CHURCH IN KERALA is rocked by sex scandals
reddy
BY George Iype in Kochi
http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/dec/01iype.htm
** In 1995, Father Cyriac Karthikapally, a parish priest of Kurumbanadam
church in the Changanacherry archdiocese, lured a 15-year old school-going
girl to his bedroom. For the next two years, the priest entered into a
sexual relationship with the minor girl that she gave birth to a female
child on September 15, 1998.
The Changacherry police on Tuesday registered a case against Father
Karthikapally for raping, abducting and compelling the victim for abortion.
The police has submitted before the local judicial court a first information
report against the priest under sections 315, 316 and 336 of the Indian
Penal Code that deal with provisions on rape and abduction.
** In 1993, the dead body of 21-year old Sister Abhaya was flushed out from
the well of St Pious X Convent, Kottayam. Six years of police investigations
reached nowhere and in July this year the Central Bureau of Investigation
closed the sensitive case as it failed to fix the liability of the young
nun's murder. Church critics circulate two theories for Sr Abhaya's death.
One, she was murdered when she refused the sexual advances of a priest or a
bishop. Second, she was killed because she knew that some of her colleague
nuns had sexual relationships with two Catholic priests -- Fr Jose
Putrukayal and Fr Thomas Kattoor.
While the Sister Abhaya case is closed forever, a popular Malayalam movie
was released three weeks back on the incident. Titled Crime File and
starring superstar Suresh Gopi, the film depicts the Church in bad light by
portraying what many say "the real story" behind Sister Abhaya's murder.
** In 1998, Sr Jyothis of Sacred Heart Convent at Mukkom in Kozhikode
district was found murdered in the convent's well. Investigations so far
have made no headway, but the police suspect that sexual motive could have
been the cause behind the murder.
Recently, Sister Jyothis's father, K M Jose filed a case in the Kerala high
court pleading for a CBI investigation into his daughter's murder in the
convent.
** Last month, a gang of students belonging to the Student Federation of
India attacked Father Geo Pulickal, principal of the Catholic-run
Nirmalagiri College at Koothuparamba in north Kerala. SFI students allege
that the principal is a sodomite and subjected a college student to sodomy
and two priests were involved in a ragging case in the college hostel.
Posters depicting the priests and nuns in bad light appeared on the college
campus.
The tug of war between the SFI activists and the Catholic church over the
attack on Father Pulickal reached a flashpoint when Nirmalagiri College was
closed last month and later re-opened after mediations between the Church
officials and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Is the vow of celibacy that priests and nuns adopt to serve the Catholic
church in Kerala becoming suspect? Why are increasing numbers of sex
scandals involving the clergy coming up in the state?
Church leaders, especially those belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church in
Kerala are upset as social groups are mounting protests for trying to
protect priests like Father Karthikapally from the clutches of civil law.
But Catholic activists who have launched a movement against the church claim
that cases of priests caught in sex crimes are increasing in the state. "It
seems priests in Kerala are losing their faith and virginity. We know the
names of many priests who deliberately fail to keep their sacred pledge of a
celibate lifestyle," says Sebastian Vattamattam, secretary of Kottayam-based
Vikas Institute that has raked up the sex scandal involving Father Cyriac
Karthikapally.
"Priests are sinning against their church and the community. But their
crimes have thrown up legal, ethical and moral issues for debate within the
church and the catholic community," he said.
Vattamattom, a college professor in the Changanacherry archdiocese-run Saint
Berchman's College, is one of the many active Catholics who have launched a
movement against what they call "erring and immoral priests and nuns."
Critics like him cite many reasons why priests and nuns are stepping out of
their pastoral and missionary duties to the forbidden paths. "All the modern
priests are very educated and rich. They are exposed to the world and lured
by the luxuries of the modern world. They are spiritually corrupt and
indulge in all sorts of immoral activities," accuses Vattamattam.
Kurian Verghese, a Catholic activist in Kochi, who himself left priestly
studies mid-way and became an engineer later, says the fault lies with the
seminaries. "Seminaries where students are trained and moulded to become
priests are old-fashioned. They are taught philosophy and theology of the
old order without any freedom of thought or action," he points out.
"I left the seminary after five years because I felt suffocated. So I think
once they are out of seminaries, the present generation of young priests are
attracted by the outside world which they have never seen or experienced,"
Verghese says.
"I know many priests who drink and womanise regularly. But they still remain
within the dioceses and pastoral ministry and serve the local people. Our
social set-up is such that a priest giving up the cassock for marriage is a
butt of ridicule," he said.
Therefore, he says, the best thing that the church should aim for is to
encourage those "immoral priests" to get out of the church services and help
them get married.
But Church officials point out that some of the sex scandals rocking the
Catholic community in Kerala are "stray instances" and have been blown out
of proportion by "some misguided catholic activists."
According to Bishop Thomas Chakiath of Ernakulam archdiocese, it is sad that
"some vested interests have launched a smear campaign against the church
basing their arguments on some stray incidents."
"Of course, there have been incidents in which priests were accused of
disobeying the sacred order of celibacy. But it is improper to accuse that
the church is plagued by sex scandals," he said.
Bishop Chakiath said often priests who indulge in immoral activities leave
their pastoral job and embrace matrimony. "But these all are very rare
instances and they do not mean that the church has lost its mission, unity
and integrity," he asserted.
However, according to Professor M J George, a member of the action council
that is now pursuing the Father Karthikapally case the gravest mistake
within the church is that "it itself is the protector of criminal clergy."
George said when the Father Karthikapally sex scandal rocked the
Changanacherry archdiocese, what the Archbishop did was to get him tried in
the diocese's own tribunal, which "punished" him by removing him from the
pastoral ministry and offering remuneration to the girl.
