http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=2706
[Religious Intelligence] 8 Sep 2008--It is typical of Hindu nationalist groups in India to attack Christians and then seek to justify and displace the blame for it by raising the issue of religious conversions.
It is therefore not surprising that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) is calling for debate on conversions in the wake of a massive spate of attacks on Christians in the eastern state of Orissa following the killing of a VHP leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati, and four of his disciples by suspected Maoists on August 23 in Kandhamal district. The ongoing violence is allegedly being instigated by the VHP, which is blaming local Christians for Saraswati’s murder in spite of the fact that Maoists or radical Marxists have claimed responsibility for it. The VHP is suggesting that Christians killed Saraswati because he was resisting conversion of local Hindus to Christianity.
When Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two children were burnt alive by a mob of Hindu nationalists in January 1999 in Orissa’s Keonjhar district, the then prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, called for a national debate on conversions. The civil society rightly condemned the appeal, saying the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was seeking to justify the brutal act and divert people’s attention away from a dark side of their ideology.
Close to a decade later, the Hindu nationalist groups are once again trying to justify another incident of mindless bloodbath in Orissa and shift the blame for it by raising the issue of conversions. What is more regrettable, however, is that sections of the media are also suggesting that conversions lie at the root of the ongoing violence, which has killed more than 36 people and burned hundreds of houses and churches, instead of focusing on the anarchy being witnessed and those responsible for it.
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