Author: Dina Nath Mishra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 1, 2005
Apart from Italy, India was the
only country which mourned the Pope's demise for three days. There are
over 100 Christian-dominated States in the world, yet only around a dozen
countries held State mourning.
It's strange that Ireland, with
92 per cent Catholic population didn't observe state mourning, leading
to a debate on the Internet. People asked questions that if India with
2.5 per cent Christian population and less than 1 per cent Catholics can
observe State mourning for three days, why cannot Ireland do so? France,
with 90 per cent Catholics didn't mourn Pope's death for even a day.
Out of over 50 Islamic countries,
only Egypt observed State mourning on Pope's death. The US, Britain, Germany
and Russia didn't hold State mourning. How can a country with over a billion
people forget the assault led by the Pope on Hinduism?
The Government cannot defend itself.
The idea to mourn Pope's death for three days must have been forwarded
by a Sonia zealot and nobody in the Cabinet would have had the guts to
oppose it because it might hurt the Madam, and therefore, the proposal
to observe the mourning must have been hurriedly okayed.
Now we know that the three-day mourning
came in the way of Uzbek Prime Minister's visit. His visit was scheduled
to begin on April 6, the last day of the mourning. A dinner was to be hosted
in his honour on the day. The Ministry of External Affairs requested Uzbeks
to postpone the visit by a couple of days, but the request was rejected.
So, for the first time, we had state mourning with an intermission of two
days, for a man who had greedy eyes on India and Asia.
During his visit in November 1999,
the Pope had said: "Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted
on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa.
We pray that in the third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith
will be reaped in this vast and vital continent." One can visit Vatican
sites to understand what all he intended to do in Asia.
Tons of paper must have been consumed
in his obituaries. Our concern is about his harvesting the faithful in
India, for China didn't allow him to enter into it's territory. Conversion
activities have increased after his 1999 visit. In Punjab, Majahabi Sikhs
are getting converted to Christians in large numbers. In Uttranchal and
Himachal Pradesh, Christian priests and Churches are more visible. In Andhra,
Christian missionaries are having a field day under the stewardship of
a Christian Chief Minister. In Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha first got the anti-conversion
bill passed. Such was the organised furore from the Christian community
that she got defeated in the Lok Sabha polls. She quickly repealed the
Anti-Conversion Bill. Not only that, she pounced upon Jayendra Saraswati,
Jagatguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Peeth, the greatest stumbling block
against conversions.
In the north-east, four states are
already dominated by Christians. Now, Christian missionaries are focussing
on Arunachal Pradesh.
In two districts, Christian missionaries
seem to be succeeding in a big way. Only last week, it was reported that
three Christian priests, Prashant Ghosh, V John Sarangi, D'souza Ilyasand
Ravi Naik, went to village Rameshwar in the Dhenkanal district of Orissa.
They approached Alek Bej and asked him to convert to Christians. They were
offered money and promised a decent marriage of his 14-year-old daughter
Jyotirmoy. However, Bej didn't agree to the proposal. Then, they turned
to his wife Jasoda, but couldn't succeed. Ultimately, D'souza threatened
them of dire consequences. The next day, Jyotirmoy was raped and murdered
and her body was recovered from the nearby railway lines. Alok filed an
FIR and named D'souza as the culprit. A bandh was called and roads were
blocked. There are numerous such incidents which don't find place in media
for obvious reasons.
In the Congress, lead by Sonia,
the Christian tag has always paid rich dividends. Moreover, Christian schools
and college alumni are in an overwhelming majority in bureaucracy and media.
We can consider three cases which
were unnecessarily internationalised. I am referring to the Graham Stains
case, Jhabua nun case and the Dang episode. The Wadhwa Commission not only
exonerated the Sangh Parivar and concluded that Dara Sigh had no link with
any Sangh organisation. The Jhabua case, too, has been exposed. In reality,
the rapist were local bhils and half of them were Christians. No one was
killed in the Dang episode. Only a hut with a cross on it was burnt. On
the other hand, a number of temples including that of Lord Hanuman, were
destroyed.