"The accused priest is still with the diocese. His residence is provided by
the diocese and he is protected by the church while his daughter is growing
up in an orphanage," George said.
Catholic activists claim in many dioceses across Kerala, many "clerical
gangsters" have come up. "Our information is that Father Karthikapally used
to take the minor girl to his priest friends in other parishes. They had
actually formed a sex racket involving many girls," says Vattamattam.
But Changanacherry Archdiocese Chancellor Father Gregory Naduviledam refutes
the charges levelled by the church pressure groups. "They are misguided
activists who are acting with some vested interests against the church," he
said.
As for Father Karthikapally sex case, he said, the diocesan tribunal decided
to try the priest after the victim's parents approached Archbishop Joseph
Powathil for a settlement on the case from the church side.
"In the tribunal the priest confessed to his crime. We found him guilty and
punished him by relieving him of all pastoral duties. He is now living in a
remote village without serving any parish or other diocesan institutes,"
Father Naduviledam said.
As to the accusation that the diocese did not take the case to the police,
he said "it was not the duty of the church." "It was the duty of the
offended party to approach the police. But the girl's parents instead wanted
that the priest should be tried by the church tribunal only," Father
Naduviledam added.
According to Father Paul Thelakkat, editor of Sathyadeepam, a popular
Catholic weekly, "It is an unfair argument that the church has lost its
image because one among thousands of its priests is involved in a sex
scandal."
"In every religious society and community in the world, there are erring
members. The Catholic church considers the rare instances of sex scandals in
Kerala as insignificant," he asserted.
One of the first sex scandals that rocked the Kerala church was in the
1970s, that too in the Changanacherry diocese. A diocesan priest, Father
Benedict entered into a sexual relationship with Mariakutty, a regular
church-goer. But when their relationship began doing the rounds, Father
Benedict allegedly killed Mariakutty.
Father Benedict was arrested and fought the case in many courts for years,
but was later set free for want of sufficient evidence of murder.
Old timers recall when Father Benedict was acquitted and released, he was
given a warm reception by the Changanacherry archdiocese.
"I think this is the fault with the church. It does not punish those priests
who break their celibacy and seek immoral means of life. But the church is
always eager to protect the clergy who are found guilty," says Joseph
Punnen, a devout catholic who had launched a movement against Father
Benedict in 1970s.
Empanada
1840 to a Methodist
farm family living in Saint Clairsville in eastern Ohio. She went to India in
1870 to begin a boarding
school at the invitation of her brother James, a Methodist missionary. The
school, at Lucknow in
North India, quickly gained a reputation for excellence. Undaunted by the
then-prevalent bias against
the formal education of women, Thoburn labored for 30 years to counter that bias
and its effects.
In 1896, she founded the Lucknow Woman’s College, the first Christian
institution of higher
education for women in Asia. Thoburn died of cholera in 1901 at the age of 61.
In 1903, Lucknow
Women’s College was renamed Isabella Thoburn College. The school continues to be
active today.
Empanada
must be defined as
Christ, not the Old Testament, not Western civilization, not even the system
built around him in the
West, but Christ himself, and to be a Christian is to follow him. . . . Christ
must be in an Indian
setting. It must be the Christ of the Indian Road. . . . Christ must not seem a
Western Partisan . . .
but a Brother of Men."
Jones was also noted for his founding in 1930 of a Christian version of the
Hindu ashram, a
residence of a religious community with a guru, or leader. The Christian ashram,
in Lucknow,
eventually became a permanent, year-round community. It aimed to be a model of
the kingdom of
God and pursued evangelistic outreach to the many college and university
students in Lucknow.
Jones was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1884. He arrived as a missionary in
India in 1907. In
1911, he married a colleague, Mabel Lossing, who had been teaching at Isabella
Thoburn College.
Jones died at Bareilly in North India in 1973.
Empanada
Dalit anger against Shiv
Sena fuels deadly
Bombay riots
By RAHUL SINGH
(c) Earth Times News Service
MUMBAI, India--If India needed reminding that violence lurks very
close
to the surface and that caste remains an explosively live issue,
it has been
amply provided in the past few days in the country's commercial capital,
Mumbai (Bombay). For three days, the city, which has a population of
over 12
million, was effectively shut down as rioters held it to ransom,
preventing trains
and buses from running and private vehicles from plying on the roads.
This followed the desecration of a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of
the
main architects of the Indian Constitution and leader of the Dalits, the
politically
correct name for the Untouchables or Harijans (literally meaning, "the
children
of God"), as Mahatma Gandhi called them. Ambedkar is a revered icon for
the
Dalits in Maharashtra, most of whom converted to Buddhism at his
instigation,
disillusioned at the low status given them by Hinduism.
Last Friday morning, one of the many statues of him that dot Mumbai, was
found garlanded with chappals (Indian-style sandals), which is
considered a
grave insult in India. The statue was located in a housing colony at
Ghatkopar, a
suburb of Mumbai, and where many Dalits reside.
The desecration was the signal for hundreds of Dalits in the locality to
go on the
rampage. An armed posse of the Special Reserve Police Force (SRPF) was
summoned. They opened fire on the mob, killing 11 of them.
There are differing versions of the firing. The Dalits claim that no
warning was
given. There was not even the usual lobbing of tear-gas to disperse the
stone-throwing crowd, followed by a lathi (baton) charge, they say.
Instead, the
police were given shoot-to-kill orders. Some 50 rounds were fired in
just ten
minutes. Some of the bodies had more than one bullet in them. The police
version is that the rioters were about to set fire to several trucks
laden with
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders. Had the cylinders caught fire,
the
ensuing explosion would have taken scores of lives, say the police.
Gopinath Munde, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who is also
the
Home Minister in charge of law and order, supports the police version.
