How rotten things have become for Christians in India today can be gauged from this interview with Mrs Margaret Alva, General Secretary of the Congress Party and one of the most powerful persons in the party enjoying a close rapport and proximity to Mrs Sonia Gandhi.
Here are some extracts: If there was one question you could ask God, what would it be? Why is there so much injustice in the world? Why does He let it happen? And these days, I keep asking about the violence against minorities, for instance against Christians in Orissa. Innocent people are being persecuted because of their beliefs, they are being butchered and...driven out of their homes. My household is an open and diverse one --- I have a Rajput daughter-in-law, a Tamil Brahmin, a Coorgi and so on. But when my Delhi-based grand-daughter who is seven years old tells me she is afraid to go to church because people may burn it, I get really worried. My grand-son asked me “what if they know where we live and come to burn our house?” To have children worried about those things is unthinkable and completely unacceptable. I would have never thought I would live to see this kind of thing in India. And no one seems to be bothered. And I wonder: is that what the freedom fighters fought for? I gave forty years of my life with a certain idealism, fighting for a secular State and today I ask myself --- what for? I look around and wonder how we have reached such a state and see so much violence in the land of the Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi. Something has gone wrong somewhere with the Indian psyche. Religion has become politicized and it was never meant to be. Have we forgotten the lessons of Partition? I believe that a sense of oppression, of hopelessness, of being left out creates violent reactions among young people. Only love, understanding, dialogue can help find a way out. But there is so little of it and so much blame all around. This is the tragedy of India today. And I can only say in the words of Christ ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’. Selma, I think you have the gift of prophesy. I remember sometime back you advised the youth of Goa to leave Goa and India and migrate abroad. And you received quite a bit of flak for saying this. But today we are heading in this direction aided by the silence of those who should but do not speak out. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/religion-has-become-politicised/379814/ Regards, Marshall -- Hyundai to launch the i20 in India. Catch the exclusive preview on ZigWheels.com http://www.zigwheels.com/b2cam/newsDetails.action?name=Emb11_20080731&path=/INDT/News/Emb11_20080731&page=1&pagecount=2&utm_source=indmail&utm_medium=footer&utm_content=tracking&utm_campaign=Nletter_07oct2008_ZW
