At this juncture, Hindu Munnani volunteer Murthi was murdered by Jihadis when he came out of the Ashram after finishing his morning worship. Hindu Munnani founder president Sri Ramagopalan condemned the murder in an official statement:  

“We received information that in the recent past Cholavaram has become a den of Islamic terrorists and that they indulge in kidnapping girls and women and converting them to Islam. The police have also been informed… Muslim radicals from areas such as Madurai, Tirunelvelli and Melapalayam have been visiting this place quite often, stay here and commit crimes. Days before his murder, Murthy was believed to have told his sister that he was facing threats from Islamic militants and that he they were conspiring to liquidate him. We are convinced that the murder has been an act of conspiracy by Islamic militants. The local people suspect that Advocate Yasim Ali practicing in High Court, H. Haroon of Chennai and J.M. Haroon MP of Tenkasi have been motivating and supporting the murderers from behind.  

We strongly condemn the Muslim’s attempt to float a fake theory of Shahinsha Baba, their attempt to grab the 64 cent land, their threat to Hindus and the brutal murder of Murthi. The police force, which doesn’t spare the anti-social elements and effectively liquidate them in encounters, must also find out a lasting solution to curb Islamic militancy. The Islamic terrorism, which was lying low after the Tenkasi murders of 2007, has raised its ugly and dangerous head again, which should not be allowed to spoil the peace and harmony prevailing in Tamil Nadu. Of late, it has been observed that Jihadi organizations have taken different names in different areas and they also fight with each other in underlining their supremacy over others. The Police department must take note of this fact. The Muslim religious organizations have been supporting the anti-social activities of these jihadi organisations too.

We request the Chief Minister to immediately interfere in the issue and make speedy and necessary arrangements for apprehending the murderers, arrest the conspirators and ensure communal harmony. We also request the CM to sanction a satisfactory compensation for Murthy’s family.”

Ramagopalan’s statement clearly indicates the state of affairs in Tamil Nadu with respect to Islamic militancy and the precarious situation of the Hindu community. Even to protect a paltry but legitimate asset of 64 cents, Hindus had to sacrifice a precious life!  

Dindigul – Epicenter of Christian aggression

While Jihad terrorizes Hindus on the one hand, Christian aggression wreaks havoc on the other. Besides conversions and encroachments by Churches, murders and sexual crimes have become another menace. Both Jihad and Christian aggression have been speedily spreading across the state.

Kanyakumari district bore the brunt of Christian terrorism just as Coimbatore suffered Islamic terrorism. Worshipping in temples, conducting ‘Utsavams’ (procession of deities around the temple), have become too difficult in Kanyakumari. Village temples have been destroyed and deities desecrated. The Christian aggression, which started in Kanyakumari, has started to spread across the state and Dindigul, due to its geographical position, has become the epicenter of Christian aggression. Two recent incidents stand testimony to this emerging reality.

On Jan. 7, 2010, in Meikovilpatti village of Kombuppatti Panchayat, Dindigul district, a social evil shaming Tamil society was orchestrated in the evening, around 8.30 pm. A scheduled caste Hindu, Sadaiyandi, was walking across a Christian colony to buy lime solution to whitewash his home, as customary during Pongal celebrations.

One Arokkiya Sami and his friends, who hail from the dominant Christian community, surrounded and assaulted Sadaiyandi because he was wearing chappals [slippers] while crossing their colony! When Sadaiyandi asked what was wrong in wearing chappals, they abused him, denigrated his caste, and thrashed him with his own chappals and forced him to eat human excreta.

Sadaiyandi, fearing for his life, ran outside the village and fell unconscious near a rivulet. A few good Samaritans, who saw him wriggling in pain, called a government ambulance which took him to hospital around 9.30 pm. As he is not safe and secure in his own village, he now stays in the office of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

(http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article80946.ece)

Nearly a month after the incident, which was reported in the media, the district authorities submitted to the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court that such an incident never happened at all!

(http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/tamilnadu/Dalit-youth-s-claim-of-being-fed-excreta-fabricated/Article1-507722.aspx).

Evidence, a Christian NGO, which initially showed great interest in the matter, clammed up – possibly on realising that Sadaiyandi was a victim of Christian – and not Hindu – aggression!!!