To his
obvious embarrassment, only a few days earlier he had claimed that the
law and
order problem was completely under control, citing that no riots or
police firings
had taken place since the Shiv Sena/Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came
into
power two and a half years ago.
Underlying the differing versions of the firing is the latent antagonism
between
the Dalits and the Shiv Sena, the Hindu-chauvinist party that is in
power in
Maharashtra in coalition with the BJP. It is no secret that the police
in Mumbai
are heavily influenced, if not under the domination of the Shiv Sena.
During the
December-January 1992-1993 communal riots, following the destruction of
the
mosque at Ayodhya, for instance, the police acted blatantly in favour of
the Shiv
Sena and against the Muslims.
This time, the target of the police seems to have been the Dalits. The
Maharashtra Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, a Shiv Sena man, has ordered
a
judicial inquiry into Friday's police firing but most people doubt if
anything will
come of it. A similar inquiry into the 1992-93 riots was sought to be
scuttled by
him.
The police firing was followed by a "bandh" (shutdown of all activity)
in the city,
which was supported by all the Opposition parties, including the
Congress. The
bandh extended to other parts of the state as well.
The next day, Sunday, it was the turn of the Shiv Sena to retaliate in
the violent
fashion that has become its hallmark. A mob of Shiv Sainiks descended on
the
bungalows of Chhagan Bhujbal and Madhukarrao Pichad, senior leaders of
the
Opposition Congress party, and ransacked them, destroying furniture and
fittings. A Shiv Sena Member of Parliament, Mohan Rawale, led the
rioters.
Luckily, both Bhujbal and Pichad succeeded in evading the mob.
Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena supremo, virtually condoned the attack on
both
men, declaring that it was an "understandable reaction." Bhujbal, in
particular,
said Thackeray, had "crossed all limits in condemning the Shiv Sena" and
that
this had "whipped up the sentiment of the Shiv Sainiks."
Bhujbal, who is also an Untouchable, has been a bete noire of
Thackeray's ever
since he defected from the Shiv Sena and joined the Congress Party.
There have been rumours of links between underworld gangster Arun Gawli
and Bhujbal. Gawli recently formed a political party, the Akhil
Bharatiya Sena
(ABS) and allegations have been made that it was behind the desecration
of the
Ambedkar statue, which sparked the riots. Munde says that he has asked
the
police to look into the role of the ABS in the events leading to the
riots and the
police firing.
Needless to say, Bhujbal, who is considered very close to former chief
minister
Sharad Pawar, will be part of the police investigation. Pawar has also
called for
the dismissal of the Maharashtra government.
Meanwhile, on the same day, Sunday, the Dalits, who had turned up in
large
numbers for the funeral of the 11 who had been killed in the police
firing, vented
their ire in an entirely unexpected direction. They singled out the
three main Dalit
leaders for attack: Ramdas Athwale, R.S. Gawai and Prakash Ambedkar,
grandson of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Athwale is the President of the
Republican
Party of India (RPI) and Gawai its Secretary.
The RPI is the main political party of the Dalits in Maharashtra.
However, it has
been seriously weakened of late by faction fighting. The anger of the
Dalits
against the three men was partly because of their failure to unite, as
well as the
fact that none of them had bothered to visit the troubled area for two
days,
whereas a number of Congress leaders had been there, along with Union
Cabinet Minister of Railways, Ram Vilas Paswan, another person from the
Untouchable caste.
Athwale barely escaped the mob with his life (he had to be admitted to
hospital
after being rescued by the police), while Gavai was beaten up and even
Prakash
Ambedkar had to flee the scene. In view of these developments, a new and
more militant RPI leadership is likely to be thrown up in the near
future.
The Shiv Sena and the Dalits have been at daggers-drawn for quite some
time.
The Dalits see the Shiv Sena as essentially a high-caste party which
tends to
look down on them as being socially inferior. When the state government
decided to rename Marathwada University in northern Maharashtra after
Ambedkar, the only party to oppose the move was the Shiv Sena, leading
to
clashes between Shiv Sainiks and Dalits. Similarly, when Ambedkar's
controversial book, "Riddles of Hinduism" (in which he questions the
worshipping of Hindu gods who have been unfair to the lower castes), was
published, the agitation against it was led by the Shiv Sena.
However, in Maharashtra at least, the Dalits have been unable to
translate
numerical strength into political power. In the last State Assembly
election, not a
single candidate from the RPI was elected. But in other parts of India,
the
Untouchables have had considerable political success. In the country's
most
populous state, Uttar Pradesh, a Dalit lady, Mayawati, is the Chief
Minister.
And the President-elect of India, K.R. Narayanan, is also a Dalit.
Nevertheless, the Dalits remain at the bottom of the economic heap,
along with
the tribals and members of minority communities, such as the Muslims.
The
benefits of whatever little development and progress that there has been
in the
country have not percolated down to them. The jobs that they mainly
occupy
remain essentially the same as the ones they had for centuries and which
are
shunned by the other, higher castes, such as scavenging and
leather-making.
Though Untouchability is banned by law, in most villages, the Dalits
have
separate wells and live in a different section of the village.
India is about to celebrate 50 years of its independence. For the
Dalits,
however, there is little cause for celebration.
Empanada
in India.
Extract from Indian Currents:
Targetting Christians
The Delhi government's recent move to remove churches from the list of places of
worship because
wine is offered there, is not an isolated case of hurting the sentiments of the
Christian community. In
the last few months, there seems to be a systematic execution of a plan by. the
Sangh Parivar to
harass and intimidate the Christian community who number 23 million in India,
barely 2.6 per cent of
the population. Organisations like the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and
All-India Catholic
Union which have compiled statistics of the attacks have found a sharp rise in
the figures in the last
five years. According to data collected by the CBCI regarding killing of priests
and rape of nuns,
only six such incidents took place between 1978-83, but there have been 17 such
cases in the last
five years. However, these are instances of extreme violence against the clergy
According to
All-India Catholic Union national secretary John Dayal, the attacks on
Christians have been launched
on three different fronts.
