Hardline Hindus protest huge Jesus statue in India's Karnataka

Al Jazeera ^ | 13 January 2020 | AJ

[Cronos]

Hindus linked to ruling BJP rally against planned statue that will rival Rio de Janeiro's Christ The Redeemer for size.

Hundreds of hardline Hindus affiliated to India's ruling party have rallied to protest against planned Jesus statue that will rival Rio de Janeiro's Christ The Redeemer for size.

The protests in the southern state of Karnataka's Ramanagara district on Monday were led by far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with its members clutching saffron flags as around 1,000 police stood by.

..."We want to stop [the statue], since it goes against the spirit of communal harmony and encourages religious conversions which is rampantly carried out by Christian missionaries," Prabhakar Bhat, a top RSS functionary, told Indian media.

Construction of the white granite statue 114 feet (34.7 metres) high - slightly shorter than the Rio monolith although the base will be bigger - stopped soon after it started last month after objections.

Many Hindus believe the hill where the statue is set to stand in the Christian-dominated village of Harobele is the abode of a Hindu deity, although no temple exists there.

..Fewer than 1 percent of Karnataka's 65 million people are Christian, compared with around 2 percent in Hindu-majority India as a whole.

[ncalburt]

okay

[a fool in paradise]

>>The protests in the southern state of Karnataka’s Ramanagara district on Monday were led by far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with its members clutching saffron flags as around 1,000 police stood by...”We want to stop [the statue], since it goes against the spirit of communal harmony and encourages religious conversions which is rampantly carried out by Christian missionaries,” Prabhakar Bhat, a top RSS functionary, told Indian media.

“Far-Right”

Yeah, right

I’m sure there were “Far-Right Communists” in Mother Russia as well / s

[a fool in paradise]

They are against Christianity spreading.

They find conversion to be offensive.

[Wuli]

The story is not exactly as it seems at first blush.

The impetus for the whole thing began with a secular Leftists Hindu major local Congress Party member who had managed to wangle a deed to the PUBLIC LAND on the hill, for a Catholic outfit. I think that although he is a Hindu, at least nominally, the idea for the statue began with him. I think the whole maneuver is his in a play for the Christian vote in the area (for his Leftist Congress party) in the next elections.

If there is one thread that runs all the time through politics in India, it is corruption.

Of course since the BJP is stridently pro Hindu and nationalists it is easy and common for the media to place every sectarian encounter in India as part of the theme of the “over zealous Hindu nationalists”.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Perhaps not in the Vatican but you can elsewhere in the West.IMO Western countries...particularly the US and Britain...should start banning Hindu temples in response.

This isn't a temple, it's a big outdoor statue. I'd object to a big outdoor statue of a Hindu god here, and I'd expect they'd object to a big outdoor statue of Christ there.

[Cronos]

you have a lot of valid points