February 5th, 2000
January 22 of 2000 AD marks the first anniversary of the martyrdom of Graham Stuart Staines and his two sons, Timothy aged nine years and Philip aged seven. Staines was a missionary from Australia who had served lepers in the poor and backward state of Orissa for over three decades. The boys just happened to be home from school for the winter break.
Memorial services were held all over the country. The one in Free Church Parliament Street New Delhi was attended by an NIR (Non-Indian Resident) friend who brought a copy of the printed statement outlining the incident.
The outrage occurred in the dead of night in the village called Manoharpur. Manohar means “heart beguiling” or “fascinating” and is the epithet or attribute of Lord Krishna, an avataar of Lord Vishnu.
The boys had accompanied their father to his workplace. January nights are cold and they were sleeping in their jeep with straw spread on the roof for insulation. The killer gang surrounded the jeep around midnight and doused the straw with petrol perhaps from the tank of the jeep and set it alight.
Having accomplished their diabolical act in a manner which made escape impossible for the victims, the killers shouted slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” “Bajrang Dal Kee Jai” and others which identified them with the Sangh Parivaar and in particular its cutting edge, the Bajrang Dal.
Bajra is Hindi for the Sanskrit Vajra and Anga means limb. Bajrang means the one with limbs which are as hard as thunderbolts. It is an epithet of lord Hanuman, son of the Wind God, Vaayou and a major character in the epic Ramayana. He serves Lord Rama with exemplary devotion, courage, faith and loyalty. The Sangh Parivaar wants people to regard the Bajrang Dal with the same reverence as they feel for Hanuman. At the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, the lead was taken by specially trained squads of the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena.
In the Staines murder case, the remarkable factors were the behaviour of two of the parties involved. On the one hand, Mrs Staines took the martyrdom of her husband and the callous slaughter of her children in a manner which would have glorified any saint of ancient or medieval history. She stated her resolve to continue her late husband’s mission of serving the poor, marginalized and diseased lepers and staying on in India to fulfil this objective.
On the other hand, the RSS / VHP / BJP / Bajrang Dal government in Delhi indulged in a ploy. They hijacked the investigation. Instead of letting the Orissa State Government appoint a Commission of Inquiry as would have been proper (but dangerous as it would be out of their direct control), they muscled in with their own nominee.
Simultaneously, the Parivaar and its government mounted a diversionary campaign. The Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee strives to project a “mild” or “moderate” image to contrast with the “hard” image of Lal Krishna Advani. Many otherwise intelligent and discerning people are taken in by this mask or mukhautaa. The reality is that the two top ministers play a game known in business circles as Chota Seth Burda Seth. The reaction to the Staines murder saw Advani appoint an inquirer whose findings would not discover the murderers and Vajpayee produced the regulation or diversionary red herring.
This diversion was an offer. The offer of a debate on “conversions”. The implication being that the root cause of the outrage lay in the fact that Christian missionaries convert Hindus. This infuriates the otherwise meek and mild Hindus who react by setting jeeps on fire. The fact that people get burnt to death is considered the sad but unavoidable result of Christian initiative in conversions and reaction of the Hindus, and this is considered acceptable.
The prime minister’s party, the Parivaar, took no part in making the Constitution of the Indian Republic although they are now bound by oath of office to protect it. The whole issue of conversions was debated at great length by the founding fathers who gave the Constitution to the Indian people and the propagation of any religion is an activity enshrined in the document.
(To be continued)