ICC Note:
This article from a local Indian newspaper reveals the alarming extent to which the state government is influenced by those who want to put a muzzle on Christian ministries.
The Hindu (02/03/06) Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje assured the State Assembly on Wednesday that nobody would be allowed to take the law into hands in the name of religion. “We are one family in Rajasthan. We don’t want to create a divide in the State; be it the matter relating to Christians, Hindus or Muslims,” she said intervening in a discussion in the House on the recent attacks on Christian institutions in Rajasthan.
At the same time, Ms.Raje warned the persons behind the controversial book, “Haqeeqat” (Reality), the distribution of which is attributed to the Kota-based Christian group, Emmanuel Mission International. “So much has happened in various parts of the State due to one book. We will severely punish those behind it (the book). We will not spare them,” she said.
The Assembly witnessed noisy scenes during Zero Hour when the Congress members raised the issue of attack on churches and Christian institutions in Kota and various parts of the State during the past fortnight in the wake of protests by Hindu radical groups over derogatory references found in “Haqeeqat”, a Hindi translation of a book written in English purportedly as an answer to a “Bunch of thoughts” by M.S.Golwalkar.
The Congress members, Chandrashekhar Baid and Sanyam Lodha, had given two separate sets of notices, signed respectively by 14 and 20 MLAs, to move adjournment motion on the issue to Speaker Sumitra Singh. The Congress members charged the BJP Government with a communal agenda to divide communities.
Gopal Baheti, MLA from Pushkar alleged that the Chief Minister had refused to meet a delegation of Christians, which had approached her to seek protection from attacks from communal elements the other day. “You are the Chief Minister of the State, not of any particular group or community,” he reminded her.
