Submitted by kashif on Sat, 2007-02-24 11:31.
Bhopal, February 23 (IndianMuslims): Competing
with the Sangh Parivar on the eve of the Assembly
Elections, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra
Singh seemingly wants to make the northern state
the first Hindu province in the Indian Union.
This is the impression of the All India Christian
Council secretary general Dr. John Dayal, after
his two day tour to Himachal Pradesh. He drove
to Shimla, met with about 150 Christian pastors
of all denominations, interacted with Dalit
leaders of all varieties, and faced a bunch
of dyed in the wool religious fanatic Hindi
journalists at his own press conference at the
popular `Goofa' restaurant on The Mall. At the
end of his tour he remarked: "I must admit
of deep depression".
Dr. John Dayal in a statement said: "Going
by available evidence, the former princeling
and current Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra
Singh apparently feels that unless he takes
a page out of Gujarat supremo Narendra Modi's
political manual, and makes Himachal Pradesh
a `Deva-bhoomi' abode of gods and goddesses
immediately, he will not return to power when
the Assembly goes to the polls".
Dr. Dayal said that Virbhadra Singh has of course
reason to fear his electorate. The arrogant
chief minister had alienated almost everyone,
including a large chunk of his own party men
and women. Inner-party democracy, for which
the state's founder Parmar was known, is thing
of the past.
The statement said "Development is dead"
as away from the prying and neutral eyes of
human rights and civil society activists, the
national media and television sting operators,
the Shivalik ranges of the Himalayan foothills
that constitute the so-called Shimla and New
Shimla regions of the state, have in recent
years become happy hunting grounds of timber
mafia and project sharks siphoning of development
funds into the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats
and middlemen.
He said if the media is seen as communal, evidence
from the massive documentation of clippings
of hate-cacophony from the news pages of most
Hindi newspapers, the personal experience of
pastors and their lawyers puts even the judiciary
in the dock. Some of the top judges in their
obiter dicta expose themselves as great votaries
of a single religion to the exclusion of every
other one, he alleged.
Dr. Dayal pointed out that Virbhadra Singh has
even defied, or hoodwinked, his party boss Mrs.
Sonia Gandhi and her professed opposition to
the so-called Freedom of Religion Acts, or anti-
conversion legislation, to force such a law
down the throat of the states minorities. And
even when Governors of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan,
both ruled by the rightist Bharatiya Janata
Party, (BJP), which is otherwise, and correctly
known for its Hindutva bias, have so far withheld
the Sangh pressure and have not signed similar
bills into law in the two states, the Himachal
governor, refusing to meet the human rights
activists, quickly appended his signature to
the Virbhadra legislation. The governors of
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are now in an awkward
situation, and could sign their respective bills
any day soon.
He said that the Himachal's chief minister seems
to have convinced the Union Home Minister and
others in New Delhi that there is large scale
conversion to Christianity and possibly also
to Buddhism going on in the state. He has no
data, but at election time, data is not required,
and in New Delhi's Home minister, there are
many senior
ears from the time when LK Advani was in the
chair, to give credence to such a tale, the
statement said.
Dr. Dayal said Virbhadra Singh has of course
invited every known sect of Hinduism [defined
not as religion but as a Way of Life by Supreme
Court judgment delivered by the then Chief Justice
J S Verma] to set up shop in the hills. From
RK Mission and Hare Rama groups to Brahmkumaris
and lesser known sadhus, ashrams and temples
are blooming on the hilly slopes.
While at the same time, Christian pastors are
physically threatened, by the police as much
as the Bajrang Dal, their insitutions gheraoed,
and their movements stifled up - almost on a
daily basis. Complaints to the police fall on
deaf ears, and the occasional challenge in court
often meets an indifferent or hostile judge,
Dr. Dayal charged.
Dr.Dayal said there is really have no alternative
but to challenge the new Act in the High Court,
purely on trust in the neutrality of the state's
Bench.
