Bangalore, India, 30 July (ENI)--Christian church workers have joined social workers in demanding a crack down on what they call the "liquor Mafia" after the killing of a leading prohibition activist in southern Karnataka state. The protesters held a day-long sit-in before the Gandhi statue in Bangalore on 25 July and then attended a memorial event for the murdered man, A.T. Babu, at the national office of the Student Christian Movement in the city.

Babu, who was 51 and the secretary of the Karnataka chapter of the National Alliance of People's Movements, was hacked to death on 21 July whilst at the wheel of a van he was driving. Two female social workers in the vehicle were unhurt. One of them, a Roman Catholic nun called Sister Celia, is a national convenor for the NAPM, the largest non-governmental organization forum in India. "You an kill the singer but not the song," said David Selvaraj, a social worker and member of the Church of South India, at the commemoration meeting attended by more than 100 NGO groups and activists.

Babu had fought the "liquor Mafia" for 15 years by organizing continuous protests before illegal bars and liquor vendors. He was also the inspiration behind the Karnataka government's decision last year to ban thousands of arrack or cheap liquor shops that social workers say play havoc with the lives of the poor. "It's not enough that we mourn Babu's death. We have to ensure that justice will be done in this case, and continue the cause he stood for," Sister Celia told the memorial gathering. She later told Ecumenical News International of her horror at watching the "hired killers" flaying away at Babu with swords and knives after they had blocked his van on the highway from Bangalore to Mysore. "It will haunt me for the rest of my life," the nun told ENI.

"Babu was so dedicated to the cause of prohibition and women's rights that he even spent all his savings on it," she added. Babu's oldest daughter had committed suicide a few years earlier as she was unable to cope with news of his arrest for protesting in front of an illegal bar. Sister Celia pointed out that, despite the death of his daughter, Babu never compromised with the illegal liquor traders, who would regularly turn up at his house with large sums of money to bribe him to stop his protests, and then threaten him when he refused.

Madha Patkar, NAPM chairperson and a leading Indian social activist, who travelled to Bangalore to take part in the protest over Babu's murder, praised the commitment of the slain activist and his family to the prohibition cause.

"[His family] don't want any financial support. They only want a memorial to be built for him at the site of a bar against which he fought," said Patkar, who himself has received an international Right Livelihood Award. "This is the price we have to pay for fighting for people's causes." Earlier, Patkar and Sister Celia met Karnataka's chief minister to demand the arrest of Babu's killers and also the cancellation of 1500 new bar licenses the state government has recently approved. [540 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bangalore, India, 28 July (ENI)--Christian groups in India have deplored a series of more than 20 bomb blasts that killed at least 50 people in western Gujarat and southern Karnataka states, and are said to have been carried out in the name of religion. Forty-nine people died and more than 150 were injured when a series of 16 bomb blasts rocked Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat, on 26 July.

The explosions followed eight smaller bombings the previous day that left one person dead and 12 injured in Bangalore, capital of the southern state of Karnataka. A Church of North India synod statement "condemned" the "dastardly act of terror and violence" in Gujarat, where the CNI has one of its dioceses.

The Rev. Enos Das Pradhan, CNI general secretary, called for "united action from the ruling and opposition parties in dealing with the terrorism". The CNI leaded added, "The political parties should stop the blame game and come together, keeping aside their differences, to find a solution to the terror menace let loose by some outfits in the name of religion in the country." The Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of India reacted in a similar fashion. "We unequivocally condemn this dastardly act of terror and violence that has taken several precious human lives."

Minutes before the blasts that rocked crowded markets and then hospitals to which the injured were taken, an Islamic group called Indian Mujahuddin sent email messages to media organizations in which they said the attacks were Islamic revenge for anti-Muslim riots of 2002. Hindu militants allegedly massacred more than one thousand Muslims in Gujarat in February 2002 after the torching of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims.

The state administration controlled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is widely seen as supporting a Hindu nationalist agenda, was accused of abetting and condoning the carnage against Muslims, and later of protecting Hindus accused of having taken part in the riots. Samson Christian, an outspoken Christian activist based in Ahmedabad, told Ecumenical News International on 28 July that the blasts in Gujarat were "diabolical" as some bombs had been placed in hospitals with timers set to explode as the injured were being rushed in. Christian is coordinator of the Gujarat chapter of the All India Christian Council. [390 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bangalore, India, 23 July (ENI)--Churches in India have hailed a victory by the country's governing coalition, dominated by secular parties and which won a crucial vote of confidence in the national parliament. The United Progressive Alliance coalition government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won the vote of confidence late on 22 July after two days of acrimonious debate, garnering 275 votes against the 256 recorded by the opposition parties.

