstream Hindu traditions. Slowly the animist practices are redefined as Hindu, given Hindu names, and gently refined to suit Brahmin sensitivities.

Part of this campaign is the renaming of the Adivasis (first inhabitants) as Vanvasis (forest dwellers). Upon this foundation the proponents of Hindutva then claim that the tribals and the
Indo-Aryans are all one people (there is no indigenous population and no Indo-Aryan invasion) and the "Vanvasis" are really historically Hindu. They use this lie as a basis to "re-convert", absorb, communalise and exploit the Adivasis.

CREATING NEW MYTHOLOGY

When the BJP first wanted to create sectarian tensions for the purpose of promoting Hindutva for electoral gains, they laid claim to the 16th Century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The Sangh Parivar alleged that the historic mosque was actually the very site where Ram, the main god of the high caste Brahmin, was born! In 1991 the BJP promised to demolish the historic mosque and replace it with a temple to Ram.

On 6 December 1992, after a year of communal sectarian tensions, the RSS led the demolition of the Babri Mosque in a violent rampage that cost many hundreds of lives. Following the destruction of the mosque, the BJP swept to power in the northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on the strength of its Hindutva campaign.

A reverse, but similar process is being undertaken in Dangs, where the Sangh has recently declared that the goddess Shabri, a devotee of Ram, was a Bhil tribal who lived in Dangs and even met Ram there on the hill Chamak Dongar. According to the myth, Shabri washed Ram's feet and fed him berries (tasting them for him first, lest they be bitter). Shabri, a tribal woman who allegedly served and adored Ram, is being held up as the goddess and role model for the "Vanvasis".

In 2004 the Sangh built a huge temple at the alleged site of Shabri's meeting with Ram. A Dangi local was forced to "donate" more than 10 acres to the Assemanand and Kumbh Trust for the Temple site. The hot springs at Uni are now being said to have been created by Ram. A pond has been built on the Purna River at what is allegedly the very place where Shabri's guru used to bathe. The site is being developed to accommodate the 500,000 pilgrims (religious tourists) who will soon invade this densely forested, sparsely populated, environmentally sensitive area for a holy dip during the Sangh's Shabri Kumbh Mela. Protected forest is being felled and forty temporary villages (holding 5,000 people each) are being built. (Remember: the total population of Dangs is normally only 186,000.)

SHABRI KUMBH MELA

The Shabri Kumbh Mela will be held in Dangs from 11-13 February. This is not a traditional Kumbh Mela. It is the recent invention of Hindutva forces. It is a new tradition, built upon a new mythology created for the purpose of Hinduising the Dangi Adivasis. The main aims of this pseudo-Kumbh are:

• to bring the tribals into the "mainstream" (ie. Hinduise and communalise them) for the purpose of increasing electoral gains and militant strength;
  
  
• to stir up hatred against Christians whose welfare and education ministries threaten the Sangh's ability to enslave the tribals into the future. In fact the Shabri Kumbh Mela official website declares that the event is designed specifically to "...deal a death blow to such anti-dharmic and anti-national activities" as Christian missions (see link below);
  
  
• to shatter Adivasi solidarity (and maybe even reduce the Adivasi population) by polarising the Adivasis along religious lines and setting them against each other.

"HINDU JAGO, CHRISTO BHAGAO"

A central slogan of the Sangh's message is, "Hindu Jago, Christio Bhagao" (Arise Hindus, throw out the Christians). According to the recent CIC report, "The intense hate propaganda against Christians has started resulting in the intimidation of [the] Christian community as a whole. We could see the fear writ on the face of most of the Christians we met."

Augustine Rajwade, a fourth generation Christian told the Citizens' Inquiry Committee that Christian missionaries have been working in this area from 1885. He said that some tribals become Christians because they are impressed by the spirit of service of the missionaries. In some cases one family member will become Christian and the others follow later. He said that the government does nothing to help the Dangis struggle to deal with sickness and death, while the service and prayer healing of some missionaries often works and relieves, leading to conversion. He said his elder brother converted through healing.

