Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "The foreign Christian missionaries are corrupting traditional Indian culture" claims Swami Pranavananda, president of the Karnataka section of Hindu Mahasaba, a fundamentalist association, at a rally in Mangalore November 21 last. The meeting was called to launch a new commission, and openly criticize the peaceful nonviolent demonstration Kiss of Love.
First held on November 2 in Kerala, the Kiss of Love is a protest against those Hindu groups that in some states of India, are presented as "protectors of Indian culture." These militants are opposed (even violently) to whoever or whatever does not conform to their notion of purity and morality (including books, paintings, local, exhibitions). Against this "moral police", the supporters of the campaign Kiss of Love have chosen to kiss, hug and hold hands in public.
In 2009, the Supreme Court and the High Court in New Delhi established,
in two separate verdicts,
that two people kissing in public, if consenting, do not commit any crime.
During his speech, the Hindu leader accused
Christian missionaries of destroying
Indian culture "in the name of the campaign Kiss of Love," which "encourages
young people to commit more crimes, such as harassment, sexual abuse, rapes and
murders". In India, he added, "women
are considered godesses and respected for this".
Commenting to AsiaNews on these references to Christian missionaries, Sajan George, president of the Global
Council of Indian Christians (GCIC),
spoke of "fabricated and false
allegations whips up communal passions in the general vast majority and sows
seeds of suspicion and mistrust between communities which have co-existed harmoniously for centuries"
Regards his claims of respect given to women, the Christian leader said that
"according to the last census (2011), Karnataka has an alarming ratio between the number of female and male births (sex ratio) 947
girls for every 1,000 boys." A ratio that, from the 90s, has only widened:
962 baby girls in
1991; 952 in 2001. (NC)