Christian Missionary Role In India - 5

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From Deccan Chronicle dt 2 july 2006. Posting in full as it isn't archived...

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ruckus over Jesus near Hanuman
 

Warangal, July 1: Framed pictures of Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary in the Thousand Pillars Temple complex at Hanamkonda shocked hundreds of devotees here on Saturday morning. The picture of Christ was found right under the banyan tree near the famous Hanuman idol where prayers are offered on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The devotees immediately alerted the temple authorities.

The temple’s head priest Gangu Upendra Sharma who was offering the Maha Abhisekham to the Shiva Linga at that time, rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. By 8.30 am the police arrived and removed the photographs.

The Rurdreshwara Seva Samiti, a body formed of temple devotees, took serious exception to the alleged desecration of the temple by other religious activists. Samiti leaders Cholleti Krishnama Chary and Ravula Sudarshan demanded that the security at the temple be increased in order to prevent such incidents in the future and also maintain the sanctity of the temple.

Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) immediately converged at the temple and raised slogans against Christian religious preachers. VHP’s district president N. Bhaskar Rao said that the temple authorities had failed to check Christian religious propaganda which was going on for the last three days near the temple. They later lodged a complaint at the Hanamkonda police and demanded that action be taken against the culprits.

“We will wait for two days. If the police fails to take action, we will launch agitation in the city,” the VHP leader threatened. Speaking to this correspondent, Hanamkonda sub-inspector Madhusudhan said, “It was an act of mischief mongers. We will seriously inquire into it and book the culprits.” He said that he had not received any information or a complaint regarding Christian religious propaganda near the temple.

“The temple authorities did not bring any complaint related to the alleged religious propaganda near the temple,” he added. Meanwhile, the authorities of the Archaeological Survey of India, which maintains the historic temple, lodged a complaint with the Hanamkonda police station to inquire into the incident.

The Christian organisations in the city refused to comment on the incident and dismissed it as a non-issue. In a separate statement, BJP district unit leaders G. Premender Reddy, and M. Dharma Rao condemned the incident as highly objectionable and demanded action against the culprits. “We will launch an agitation against the desecration of Hindu temples after the elections in the district,” they added.

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