On October 13, 2008, the New York Times published a news article entitled "Hindu Threat to Christians: Convert or Flee" by Somini Sengupta. The full article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/world/asia/13india.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all.
On October 14, the Hindu American Foundation submitted a Letter to the Editor as seen below. This Letter to the Editor is the third in three months submitted by HAF to the New York Times without a response or publication. Yet, HAF continues its persistence for accurate coverage for the Hindu American community.
Dear Editor:
Re: "Hindu Threat to Christians: Convert or Flee," by Somini Sengupta, October 13, 2008.
As Hindu Americans, we unequivocally condemn and repudiate all of the violence consuming Orissa today. That the New York Times would engage in blatant, inflammatory race-baiting with the front-page headline above is shocking. If the intention is to spuriously allege that marauding Hindus across India are contemporary actors emulating the Crusades or the Islamic conquests--then mission accomplished!
Telling are the omissions in Sengupta's reporting, that a) four others were brutally killed with Swami Laxmananda, including a female monk; b) Swami Laxmananda was more than a "preacher"--he was a Hindu social worker devoted to social upliftment in a neglected region; and c) all of the ostensibly Maoist assassins arrested in the killings of the Swami and his aides were Christian converts.
The tragedy unfolding in Orissa state results from the venomous amalgam of the Swami's murder, and Hindu radicals in the area inflamed by evangelicals blaspheming Hinduism as they seek to meet quotas of new converts in a wild west battle for souls. Pluralism and respect for the tribals' indigenous Hindu traditions became the first casualty that opened the door to the madness seen today.
Sincerely,
Sheetal Shah
Director of Development
Hindu American Foundation
www.HAFsite.org
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