Direct violence against the clergy - the murder of two priests in Bihar,
shooting of Father N.V. Jose
in Manipur, the murder of nuns in Assam and MP, attack on Brother Tirkey on May
15, 1998 in
Ranchi, the attack on pastor Jakhya Digal in Phulbani, Orissa. Attacks on
evangelists and disruption
of prayer meetings. There has been a steep rise in this category particularly
since the BJP came to
power.
Pressure on Christian institutions including schools, colleges, hospitals and
churches from municipal
authorities regarding land permits and charges of encroachment. A study of the
recent instances of
violence indicate a frightening similarity in the attacks. The highest number of
attacks has been in
Gujarat where the VHP has a wide-spread network and where BJP's growth was built
on the
VHP's base. The attacks have taken place with dizzying frequency. On March 2
this year, a meeting
in Padra village of Baroda, attended by local and foreign missionaries was
attacked with the
missionaries violently manhandled. On March 4, a prayer meeting and healing
session organised by
the Pentecostal Church at the Polo Grounds in Baroda was violently disrupted. It
was the first day of
a scheduled four-day long Ishu Mahotsav (Jesus Celebration). Over 200,activists
of VHP and Akhil
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad broke mikes, set the stage on fire and beat up
those who were on
stage. The four-day meeting had to be abandoned. On April 15, residents of
Naroda village, led by
their deputy sarpanch, demolished a Roman Catholic church around 25 km from
Ahmedabad on the
grounds that it was allegedly being built without permission from the civic
authorities though it stood
on land brought by the Church about five years ago. The St Mary's School in
Ahmedabad was
vandalised by Bajrang Dal members on May 28. Frenzied youth were in the midst of
a campaign
against Coke and Pepsi and shouted slogans in the school against institutions
'spreading foreign
culture.'
In Maharashtra too, the Shiv Sena and RSS have stepped up attacks on Christians.
Early,this year,
activists of an RSS outfit, Jankalyan Samiti, attacked a voluntary organisation
called Shruti run by the
Catholic Health Association of India at Nandugarh in Latur district. They pelted
Sister Marlene and
Father Jeevendra Jadhav with stones and beat them up, accusing them of
converting village children
to Christianity.
On May 11, 1998, Shiv Sainiks barged into a meeting being conducted at the MMM
High School in
Ambarnath. They attacked the priest, Father Octavio Anthony Nevis, with iron
bars, broke an
amplifier, speaker and tubelights, and created chaos by throwing crackers. The
local Shiv Sena boss
later justified the attack claiming the meetings were aimed at proselytisation.
The latest attack in the
State took place in the .Mumbai suburb of Malad on June 16, 1998. A chapel of
the St Savariyar
Church under the patronage of the famous century old Orlem Church was razed to
the ground. The
church was built 10 yearsago and renovated recently. On June 16, 1998 without
any notification, the
P-North ward of the Bombay Municipal Corporation razed the entire chapel. In
response to a
complaint by the All India Catholic Union following initial attacks in Gujarat
and Maharashtra, the
National Human Rights Commission on March 26, 1998 had directed the police in
the two States to
take 'expeditious action' against the people who attacked Christians in Baroda
and Latur. But
continuing attacks show that this directive has had no effect.
Apart from these States, similar attacks have been made in Punjab, UP and
Rajasthan. in Punjab, a
prayer meeting was disrupted in Ludhiana on October 25, 1997 by VHP activists
and six young
Christians were beaten up. On March 31, 1998, a group of youth ransacked a
Christian
congregation near Grover Colony in Jalandhar - repeating the by now standard
routine: smashing
tube lights, breaking.furniture, setting the dais on fire, manhandling the
organisers, and forcing people
to leave.
In Rajasthan, the campaign has been more systematic. The target has been small
Christian institutions
and activities in tribal dominated districts of Udaipur and Banswara. VHP
leaflets accusing them of
spreading their faith and being 'foreigners' have been distributed in the
villages. In late 1997, they
presented a memorandum to the district magistrate demanding an end to all
activities of Christians. In
Banswara district, 12 years after a plot of land was purchased by a tribal
priest, it was forcibly
occupied by local youth.
In Uttar Pradesh. on March 16, 1998. Bajrang Dal activists attcked a meeting in
Kanpur. A
three-day meeting was to be held from March 16 to 18 at Maswanpur under the
aegis of Assembly
of Believers in India. On March 16, well before the meeting began, Bajrang Dal
men descended on
the place, threw stones, beat up the organisers, sprinkled kerosene and set the
stage on fire. The
meeting had to be abandoned even though prior permission had been secured and
the police
informed.
The above instances show a definite pattern, some of the salient features of
which are: · Attacks on
small, defenceless and isolated Christian groups in States where they are an
insignificant minoritv.
The VHP has so far not dared to attack the Community in Kerala or Goa where they
are in larger
numbers. · Accusing all Christian institutions of carrying out conversions; of
being alien and foreign
and force disputes over land. · Use of the above as pretext to carry out violent
attacks. · The tacit
and sometimes active connivance of State machinery.
It is clear the attacks are not spontaneous outbursts but part of a systematic
programme. The
saffron..brigade's attack on the Christian Community stems from the essence of
Hindutva which sees
India as the land of a monolithic 'Hindu' community in which members of other
faiths are 'alien'. For
RSS, the principal enemies of the 'Hindu rashtra' are Muslims and Christians
(followed by
Communists) because they are not 'rooted' in the Indian soil.
The VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS and BJP activists are only storm-troopers of an
ideology that is shared
by the likes, of L. K. Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee. The attacks on the
Christian Community is
a chilling application of what the former RSS chief and its premier ideologue,
M.S. Golwalkar,
exhorted decades ago. In his tract, We or Our Nationhood Defined, published in
1939, Golwalkar
wrote:
"In Hindustan exists and must needs exist the ancient Hindu nation and nought
else but the Hindu
Nation. All those not belonging to the national, (i.e., Hindu) race, religion,
culture and language
naturally fall out of the pail of real ‘national' life... "There are only two
courses open to foreign
elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture,
or to live at its mercy
so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at
the sweet will of the
national race... From this standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd
old nations, the foreign
races in Hindustan must either adopt Hindu culture and language, must learn to
respect and hold in
reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification
of the Hindu race and
culture, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or
may stay in the country,
wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no
privileges, far less any
preferential treatment - not even citizen's rights. We are an old nation; let us
deal, as old nations
ought to and do deal, with the foreign races who have chosen to live in our
country."
From time to time, BJP leadership has, tried to disassociate itself from this
tract which remains, for
all purposes, the RSS bible. But the tenor and manner of the attacks from
Banswara to Baroda,
from Latur to Ludhiana show how deeply ingrained is Golwalkar's ideology in the
minds of their
young cadres even at the end of the 20th century.
The Hindutva ideology is based on lies and distortions about India's history and
culture, but even so
the attack on the Christian community is astounding for its colossal combination
of ignorance and
arrogance. The constant refrain of the RSS school is that Christians are abusing
'our hospitality' as
though India was the fiefdom of the RSS. By calling them 'alien', the saffron
brigade appears
completely ignorant of the fact that Christianity came to India in the first
century AD, long before
colonialism.
It is ironic that VHP, which is largely financed by non-resident Indians who
chose to desert their
motherland for the West, should question the patriotism or citizenship rights of
a community which
has been living harmoniously in India for close to 2,000 years.
As for the charge of conversion, even after all these centuries and 200 years of
British Raj, the truth
is the Christians remain a very small community in India. If they were hell bent
on converting Hindus
surely they would not have remained less than three per cent of the population.
While Christians have been a target from the outset, it is only now that they
are being systematically
attacked. But why this animosity towards Christians without any provocation? The
answer perhaps
lies in the BJP's electoral compulsions of which the RSS has always been very
mindful.
The systematic targeting of Muslims culminating in the demolition of the Babri
Masjid gave the BJP
its 'distinctive' profile and an electoral harvest. But the party reached a
certain plateau and could not
milk the Ayodhya issue further. Moreover, in its bid to win allies, the BJP has
had to don a moderate
image.
Since the Muslim community is far larger and relatively more cohesive, and more
importantly
electorally crucial, the BJP has tried to strike a hypocritical peace with the
community. This was
particularly evident on the eve of the last general elections when Vajpayee
tried to woo Muslims.
This does not mean that Hindutva forces have given up their hostility towards
them. But for the time
being, it is in the interests of the BJP to avoid confrontation with the
community lest it lose its allies.
At the same time, to keep alive the goal of a Hindu rashtra, cadres have to be
fed notions of
superiority. It is to satisfy this, blood lust that RSS leadership appears to be
targeting Christians.
Muslims have been identified and "taught a lesson." It .is now the turn of the
Christians. And then will
come, turn by turn, all those who stand for a secular India.
It is, therefore, imperative to fight the latest tactic of the saffron brigade.
Far from turning 'moderate'
with the assumption of power, it has only whetted their appetite to pave the way
for their Hindu
rashtra.
reddy
Updated 10:32 AM ET December 6, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/r/991206/10/news-crime-shooting
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Three students were shot and wounded early on
Monday in a small-town middle school in Fort Gibson in eastern Oklahoma,
police said.
Police said the suspected shooter, believed to be a fellow student, was in
custody.
"There has been a shooting at the Fort Gibson Middle School...A suspect is
in custody right now," a police dispatcher told Reuters.
A local hospital spokeswoman told CNN television news that two 13-year-old
boys were admitted with wounds, one to an arm and the other in the leg. She
said both were in stable condition.
Local television said one of the students was rushed to a Tulsa hospital by
helicopter, indicating he or she may have more serious wounds than the other
two victims, who were taken away by ambulance.
The three injured students in Fort Gibson, a town of about 3,500 people 50
miles southeast of Tulsa, were not identified by authorities.
Monday's shooting was the latest in a series of school gun attacks in the
United States. In April two students killed 13 people before shooting
themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in the deadliest
U.S. school shooting.
reddy
Updated 10:50 AM ET December 7, 1999
http://news.excite.com/news/r/991207/10/news-dutch-shooting
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A student shot and wounded three students and a
teacher on Tuesday at a school in the southern Dutch city of Veghel, police
said.
Police could not say how seriously injured the victims were. The motive for
the shooting, which took place in early afternoon, was not yet known.
The shooter, a 17-year-old student at the school, was arrested by police,
Dutch media reported.
The shooting took place in a hall and a computer room at the school, where
several students were present, according to reports.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Veghel, Oss and Eindhoven.
Damian Parish
> Four Wounded in Shooting at Dutch School
> Updated 10:50 AM ET December 7, 1999
> http://news.excite.com/news/r/991207/10/news-dutch-shooting
I was unaware that an alliance between soc.culture.indian, alt.religion.hindu,
soc.culture.usa, soc.culture.indian.kerala, uk.religion.hindu,
soc.culture.tamil, soc.culture.australian, soc.culture.russian and
soc.culture.british had been formed in order to spread information which is
unrelated to those groups.
We live and learn, eh?
reddy
Agencies/Moscow/Beijing
http://www.dailypioneer.com/fpage/STORY3.HTM
Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday furiously rejected US President
Bill Clinton's warning over Chechnya and burst out at the American attitude
of assuming the role of global police.
