Indian yoga guru is kicking up a storm ahead of polls
Baba Ramdev raises specter of ‘conversion’ while denigrating Muslims and Christians in Congress-ruled Rajasthan state India’s Yoga guru-turned-business tycoon Baba Ramdev may not have bargained for police action when he made provocative remarks against Muslims and Christians at a recent gathering of Hindu leaders in the northern state of Rajasthan. The state’s police registered a case against him for promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings by insulting religion. Ramdev, who is perhaps one of the richest "godmen" in India, joins a long list of hate mongers and votaries of Hindutva who advocate Hindu supremacy and seek to transform India into a Hindu nation, a project incubated a century ago at the Nagpur headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organization. Like many so-called godmen, Ramdev also makes no bones about his links with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an offshoot of the RSS, and openly campaigned for it during the 2014 parliamentary elections. Perhaps he wants to play a bigger role ahead of the 2024 elections. That is what it looks like. What exactly did Ramdev say in Barmer, Rajasthan on Feb. 2 that offended Muslims? The speech prompted a section of Muslim clergy to issue a call to boycott products
‘Congress in Chhattisgarh Has Utterly Failed to Defend Rights of Christian Adivasis’
Brinda Karat tells Karan Thapar that attacks on Christian Adivasis in Chattisgarh have continued for 5 months and have done extensive damage to homes, churches and livelihoods and forced up to 2,000 people to flee their villages. Senior politburo member of the CPI(M) and former Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat, speaking about attacks on Christian Adivasis in Chhattisgarh, which have continued for 5 months and have done extensive damage to homes, churches, belongings and livelihoods and forced up to 2,000 people to flee their villages, says, “The Congress has utterly failed to defend the constitutional rights of Christian Adivasis.” She has raised this matter in a letter addressed to chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and, in response, the home minister met a CPI(M) delegation on February 7. They asked why no one from the government has met the victims but did not get a meaningful answer from the home minister. She says even the Congress party president in Chhattisgarh, who is also the MLA for Narayanpur, where many of the 60-70 villages where the Christians have been attacked are located, has failed to visit his own constituency. She also says “not a single family or individual victim has received any compensation”. In a 30-minute
Indian hardliners ask to stop welfare benefits to tribal Christians
Hindu nationalist body wants tribals who converted to Christianity to be left out of the nation's affirmative action program A radical Hindu group has demanded to stop the benefits of India’s affirmative action program to tribal Christians ahead of state polls in two Christian-majority states in the northeast region. A pro-Hinud forum for protecting indigenous faith and culture, called Janajati Dharma-Sanskriti Suraksha Manch, said they want the government to remove tribal people who converted to Christianity or Islam from the official list of Scheduled Tribes (STs). Those on the list are eligible for social welfare benefits meant for indigenous and social groups designated as socio-economically disadvantaged. Forum members told media that they plan a demonstration before the state secretariat in Guwahati on Feb. 12 and march to the capital city of Dispur demanding both the federal and state governments make constitutional amendments to prevent tribal Christians from drawing government benefits. Binud Kumbang, a forum leader in the northeastern state of Assam, said tribal Christians are drawing double benefits by getting their children admitted to Christian schools and also seeking scholarships and jobs quotas under the government’s welfare policy. Socially poor Dalit people are denied welfare benefits on the ground that their religion does not practice the
Assam: RSS-affiliate JDSSM demands removal of Christians from ST list
Over 1 lakh members of the JDSSM will be staging a demonstration at Janata Bhawan on February 12 under its “Challo Dispur” programme RSS-affiliate demands removal of Christians from ST list, amendment of Article 342A Guwahati: Ahead of the assembly elections in Christian-majority Meghalaya and Nagaland, an RSS-backed organisation called Janajati Dharma- Sanskriti Suraksha Manch (JDSSM) has decided to intensify its agitation demanding to delist tribals who have undergone a religious conversion from the Schedule Tribe (ST) status that entitles them for reservation in jobs. Over 1 lakh members of the JDSSM will be staging a demonstration at Janata Bhawan on February 12 under its “Challo Dispur” programme, demanding both the Central and the State governments to amend Article 342A of the Constitution of India. The organisation will also submit separate memorandums to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of its demand. The organisation is pushing a demand that was first raised by Congress MP Karthik Oraon in the sixties, who had flagged the issue claiming that ST converts were getting a major chunk of reservation benefits. In 1968, a joint parliamentary committee was formed to examine the issue. “The people who have adopted foreign religions like Christianity and Islam are getting
India’s new path to social equality disregards justice
The Indian constitution has been amended to accord special quotas for the poor among upper-caste people in an unjust manner In the past eight years during which the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in power, the Supreme Court has mostly supported the government policies, leaving political observers worried and perplexed about the political and social road map India is traversing. They point to various legal victories the ruling party scored in India’s highest court, often the final arbitration point for vexatious and long-drawn legal cases, which have tremendous implications in a complex country like India. One such case that hits Christians in India coming from Dalit backgrounds was a legal challenge to the government denying them welfare benefits meant for all Dalit people, the socially poor across India. Dalit people among Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs get these benefits, but not Christians and Muslims because, according to the government, their religions do not follow caste. After some five decades of legal wrangling, and several commissions asserting that Dalit people among Christians and Muslims deserve these benefits because conversions failed to change their social status, India’s Supreme Court sought the government’s view on the subject last year. The government asked
Hindu vigilantes carry out wave of anti-Christian violence in India