"We're very happy about the result," Methodist Bishop Tharanath Sagar, president of the National Council of Churches in India, told Ecumenical News International on 23 July. "The defeat of the secular government would have strengthened the hands of fundamentalist forces. We're relieved," noted Sagar, who heads the Indian church council made up of 30 Orthodox and Protestant churches. Had the government failed to gain a majority in the parliamentary vote, it could have necessitated an early general election, 10 months ahead of the end of the five-year term of the parliament. The vote also came when the opposition National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is said to have a Hindu nationalist agenda and that has been doing well in recent state polls.

Some Christians are wary of BJP rule and they point to the party's role in power between 1998 and 2004, noting there was an upsurge in attacks on Christian and Muslim minorities during that time. The confidence vote was necessitated by the withdrawal of support by the main communist party two weeks previously, protesting against a nuclear agreement made by the coalition government with the United States. The agreement calls for the country's nuclear energy programme to undergo monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The communists asserted the deal would give the US oversight over the country's nuclear programme.

The ruling coalition had only 260 members in its ranks, but it managed to win support from several independent lawmakers. A number of members of the opposition alliance, including six from the BJP, voted in favour of the government or abstained. One of the leading deserters in the crucial vote was Hmar Tlomte Sangliana, a Presbyterian church member from Bangalore elected to parliament as a BJP candidate. Sangliana retired as police chief of Karnataka state, which has Bangalore as its capital, before becoming a national lawmaker. He told reporters after the vote he decided to vote "according to my conscience"' as the vote was on the nuclear deal. "India needs nuclear energy because power is the lever to the development of the country," said Sangliana who was pushed around inside the parliament by fellow BJP members immediately after the vote.

"We feel relieved that the nation has not been plunged into chaos," the Rev. Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops Conference of India told Ecumenical News International. "At a time of spiralling inflation [12 percent] life is becoming harsh for the people and an election is the last thing the nation needed." Prior to the vote, pandemonium erupted in the parliament when BJP members waved wads of currency notes, accusing the ruling alliance of bribing opposition members to vote for the government. [534 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bangalore, India, 7 July (ENI)--A Hindu woman has produced a 900-page poetic epic on the life and message of Jesus following the style of Hindu classics such as Mahabharat and Ramayan. "This is the fruit of my great devotion to Jesus Christ," author Latha Rajasekhar told Ecumenical News International from Mysore, about 120 kilometres from Bangalore, where the book was released on 14 June in the presence of two bishops and several literary figures, as well as a mainly Hindu audience of 500 people.

Entitled "Jesu Maha Darsana" ("Great philosophy of Jesus") the book is written in Kannada, the language spoken in the state of Karnataka. Rajasekhar is a devout Hindu, but she decided to pen an epic on the life of Jesus after she had an apparition of him "waiting at my door", while she was composing an earlier poetic work on the life of Gautama Buddha, who is recognised by Buddhists as their founder.

"I discussed it with my husband and we visited the Holy Land for this in 2004," said the 53-year-old Rajasekhar who describes herself as a "housewife" and who began writing as a hobby 25 years ago. "Jesus' message of love, forgiveness and compassion makes him one of the greatest religious leaders," noted Rajasekhar, who had written 22 books, including some novels, prior to venturing into her work on the life of Jesus. "This is a wonderful work on the life of Christ," said Bishop Vasant Kumar, who heads the Church of South India's Karnataka central diocese, with its headquarters in Bangalore.

"It was really pleasing for me to preside at the [book release] function," said Kumar who was joined by Roman Catholic Thomas Vazhapilly of Mysore. Rajasekhar and her husband have travelled to the Holy Land with the CSI bishop and his diocesan staff. Bishop Kumar during his address hailed the courage and conviction of the Hindu author to complete a work praising Jesus at a time when Karnataka state has been reporting a number of attacks against Christians. Karnataka has recorded more than 90 incidents of serious attacks on Christians since January 2006, a higher number than any of the other troubled states in central and eastern India.

Rajasekhar said she read the Bible, especially the Gospels, repeatedly to study the message and sequence of events in Jesus' life as, "I did not want to distort history." She said the love and devotion for Jesus in her devout Hindu family, which runs a hospital in Mysore headed by her doctor-husband and son, has grown markedly since she embarked on the venture, so much so they keep a statue of Jesus along with Hindu deities in their prayer room. Though some Hindus initially questioned her wisdom in writing about Jesus instead of on Hindu gods, Rajasekhar said that several eminent Hindu writers have praised her work, which is now being translated into English by her husband's brother, who proudly wears a cross. [504 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]