Remember these Hindus?
Posted on 06/14/2007 5:57:53 AM PDT by kellynla
Laxmi Narayan Gowda, an independent pastor and representative of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), was recovering in a hospital at press time with swelling and numerous bruises.
The incident took place at about 7 p.m. in Hessarghatta, about 30 kilometers from Bangalore, when a group of about 50 people barged into the pastor’s house and threatened him with violence unless he moved out of the area, said Sam Joseph, a Karnataka-based leader of the All India Christian Council (AICC).
The group returned with 100 more people shortly after, cornered Pastor Gowda in a room in his house, and began assaulting him in front of his wife and two small children.
Extremists of the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council), allegedly led the mob.
One of the assailants threw kerosene on the pastor, and others started burning Bibles. Someone tossed a burning Bible onto Pastor Gowda, but miraculously he did not catch fire, Joseph told Compass.
The extremists then stripped the pastor naked and hung a board around his neck that said, “I am the one who was converting people,” before parading him through the area.
“By this time, the mob had swollen to about 1,000, as more people joined in to harass and torture the pastor,” Joseph added.
Local police arrived about an hour later, after one of the pastor’s relatives called them by telephone.
The assailants burned at least 250 Bibles and also vandalized furniture and equipment.
Police had not registered a case against the attackers at press time. When Compass spoke to Inspector R. Malesh of the Soladevanhalli police station, he said the victim did not want to file a complaint.
“We have requested the Christians to give us a complaint in writing, but they do not want to press charges against the attackers,” he said.
Malesh claimed that the mob consisted of local people who did not belong to any Hindu extremist groups. Some of Pastor Gowda’s neighbors attacked, he said, because they do not want Christian prayers and meetings to take place in his house.
A local source, however, told Compass on condition of anonymity that the attack was pre-planned and directed by an unidentified lawyer. The lawyer suggested to the crowd that if they hit the pastor as a mob, then there would be no possibility of prosecution, said the source.
Before Pastor Gowda accepted Christ about 15 years ago, the source said, he was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organization of numerous Hindu extremist groups in India.
“The attackers seemingly wanted to punish Pastor Gowda for converting to Christianity from their Hindu nationalistic ideology, and warn others against dong so,” added the source.
Pastor Gowda has been working in the area for the last 12 years. The source also said the pastor was firm in his faith following the attack.
Dr. Sam Paul, AICC’s public affairs secretary, said that although Karnataka was known for anti-Christian attacks, the situation has become more volatile in the state since the Janata Dal-Secular party, in coalition with the Hindu nationalistic Bharatiya Janata Party, took power from the Congress Party in February 2006.
“Extremists in Karnataka are emboldened as the police usually turn up after the incident,” he said. “There are also times when the police encourage anti-social elements to harass Christians.”
Paul also stressed the need to educate India’s people about true conversion, in particular that it does not mean that one becomes anti-national.
Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the GCIC, told Compass that he was thankful to God for saving the life of one of his organization’s representatives.
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All things considered, he should be grateful they were Hindu, not Muslim; otherwise he wouldn’t be in the hospital recovering, he’s be six feet under.
Hindus? Wow.
This is intolerable by any group or religion. Hopefully they will be prosecuted.
I have been to Nepal 4 times and they seem to be the most tolerant people you would ever want to meet. But I do know in some parts of India there are extremists(as is the case with nearly any religion- Buddhists the exception of course until I see proof otherwise).
The other huge difference is that acts like this have no validation at all from Hinduism. The Hindu religion has no categorization of “infidels” and has no issues at all with other religions co-existing. The people who did this are truly a fringe group that even the vast majority of Hindus condemn.
There is just no history of Hindus killing other people en masse unprovoked in the name of religion. Deplorable and inexcusable as this incident is, to equate it with ISLAM is absurd.
Who would you be more afraid of, 5 young Hindu youth or 5 young Middle Eastern Muslim Arabs in a plane / mall / back alley ? I rest my case.
Took the words right outta my keyboard.
Well then, I guess that makes it OK!
Remember these Hindus?
National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) Christians, in various attacks on villages, killed quite a few Hindus who refused to convert. A couple of incidents ignited by hysteria have occurred since then, including a false report of violence against another preacher said to have occurred in India (actually happened in Pakistan).
BTW, we also know of several nations that are trying to prevent USA-India cooperation.
No, it does not and the perpetrators should be and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They should also be condemned by all authorities to make sure that the message to people is that this is unacceptable behaviour.
The point I was trying to make was that we can’t equate ISLAM to Hinduism based on this and a few other incidents. There is no religious validation for this behaviour as there is in the Koran. Hinduism is perhaps the most tolerant religion in the world and accepts co-esxistence with other religions completely. Mainstream Hindu society is very non-violent and there is no social acceptance or condoning of this barbaric behaviour.
All this reasoning does not make the incident acceptable, we should just evaluate it in the proper perspective. A muslim mob would have beheaded him and the crowd would have cheered, that will never happen in even a fringe Hindu mob.
We rent an apartment in Catholic Goa, and have been into neighbouring Karnataka and several occasions. Although the people are generally decent and friendly, there is a small but nasty element, some of who are members of the RSS. These induviduals want no foreigners in India, a Theocracy where the Saddhus make the laws, the ancient Sanskrit language and calendar, and the banning of all modern technology. You get the picture. I have to stress they are treated with contempt by mainstream people, and I never had any mither from them, but visitors to India should take care when travelling of the tourist spots into, isolated villages.
In ISLAM, it is acceptable to kill non-believers and apostasy is punishable by death.
Each religion has fringe elements but in ISLAM the fringe is the mainstream. I am not surprised that Pakistan was involved again trying to derail Indo-US relationships.
You are right in your characterization of RSS. They are indeed a dangerous fringe element and are anti-foreigner. They are shunned by most of the Hindus in India and should be avoided by visitors. On a violence scale however, your local rag-tag Palestinian militia would put them to shame.
There's never a Copt around when you need one.........
The vast majority (95%+) of Hindus are pluralistic, and don’t have any particular problem with Christians or Christianity.
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