In another shocking and barbaric incident, Christian Vanniyars murdered a Hindu Vanniyar named Andi [Vanniyar is an MBC community] just in front of an Amman Temple in Perumal Kovilpatti village. Andi had visited the temple with his family to celebrate Pongal and was chased and brutally murdered by Christian fundamentalists in front of his family. Though the reason for the murder was projected as a land issue by the authorities and the media, the fact remains that religion – specifically Christian aggression - is the reason.

(http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/18/stories/2010011857920500.htm and

http://www.tamilhindu.com/2010/01/hindus-under-attack-in-dindigul-village/

- Agony of Hindus in Dindigul district – You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=agony+of+hindus+in+dindukal+district&search_type=&aq=f).

Dindigul has become another Kanyakumari with menacing Christian aggression in the form of land grabbing, constructing churches and committing crimes. Such aggression is seen and felt in Tirunelvelli, Coimbatore, Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram and other districts as well. On the whole, the entire state is now experiencing Christian aggression, including sexual abuse of children, as evidenced by the recent incident in Kanyakumari, where scores of children from the Northeast were subjected to torture.            

Conversion activities by Churches and Missionaries have destroyed many Hindu families and children studying in Christian institutions have undergone pressure, tension and trauma, leading to depression and even suicides. In many cases, murders are reported as suicides and the cases buried due to political and bureaucratic influences. A Hindu student, Sukanya’s death in Fatima Girls Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Omalur, Salem, in 2006, is an example. 

The same school ended up as a grave for a few more girl students before Sukanya. But nothing came out until a fact finding team unearthed those details after Sukanya’s death. Even then, the state government yielded to pressure from the Christian community (Tamil Nadu Catholic Church) which took out huge processions and a day-long fast by 300 Bishops ands Priests, and held public meetings in the name of minority rights, human rights, etc., but did nothing to unearth the immoral activities of the convent authorities. The State Minorities Commission gave a report favouring the School to the Chief Minister.

(http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/04/stories/2006120403800400.htm and

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/11/20/stories/2006112007600400.htm and

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061204/nation.htm).

Despite being aware of the truth, shameless political parties which literally beg minority communities for votes, connived with the community leaders and helped bury the facts and close the cases. In such an environment, where politicians keep pandering to minorities, Hindus have to live in their own land as ‘second class citizens’. The crux of the problem lies in the Constitution in which the Hindu majority has not been recognized on par with the minorities, who enjoy too many special privileges.

Hindus as political orphans

In the aftermath of “independence,” the Constituent Assembly debated and deliberated for days and framed our “Constitution” with an objective of eradicating poverty and caste discrimination. Ironically, an amendment was brought in 1975 to add the word “secular” in the Preamble of the constitution, after which secularism metamorphosed into a rabid “pro-minority” and “anti-Hindu” political ethos. Successive governments refused to treat citizens as “Indians” and discarded the ideal of a Common Civil Code enshrined in the Constitution.

On the one hand, the Constituent Assembly magnanimously showed genuine concern for minorities by ensuring their safety and security through a series of laws, from Article 14 to Article 30, dealing with equality before law, prohibition of discrimination, freedom of religion and cultural and educational rights. On the other hand, it failed utterly to address the concerns of the majority community, and to anticipate the precarious situation it could face in the future. Far from making the necessary amendments in the above mentioned Articles to give Hindus a level playing field, self-centered governments have unwarranted amendments and divided society along caste and religious lines, throwing a spanner in the nation’s progress.   

Questions are here; answers?  

Many questions crop up in our minds. How long must this struggle and sacrifice go on? What is the condition of the families of those who sacrificed for Hindu Dharma? What is their livelihood? To what extent have Hindu organizations helped those families? Do Hindu organizations have the capacity, financial and otherwise, to provide continuous support and care to those families until they can sustain themselves? Despite such invaluable sacrifices, why is Hindu society so divided, lacking in pride and in deep slumber? Why are community and religious leaders who are supposed to awaken the society and lead it to freedom and empowerment, silent? Will they be able to form a “Hindu Parliament” and make the necessary amendments in the Constitution that are needed by the Hindu majority? Will the Hindu majority attain genuine and complete freedom?

Will Hindus ever quench their thirst for freedom?

(Concluded)

The author is a senior journalist; he lives in Chennai