Christian evangelicals have been stepping up conversions, creating a backlash — and a political opportunity for Hindu nationalists About 200 men mobilized by local Hindu nationalists destroyed a small church in Chimmdi village in India’s Chhattisgarh state on Jan. 12, Christians said. (Gerry Shih/The Washington Post) NARAYANPUR, India — Over two decades of practicing and proselytizing Christianity, Badinath Salam had been kicked out of his home several times and often harassed. But in December, he recalled, the vitriol turned virulent. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Leaders in his Indigenous Indian village beat drums to summon all 100 households to a clearing, he said. There, gathered villagers pummeled their Christian neighbors, who made up one-fifth of their village, and left Salam hospitalized for three days. When the drumbeats began again a week later, on Jan. 9, Salam ran for his life. In this part of central India, he wasn’t the only Christian forced to flee. Since December, Hindu vigilantes in Chhattisgarh state in eastern India, enraged by the spread of Christianity and rallied by local political leaders, have assaulted and displaced hundreds of Christian converts in dozens of villages and left a trail of damaged
‘We support free press,’ says US on India blocking BBC documentary
The Centre had directed YouTube and Twitter to remove links to the documentary, which revisits Narendra Modi’s alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. ‘We support free press,’ says US on India blocking BBC documentary US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price. | Screengrab via @StateDeptSpox / Twitter The United States Department of State on Wednesday said that it continues to highlight the importance of free press around the world when asked to share its view on the BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. The documentary, India: The Modi Question, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi – then the chief minister of Gujarat – had prevented the police from acting to prevent the violence during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The first part of the documentary, released on January 17, alleges that a team sent by the British government had found that Modi was “directly responsible for a climate of impunity” that led to the violence against Muslims. On January 21, Centre had directed YouTube and Twitter to remove links to the BBC’s documentary by invoking the emergency blocking orders under the Information Technology Rules of 2021. On Wednesday, the US State Department spokesperson Ned Price was asked whether banning of the BBC documentary was a
Indian court refuses to scrap panel on Dalit Christian quotas
The petition by a Christian of Dalit origin pointed out that the government has been studying the issue since 1955 India’s top court has dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of a panel to examine if Dalit people who converted to Christianity or Islam are eligible for the government's social welfare programs. The federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Oct. 6 last year set up a three-member commission to consider granting converted Dalit people the Scheduled Caste status, making them eligible for the government's affirmative action programs mean to bring Dalit people to the social mainstream. The committee was also asked to study the implications of extending the benefits to Dalit Christians and Muslims, and submit a report within two years. Dalit Christian leaders dismissed the appointment of the panel as a tactic to delay their recognition as SC, which will ensure them a share in the 15 percent reserved quota in parliament and state legislatures, government jobs and education. Currently, Dalit people among Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist religions enjoy these benefits but Christian and Muslim people from Dalit backgrounds are denied the benefits on the ground that their religions are caste-free. The petitioner, Pratap Baburao Pandit, who claims to be
India’s Blocking of BBC Documentary Reflects Broader Crackdown
Program Highlights New Evidence of Government Role in 2002 Gujarat Riots Victims of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state, which left more than 1,000 dead, gather for a protest The Indian government’s blocking of a BBC documentary on the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat state in 2002 is just the latest attempt to prevent criticism of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Last week, the BBC released the first of a two-part series, “The Modi Question,” highlighting findings of a previously unpublished report of the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office that investigated the 2002 riots when Prime Minister Modi was chief minister of Gujarat state. Soon after the documentary’s release, Indian authorities invoked emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules to compel social media platforms to take down the video in India. In February 2002, there was a retaliatory spree of rape and killings across Gujarat after some Muslims attacked a train carrying Hindu pilgrims. More than 1,000 were reportedly killed in the riots, most of them Muslim. Allegations that the state authorities did not act to stop the violence against Muslims, which was often led by leaders of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or affiliates, sparked international condemnation. The UK
Indian Christians demand halt to police survey
Assam state cops have been collecting details about Christians, their churches, institutions, and conversion activities A Christian group in northeast India's Assam state has demanded a halt to a clandestine survey by police to gather details on the community, their churches, other institutions, and so-called religious conversion activities. The United Christian Forum (UCF) in Golaghat district wrote to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Jan. 20 urging him to issue a directive to the district’s police to stop harassing Christians. Police denied undertaking any such survey with Dipak Tamuly, deputy superintendent of police, Golaghat district, telling local media that “no survey of Christians or their churches is underway.” The UCF petition signed by its president, Jiden Aind, and secretary, Leader Toppo, alleged that some police officers were involved in collecting information about churches, their leaders and conversion activities in the district. "This sort of harassment has been reported across the state" The information has been collected since Jan. 2 through personal visits, or through messages sent on cell phones, which has left Christians in Golaghat “confused and disturbed,” they added. “Therefore, we humbly request you to kindly intervene and address our grievances. As a peace-loving and serving community we ask you to abide by the constitutional guarantees,”