"It seems Mr Clinton has forgotten Russia is a great power that possesses a
nuclear arsenal," Mr Yeltsin grumbled, having secured Chinese support
against the US position.
"We aren't afraid at all of Clinton's anti-Russian position. I want to tell
President Clinton that he alone cannot dictate how the world should live,
work and play. It is we who will dictate," Mr Yeltsin who went to Beijing
searching for solidarity in the face of sometimes harsh western criticism of
Russia's actions, especially in Chechnya, said.
"I want to tell Clinton: he should not forget in which world he is living.
It never was and never will, that he could dictate to the people how they
should live, work or enjoy," Yeltsin, who left hospital on Monday after a
week battling pneunonia, told newspersons before meeting chairman of Chinese
Parliament Li Peng.
Speaking loudly and animately, he asserted that "a multi-polar world is the
universal foundation. It will be this,as we agreed with JiangZemin, it will
be we who would dictate how to live but not he (Clinton)."
Clinton had warned Russia, which is facing international outrage for its
offensive in Chechnya, that it would "pay a heavy price" for its actions. He
had said the Russian campaign was "intensifying extremism" and diminishing
Moscow's standing in the world.
Li said China understood "the very special circumstances" under which
Yeltsin came to Beijing and "we admire your spirit".
Jiang, during his meeting with Yeltsin, supported Moscow's "actions in
combating terrorism and extremism in Chechnya," Russian Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov said.
Moscow and beijing have been steadily improving their relations in recent
years, driven by what they see as US global domination since the end of the
Cold War.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, however, however, sought to water
down Yeltsin's outburst, telling reporters in Moscow that Russian and US
leaders enjoyed "very good relations." Putin theorized that Clinton's
statement was based on "insufficient information" about the situation in
Chechnya. He claimed that Yeltsin's outburst in Beijing was not meant "to
bring about a period of coolness in our relations with the United States."
Still, Putin stressed that "Russia's nuclear defense component has always
existed, exists, and will exist in the future, too." To underline his
statement, reports said Putin was expected to observe a test launch on next
Tuesday of a new Topol-M ballistic missile at Russia's northern Plesetsk
cosmodrome.
The Russian Government has said that the Topol-M will form the backbone of
its nuclear forces for years to come. The small, rugged rocket can be fired
from a mobile launch pad, which means it would be hard to detect and
therefore more likely to survive a first strike in a nuclear confrontation.
Meanwhile, Russian troops were poised to seize the last rebel stronghold
outside the besieged Chechen capital as the clock ticked away towards a
deadline for Grozny's inhabitants to flee or face death.
Federal forces were holding back from entering Shali, 20 km southeast of
Grozny, despite assurances from local residents that rebel fighters had
retreated from there, Chechen military sources said.
Instead, they were deploying reconnaisance units, fearing that Chechen
fighters are still holed up in Shali.
Russian Deputy Chief of Staff General Valery Manilov said his troops would
not enter Grozny before it had been reduced to rubble.
"There will be no assault against Grozny," 80 per cent of which is already
in ruins from Russia's three-month aerial onslaught, he said in an interview
with state television.
Instead the city would be seized "by those means that have already shown
their efficiency, especially during the second stage of the anti-terrorist
operation in Gudermes, Achkhoi-Martan, Argun and Urus-Martan," he added.
Over the past few weeks, Russian forces have seized these key rebel
strongholds after weeks of punishing aerial and artillery bombardment which
left them in ruins and forced Chechen fighters to beat a tactical retreat.
Empanada
> Yeltsin takes the Stoli by the case
> Agencies/Mensk/Beesting
> http://www.dailypropaganda.com/fpage/STORY3.HTM
>
> Hussian resident Morris Yeltsin on Thursday furiously downed
> Stoli while flying over Chechnya and burst out at the American attitude
> of assuming the role of global superpower.
>
> "It seems Mr Clifton has forgotten Hussia is a great power that possesses a
> giant distillery," Mr Yeltsin grumbled, having secured Chivese support
> against the US position.
>
> "We aren't afraid at all of Clifton's anti-Hussian position. I want to tell
> resident Clifton that he alone cannot dictate how the world should live,
> drink and play. It is we who will dictate how much we can drink," Mr Yeltsin
> who went to Beesting
> searching for solidarity in the face of sometimes harsh western criticism of
> his drinking,
> especially while flying over Chechnya, said.
>
> "I want to tell Clifton: he should not forget in which world he is living.
> It never was and never will, that he could dictate to the people how they
> should live, sell or enjoy vodka," Yeltsin, who left hospital on Monday after
> a
> week battling over surgical spirits, told newspersons before meeting chairman
> of Chivese
> Distilleries Hu Hungova.
>
> Speaking loudly and animately, he asserted that "a multi-polar world is the
> universal foundation for the consumption of vodka. It will be this,as we
> agreed with Deeyung Wo-man, it will
> be we who would dictate how to drink vodka but not he (Clifton)."
>
> Clifton had warned Hussia, which is facing international outrage for its
> offensive vodka campaign in Chechnya, that it would "pay a heavy price" for
> its actions. He
> had said the Hussian campaign was "intensifying alcoholism" and diminishing
> Mensk's standing in the world.
>
> Hu said Chiva understood "the very special circumstances" under which
> Yeltsin came to Beesting and "we admire your spirits(Stoli vodka)".
>
> Deeyung, during the meeting with Yeltsin, supported Mensk's "actions in
> combating sobriety and fitness in Chechnya," Hussian Vodka Minister
> Igor Avanovich said.
>
> Mensk and Beesting have been steadily improving their relations in recent
> years, driven by what they see as US global domination of the spirits market
> since the end of the
> Cold War.