The CIC report notes that even though Christian missionaries had been active in Dangs for over a century, sectarian tensions did not rise against them until 1998. It was BJP power in north India, followed by the BJP gaining power in the centre in 1998 that gave the Sangh Parivar great power and freedom to propagate its Hindutva ideology and strategies. After losing power in the centre in 2004 the Sangh is striving to convert as many tribals as possible to its Hindutva version of Hinduism, thus creating votes and militant muscle against its "enemies" (those who threaten its power).

The CIC report says that the Sangh has prepared highly professional materials, including CDs, that propagate an ideology of feverish anti-Christian hate. Christianity is described as foreign and dangerous, a threat that must be destroyed in the same way that Ram killed the demon Ravana.

As the CIC report makes clear, "The core issue is that of Adivasi empowerment. Adivasi land has been as such grabbed by outsiders. The education process run by Christian missionaries is a threat to the designs of upper caste/ upper class. So Christian missions need to be thrown out from these areas."

The leading Hindutva ideologue behind the Shabri Kumbh Mela is Hindutva activist and VKP hard-liner Swami Aseemanand. According to the CIC report he maintains that the Shabri Kumbh Mela will be held every four years and will "...end missionary activity in Dangs and establish it as a key pilgrimage centre of India". This is the same Swami Aseemanand who a few years ago was quoted in the Times of India as saying, "Dangs cannot know peace so long as even a single tribal remains Christian." (11 Feb 1999, see link below)

The forthcoming Shabri Kumbh Mela is being prepared with the full knowledge, cooperation and assistance of the BJP state government of Gujarat, using funds meant for humanitarian development.

Christian leaders are greatly concerned that the Shabri Kumbh Mela will trigger wide-scale anti-Christian violence. According to the All India Christian Council, the BJP government in Gujarat has been busy fixing flags to the homes of Dangi Christians so they will be identified. Indeed, the CIC report warns, "The openly partisan support of the state government for the dangerous sectarian objectives of the Sangh needs to be combated, and the safety of minorities secured, else the tribal regions of India, already dispossessed and pauperised, will flow with the blood of sectarian hatred."

- Elizabeth Kendal

-----------------------------------
IMPORTANT WEBSITE
-----------------------------------

The Shabri Kumbh Mela official website specifically states that the Shabri Kumbh Mela is "...for the defense of Hindu society in general and the vanavasi/tribal Hindus in particular... The sustained conversion activities carried out by Christian missionaries with the help of their foreign masters has altered the religious demography of large parts of our country. The tribal areas of our country are a special target of this missionary offensive. This has caused self-alienation among the tribals and fanned separatist and terrorist activities. The Shabarikumbh has been organized to deal a death blow to such anti-dharmic and anti-national activities..."

---------------------------------
IMPORTANT ARTICLES
---------------------------------

Times of India
Dangs Violence is A Story Foretold
by Arun Varghese, 11 Feb 1999
http://www.media-watch.org/articles/0299/182.html

NGOs accuse Sangh, Gujarat Govt. of converting Christian tribals in
Dangs. 11 Jan 2006 http://in.christiantoday.com/news/gen_631.htm

Rightwing Hindu militants target Christian aborigines
By Sankar Ray from Kolkata. 11 Jan 2006
http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16704

Hindu festival in Dangs region may stoke communal violence, fears
AICC. 12 Jan 2006 http://in.christiantoday.com/news/gen_633.htm

CSW's All Indian Christian Council Meets With Government to Prevent
Attacks. 21 January 2006
http://www.christiantoday.com/news/missions/csws.all.indian.christian.council.meets.with.government.to.prevent.attacks./592.htm

A Report by the Citizen's Inquiry Committee
"The Untold Story of Hindukaran (Proselytisation) of Adivasis
(Tribals) in Dangs, Gujarat". 8 January 2006
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060108-Hindutva.htm