Think Otherwise

It is not important to think wise, but seems that people should also learn to think ‘otherwise’. Media, being the major force in the country bears the biggest responsibility
to let know people what is happening around. The biased media has made life difficult for common people who are willing to know the genuine news.

Besides political issues, there are certain strong emotional issues, which when given a wrong projection by the media can easily mislead the public and provoke agitations and unwanted confusions in the society.

1999 – Father Stanes and his two children were burnt alive in Orissa. Dhara Singh was supposed to be the main accused. He was arrested by the police after two years. Firstly, I would like to mention that it was projected by the media that the major suspect was RSS and later after 2 years the accused was arrested and it was found that he has no connection with the RSS.
How many people who know about this incident know about the background of the same?


Think wise….

No doubt that this is such a ruthless act and the accused deserves a severe punishment.

Now, think otherwise….

-What actually drove Dhara Singh to do so?
-Why were the police not able to arrest Dhara Singh immediately?

The media hardly analyzed about these factors. It was found that this incident happened with a great local support. All the people of that village were furious about Stanes since his baptizing act was crossing the tolerable limit. He started interfering in those people’s lives and compelling them to convert to Christianity. He was actually assigned to convert a mass number of people by a Christian missionary and was sent to India for the same reason. The villagers’ customs and traditional activities were greatly disturbed by Father Stanes which irritated the local people and started opposing him. The agitation grew day by day and as a result, Stanes was burnt atlast.

Dhara Singh isn’t a man with great backup or political influence. But yet, the police wasn’t able to arrest him for two long years. Why? He was backed by the local people there. So, it is very clear that this incident has happened not as a personal rivalry between Stanes and Dhara Singh.

Did media care to bring about all these facts to limelight? Why the third dimension is left unexplored? Probably because it may not do good business to them.

I would like to make one thing clear – My idea is definitely not to justify what Dhara Singh did or to back him up. He was undoubtedly very cruel and deserves a severe punishment. At the same time, people should also care to know about all dimensions of the issue and shouldn’t totally go with the media. In this case, Stanes’ crime is over-shadowed by Dhara Singh’s. There are a hell lot of people like Stanes here in India with only one motto – Conversion.

Okay, let me not get carried away here. If I start writing about it, then I’ll not stop. Let’s get back to the topic…. The above said incident is just an example and I want to insist on the fact that the people should always have their own views and opinions and should not blindly react with what the media says. Media is just to let people know about the happenings in and around. Think how was the agitation when that incident happened way back in 1999? Even today, quite a lot of people living in villages are being tortured by such Fathers, but where is the media gone? When the people break out and show their opposition, the media comes into play and project it however they want.

Religious Conversion - A National Hazard

Not certainly the hottest topic of the moment. But, this issue deserves the ultimate importance. If left unchecked, this would threaten the very existence of India as a nation.

Religious Conversion – A National Hazard.

It seems that not many of them could accept the last line of my previous blog. This reflected from the comments I got for my previous blog and also from the phone calls I received. The whole blog was appreciated except for the last line… India may be a secular state but it is a Hindu nation. I hope this blog would prove my words right.

Religious conversions are happening in all parts of the country. “Freedom of Religion” is misused to the core. Baptism is one way which is contributing much to the religious conversion. This Baptist culture is adopted by most of the Christians around the country. Many people are appointed by the Christian missionaries for this sake and they target the illiterate sector and the poor people. These people travel allover the country, especially to interior places like hill stations and remote areas which are left un-noticed and they try to brainwash those people and slowly drag them towards their religion. The illiterate minds get deceived and fall in the trap quite easily. This is the reason why in places like Yercaud, you can see quite a lot of Christian population. You can also find many burials of the “Christian Fathers” resting in peace, who settled there several decades ago and dedicated their lives solely for this purpose.

There are many Christian service organizations in the country which volunteer themselves in lending their services. Not all, but many of them are involved in this business. I think it is right to call it a 'business' because, they lend their services and in turn want those people to pay them not by currency, but by adding to the numbers of Christian population.

Samanthapettai – A tiny coastal village near Madurai is one of the worst Tsunami affected areas of Tamil Nadu. People of the village got furious after a group of Christian missionaries allegedly refused them aid for not agreeing to follow their religion. The nuns who were out there had asked them to convert before distributing biscuits and water. Isn’t this more likely a business??? Thankfully, those villagers did not fall in their trap. The weaknesses of the needy and illiterate people are exploited and the baptists take full advantage of that.
This is one of many such incidents that has taken place and is taking place all over the country.

The Christian missionaries have objectives that well go beyond such idyllic statements like “Serving the Poor”, “Educate the Masses”, etc., Their unstated objective is always to harvest souls for Jesus Christ. There are enough Christian missionaries with revolting missions such as “a church in every pincode”, “bringing people closer to Jesus” and such nonsense. What amazes me about these missionaries is their marketing skills. They are systematic in their approach and out-perform an MBA professional. It would be better if they stop playing this cheap game of numbers and mind their own business.

In my school, it is compulsory that all the students should attend the prayer and sing those prayer songs. Each student will be provided with the Bible and if the student fails to bring it, he/she is punished. The prayer songs mostly will bear the same meaning – “Don’t worship idols. All those are false beliefs and Jesus is the true God”. If anybody is found not singing, then he/she will be whipped by the teacher. This is like harassing the students and forcing them against their religious beliefs. Thanks to those teachers and my school for making me very religious towards my own religion and develop an aversion towards baptism.

Back to the issue – The conversion is also happening due to social reasons. Incase of a inter-religious marriage, one of the two partners are forced to convert to the other partner’s religion since they may have to face numerous problems after marriage. The Government should bring back the ban that was imposed on religious conversion and implement it very strictly. By doing this, atleast mass conversions can be brought under control.

One of the shocking message is that India would become a 55% Christian majority state by the end of this century. Also the current un-official figure says, Indian Christians are 7% and not 2.5%. It is now high time to shed our casteism and prevent Christian conversion, thereby protecting Hinduism.

Gowri Shankar
"Proud to be an Indian"