>
> Hussian Primetime Television Minister Dimitri Putinsky, however, sought to
> water
> down Yeltsin's outburst, telling reporters in Mensk that Hussian and US
> leaders enjoyed "very good relations." Putinsky theorized that Clifton's
> statement was based on "insufficient information" about the vodka supply
> situation in
> Chechnya. He claimed that Yeltsin's outburst in Beesting was not meant "to
> bring about a period of coolness in our relations with the United States."
>
> Still, Putinsky stressed that "Hussia's vodka defense has always
> existed, exists, and will exist in the future, too." To underline his
> statement, reports said Putinsky was expected to observe a test launch on next
>
> Tuesday of a new Topol-Marine ballistiX-Mozilla-Status: 0009orthern
> Pleasetdaboteldown
> cosmodrome.
>
> The Hussian Government has said that the Topol-Marine will form the backbone
> of
> its vodka policy for years to come. The small, rugged bottle can be fired
> from a mobile launch pad, which means it would be hard to detect and
> therefore more likely to survive a first inspection in a customs
> confrontation.
>
> Meanwhile, Hussian vodka salesman were poised to hurl every last case of Stoli
>
> outside the besieged Chechen capital as the clock ticked away towards a
> deadline for Grozny's inhabitants to flee or face the bottle.
>
> Federal trucks were holding back from entering Shali, 20 km southeast of
> Grozny, despite assurances from local residents that resisting customers had
> retreated from there, Chechen sobriety sources said.
>
> Instead, they were deploying reconnaisance salesmen, fearing that potential
> Chechen
> customers are still holed up in Shali.
>
> Hussian Deputy Chief of General Marketing Valentino Manilof said his salesmen
> would
> not enter Grozny before it had been reduced to desperate thirst.
>
> "There will be no marketing assault against Grozny," 80 per cent of which is
> already
> very thirsty from Hussia's three-month water blockade, he said in an interview
>
> with state television.
>
> Instead the city would be seized "by those means that have already shown
> their efficiency, especially during the second stage of the anti-sobriety
> operation in Gendarmes, Achkhoi-Blessyu, Argon and Ura-Martian," he added.
>
> Over the past few weeks, Hussian sales forces have seized these key
> distribution
> strongholds after weeks of punishing aerial and artillery deliveries of
> Topol-Marine bottles
> which left them in ruins and forced Chechen distributors to beat a tactical
> retreat.
Raptor
>
> Yeltsin takes the bully Bill by the horns
> Agencies/Moscow/Beijing
> http://www.dailypioneer.com/fpage/STORY3.HTM
>
> Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday furiously rejected US President
> Bill Clinton's warning over Chechnya and burst out at the American attitude
> of assuming the role of global police.
>
> nuclear arsenal," Mr Yeltsin grumbled, having secured Chinese support
> against the US position.
>
> "We aren't afraid at all of Clinton's anti-Russian position. I want to tell
> President Clinton that he alone cannot dictate how the world should live,
> work and play. It is we who will dictate," Mr Yeltsin who went to Beijing
> searching for solidarity in the face of sometimes harsh western criticism of
The bluster of someone trying to escape has-been status. Hypocritical,
too.
> "I want to tell Clinton: he should not forget in which world he is living.
> It never was and never will, that he could dictate to the people how they
> should live, work or enjoy," Yeltsin, who left hospital on Monday after a
> week battling pneunonia, told newspersons before meeting chairman of Chinese
> Parliament Li Peng.
>
> Speaking loudly and animately, he asserted that "a multi-polar world is the
> universal foundation. It will be this,as we agreed with JiangZemin, it will
> be we who would dictate how to live but not he (Clinton)."
Better the enemy we know than the one we don't.
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
STEVE JOBS: We're better than you are. We've got better stuff.
BILL GATES: You don't get it, Steve. That doesn't matter!
"Pirates of Silicon Valley"
Photo Restoration done here:
http://www.xmission.com/~lawall/PhotoIndex.html
Linus F. Zimmerman
China as allies.
That cow Albright was on TV this morning carefully explaining
that the planted microphone wasn't in her office but down the
hall.
Then she said that our relations with Russia were not real good
right now. This stupidity after she deliberately slapped
Russia's face in Kosovo. It will take decades to repair the
diplomatic blunders that have occurred under this criminal bunch
of bunglers.
LZ
p. blauw
reddy wrote in message <82pn6u$q18$1...@autumn.news.rcn.net>...
>Yeltsin takes the bully Bill by the horns
>Agencies/Moscow/Beijing
>http://www.dailypioneer.com/fpage/STORY3.HTM
>
Why repeat the news here in this NG? We can all read about it in the papers,
watch it on TV etc.
afghanyat
where the hell is HUSSIA
Empanada wrote in message ...
>
>
>> Yeltsin takes the Stoli by the case
>> Agencies/Mensk/Beesting
>> http://www.dailypropaganda.com/fpage/STORY3.HTM
>>
>> Hussian resident Morris Yeltsin on Thursday furiously downed
>> Stoli while flying over Chechnya and burst out at the American attitude
>> of assuming the role of global superpower.
>>
a
>> giant distillery," Mr Yeltsin grumbled, having secured Chivese support
>> against the US position.
>>
>> "We aren't afraid at all of Clifton's anti-Hussian position. I want to
tell
>> resident Clifton that he alone cannot dictate how the world should live,
Yeltsin
>> who went to Beesting
>> searching for solidarity in the face of sometimes harsh western criticism
of
>> especially while flying over Chechnya, said.
>>
living.
>> It never was and never will, that he could dictate to the people how they
after
>> a
>> week battling over surgical spirits, told newspersons before meeting
chairman
>> of Chivese
>> Distilleries Hu Hungova.
>>
>> Speaking loudly and animately, he asserted that "a multi-polar world is
the
Raptor
>
> Raptor is stupid enough to want the cold war back with Russia and
> China as allies.