Similarly, he said, there is no alternative
but to move the State Information Commissioner,
and if required, the Central Information, Commissioner,
to wrench out such crucial data as the number
of forced or induced conversions carried out
by Christian evangelists, the so-called re-conversions
in the various ashrams, the cases of harassment
of pastors and of old and new believers, and
the information that the state government had
to have made it bring about such a law which
jurists have rejected as violative of nationally
and internationally guaranteed rights.
Meanwhile, the following is the text of the
statement by All India Christian council secretary
general Dr John Dayal, Member of the National
Integration Council, Government of India, Christian
Legal Association joint secretary Advocate Lansinglu
Rongnewi, National Conference of Dalit Organizations
North India Convener Rakesh Bahadur, SC ST Federation
national secretary Madhu Chandra to the Press
in Shimla, at the conclusion of the Meeting
of Priests, Pastors and Dalit leaders in the
Himachal Pradesh Capital. The meeting was called
to discuss the Governor's assent to the notorious
Himachal Freedom of Religion Bill, persecution
of Pastors and activist in the Himalayan state
and connected matters. The media was convinced
of large scale and illegal conversions, and
saw no point in his making a noise about the
Freedom of Religion Act.
"The All India Christian Council and fraternal
Christian, Dalit and mass movement organizations
have decided to challenge the Himachal Pradesh
Freedom of Religion Act 2006 in the Himachal
High Court.
We have also decided to take the issue to the
Supreme Court in case we do not get urgent relief
at the State level where we are still urging
the Governor, Chief Minister, as well as the
Congress leadership in New Delhi including Mrs.
Sonia Gandhi, to rescind the Act which was given
Governor's assent two days ago in a surreptitious
manner without the matter being discussed at
public fora, or even in the state assembly at
any length. It is a matter of shame and concern
to Democratic India that Congress-ruled state
such a Himachal Pradesh has enforced mock Freedom
of Religion Act to target Christians and Buddhists
at par with the law in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
We are astounded that Himachal has gone ahead
with the Act though Mrs. Gandhi in a letter
to All India Christian Council secretary general
Dr John Dayal last year had said her party was
opposed to such legislation.
We wish to point out that Tamil Nadu, which
had passed such an Act in similar haste under
the then Chief minister Jayalalalitha had to
withdraw it after she lost the general elections
and the DMK came to power. That act was rejected
by the people as it violated the fundamental
rights of the common people, especially of the
Dalits in the state.
It has been our experience that though this
act has the misleading title of Freedom of Faith,
its intention is just the reverse .It favors
a particular religion and denies the people
any freedom of faith. It encourages conversion
to what is called religion of forefathers, without
defining such a religion. The Act also encourages
fundamentalist groups such as the RSS, the Bajrang
Dal and the Shiv Sena to target Christian religion
and educational activities. It hinders freedom
of movement, making it impossible for any Christian
in fact to go to rural areas. This has been
our experience in states such as Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh.
We welcome all efforts by state and central
governments for improving the secular reality
of India and bringing development to the poor.
We have already welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's recent statements committing development
funds for the North East and other under developed
areas. We have also whole-heartedly welcomed
the report of the Justice Sachchar Committee
and the Manmohan Singh government's action programme
for Muslim welfare that has followed the Sachchar
report.
Despite our several requests in the last two
years to the Prime Minister and to United Progressive
Alliance chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the
Christian community has been denied a similar
assessment of its economic infirmity, rural
backwardness, urban poverty and utter lack of
financial resources. For want of such resource
and
such support, the Christian community has not
been able to take steps to benefit from economic
liberalization, self-employment and entrepreneurship
resulting from economic liberation. The plight
of the Dalit Christians continues to be abysmal
because they have been denied all benefits of
Scheduled Castes in a most illegal and
criminal manner by past governments. We call
on Dr Manmohan Singh to instruct the Indian
government's Counsel to support the Dalit Christian
cause in the Supreme Court when hearings are
held on Dalit petition in April this year.
We also draw the attention of the Prime Minister
and his government to the continued high pitched
hate campaign against the Christian community
in several parts of the country, in states ruled
by the Congress as much as in states ruled by
the BJP or its other communal allies.