A little competition is healthy.
> That cow Albright was on TV this morning carefully explaining
> that the planted microphone wasn't in her office but down the
> hall.
>
> Then she said that our relations with Russia were not real good
> right now. This stupidity after she deliberately slapped
> Russia's face in Kosovo. It will take decades to repair the
> diplomatic blunders that have occurred under this criminal bunch
> of bunglers.
> LZ
Russia is the equivalent of an alcoholic coming off a 2-week binge.
nasadiver
weapons.
--
nasa...@ev1.blah,blah.net
(remove blah,blah. to respond to e-mail)
Raptor <law...@xmission.com> wrote in message
news:3852EAE6...@xmission.com...
Nitin Paul Batra
> > > Russia's face in Kosovo. It will take decades to repair the
By bringing Russian peacekeepers into Kosovo, even though it was NATO who
had won the Kosovo War of Independence, NATO allowed Russia to save face.
Thomas Brain
jail and charged with money laundering and drug traficking by now!!! The
problems in Russia are mostly of his own making. After Russia became a
"democratic" country, they mistakenly thought the West would welcome Russia with
an open arm. They woke up too late when NATO was at Russia's doorstep, placing
a rope around its neck and bombed its ally Serbia to stone age. Boris is now
running to China crying for help, but the Chinese is too smart to do anything
antigonizing the US, which is China's major trading partner.
TB - The independent observer
reddy wrote:
> Yeltsin takes the bully Bill by the horns
> Agencies/Moscow/Beijing
> http://www.dailypioneer.com/fpage/STORY3.HTM
>
> Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Thursday furiously rejected US President
> Bill Clinton's warning over Chechnya and burst out at the American attitude
> of assuming the role of global police.
>
> "It seems Mr Clinton has forgotten Russia is a great power that possesses a
> nuclear arsenal," Mr Yeltsin grumbled, having secured Chinese support
> against the US position.
>
> "We aren't afraid at all of Clinton's anti-Russian position. I want to tell
> President Clinton that he alone cannot dictate how the world should live,
> work and play. It is we who will dictate," Mr Yeltsin who went to Beijing
> searching for solidarity in the face of sometimes harsh western criticism of
> Russia's actions, especially in Chechnya, said.
>
> "I want to tell Clinton: he should not forget in which world he is living.
> It never was and never will, that he could dictate to the people how they
> should live, work or enjoy," Yeltsin, who left hospital on Monday after a
> week battling pneunonia, told newspersons before meeting chairman of Chinese
> Parliament Li Peng.
>
> Speaking loudly and animately, he asserted that "a multi-polar world is the
> universal foundation. It will be this,as we agreed with JiangZemin, it will
> be we who would dictate how to live but not he (Clinton)."
>
> Clinton had warned Russia, which is facing international outrage for its
> offensive in Chechnya, that it would "pay a heavy price" for its actions. He
> had said the Russian campaign was "intensifying extremism" and diminishing
> Moscow's standing in the world.
>
> Li said China understood "the very special circumstances" under which
> Yeltsin came to Beijing and "we admire your spirit".
>
> Jiang, during his meeting with Yeltsin, supported Moscow's "actions in
> combating terrorism and extremism in Chechnya," Russian Foreign Minister
> Igor Ivanov said.
>
> Moscow and beijing have been steadily improving their relations in recent
> years, driven by what they see as US global domination since the end of the
> Cold War.
>
> Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, however, however, sought to water
> down Yeltsin's outburst, telling reporters in Moscow that Russian and US
> leaders enjoyed "very good relations." Putin theorized that Clinton's
> statement was based on "insufficient information" about the situation in
> Chechnya. He claimed that Yeltsin's outburst in Beijing was not meant "to
> bring about a period of coolness in our relations with the United States."
>
> Still, Putin stressed that "Russia's nuclear defense component has always
> existed, exists, and will exist in the future, too." To underline his
> statement, reports said Putin was expected to observe a test launch on next
> Tuesday of a new Topol-M ballistic missile at Russia's northern Plesetsk
> cosmodrome.
>
> The Russian Government has said that the Topol-M will form the backbone of
> its nuclear forces for years to come. The small, rugged rocket can be fired
> from a mobile launch pad, which means it would be hard to detect and
> therefore more likely to survive a first strike in a nuclear confrontation.
>
> Meanwhile, Russian troops were poised to seize the last rebel stronghold
> outside the besieged Chechen capital as the clock ticked away towards a
> deadline for Grozny's inhabitants to flee or face death.
>
> Federal forces were holding back from entering Shali, 20 km southeast of
> Grozny, despite assurances from local residents that rebel fighters had
> retreated from there, Chechen military sources said.
>
> Instead, they were deploying reconnaisance units, fearing that Chechen
> fighters are still holed up in Shali.
>
> Russian Deputy Chief of Staff General Valery Manilov said his troops would
> not enter Grozny before it had been reduced to rubble.
>
> "There will be no assault against Grozny," 80 per cent of which is already
> in ruins from Russia's three-month aerial onslaught, he said in an interview
> with state television.
>
> Instead the city would be seized "by those means that have already shown
> their efficiency, especially during the second stage of the anti-terrorist
> operation in Gudermes, Achkhoi-Martan, Argun and Urus-Martan," he added.
>
> Over the past few weeks, Russian forces have seized these key rebel
> strongholds after weeks of punishing aerial and artillery bombardment which
> left them in ruins and forced Chechen fighters to beat a tactical retreat.
Mark
never jeopardise the present government.
Who else would just give US $10billion, like Yeltsin and his chief advisor
Berezovsky did?
Who else would so readily butcher thousands of Chechen civilians in the name
of joint (with US) crusade against Islam?
Thomas Brain wrote in message <385B3D7F...@yahoo.com>...