CHURCH BLASTS: TRUTH AND PROPAGANDA

Investigations reveal coordination between the blasts and the propaganda campaign. There was also a ' Naxalite link between 'minority leaders' and the organization that carried out the blasts.

by Prof. S. V. Seshagiri Rao

Background

On May 21, 2000, a crude bomb with a timer exploded near a religious congregation of Christians at Machilipatam in Andhra Pradesh, No one was injured and no property was damaged. A week later police recovered two bombs from churches at Medak and Vikarabad on receiving information from Church authorities. ('n June 8, similar devices exploded in Jewett Church at Ongole and Mother Vanini Church at Tadepalligundam at about 8.45 AM. Almost simultaneously two explosions in St. Ann's Church, Vasco da Gama, Goa also occurred. All explosions were of minor intensity. Except at the Jewett Church, Ongole, in all other places no one was around at the time of the explosions. Prayers on weekdays would be held in the evenings and 8 June was a Thursday. In the church at Wadi, the wooden frame of a window was shattered and there were some minor cracks.

Propaganda blitz

The Church and Christian organizations saw this as a golden opportunity to malign the Sangh Parivar [some Hindu organizations] and destabilize the Vajpayee Government. They mounted an unprecedented propaganda blitzkrieg.

When the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu rushed to Ongole the same day to assess the situation, the church leaders present, significantly, demanded withdrawal of his support to the Vajpayee Government. That was their priority demand- not an investigation inio the blasts to catch the culprits. Within two hours of the explosion, by lOAM, the Marxists were seen distributing pamphlets attributing the crime to 'Hindu communalists'. [It will be seen later that some of those responsible for the bombings used to belong to the Naxalite (Marxist) War Group.]

On June 10, Christian leaders from southern states issued a statement at Hyderabad rejecting outright the view that external agencies [like the ISI] were involved in these attacks and held the Union Government and the 'Sangh Parivar' 'directly responsible' for the incidents. They said that after the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt at Manoharpur in Orissa, the Sangh Parivar and a Union Minister spoke of a "foreign hand" and were repeating the same claim now in the wake of attacks on churches and Christians in different parts [of the country]. The Christians in general had "become sick of these statements" because all these were "engineered" by the Sangh Parivar, while the "Union Government remained a silent spectator." The signatories to this statement were Mr. Joseph D'Souza, Chairman, All India Christian Council, Mr. John Dayal, National Secretary, All India Catholic Union, Mr. G. Samuel, President, Fellowship of Telugu Baptist Churches, Mr. David Seamonds, President, Karnataka Christian Association, and Mr. K.P. Yohanan, Vice Chairman, Christian Council of Kerala. They urged the Chief Minister of AP to reconsider his alliance with the BJP.

The next day, a delegation of thirty, including Rev. Fr. Hendry D'Souza, Rev. Fr. B. Julian, Chancellor and Vice-general respectively of the Hyderabad Archdiocese (Catholic), Mr. A. VUay Kumar, President, Baptist Churches Association of India, Mr. C. Francis, Vice President, All India Catholic Union, Mr. Sam Paul of the All India Christian Council (Protestant) Rev. D. John Augustine, Rev. Y. Thomos and Fr. G. Gananandam, priests of Ongole, Vicarabad and Tadepalligundam churches, called on the Chief. Minister of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and emphasized that the attacks on churches were the handiwork of the RSS. The Pentecoast priest from Ongole said that he had received a telephone call on June 10 from a person who spoke in Hindi threatening him about his religious activities. Citing this as evidence the dignitaries insisted that the attacks took place at the behest of BJP and RSS. They also proposed that the Christian youth be allowed to form self-defense committees. But the CM politely rejected the proposal.

A 'fact-finding committee' consisting of C. Francis, National Vice President, All India Christian Council, Rev. P.P. Johnson, State Overseer, New India Church of God, A. Vijayakumar, President, City Baptist Church, J. Joseph Reddy, Secretary All India Catholic Council, and some Naxalite outfits, which visited the places of the blasts, insisted that the RSS had been found responsible for the blasts. [The Naxalites again!] Blaming the ISI for blasts was a propaganda ploy, they argued. They demanded that the RSS be banned. However, they have not shared any of the so-called evidence that they could collect. [The had none beyond the claim of the threatening phone call reported by the priest of the Ongole Church.]

Speaking at a press conference on June 16 at Chennai, President of the All India Christian Council Mr. Joseph D'Souza announced that they would launch a campaign against "Parivar terrorism" from 8'" July onwards. [In effect they already had launched one against the Sangh Parivar.) Referring to the attacks on the churches, he said that the Government had been quick to attribute it to a foreign hand, making political capital out of the issue. "The foreign hand theory is nonsense and it is the work of an internal hand," Mr. D'Souza said. Mr. John Dayal added, "An extra-constitutional authority was having a free run of the State capitals and indulging in terror tactics." "Even a blind man will know who is behind these assaults," he added.

The AICC [All India Congress Committee] lost no time in deputing a three-member 'fact-finding team' headed by none other than Mr. Ajit Jogi to Andhra Pradesh. They accomplished admirably the job expected of them by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Addressing the press at Vijayawada on June 22, Mr. Ajit Jogi said that the needle of suspicion pointed towards the communal and fascist forces (read RSS and VHP), which are out to vitiate the atmosphere in the country. [He also said, "Forget the ISI and arrest the 'real culprits'." (Again read RSS and VHP.)]

On June 25 at 9.45 PM, a bomb of minor intensity exploded in Markaz Masjid of Guntur located near the busy APSTC bus station. A boy received some minor injuries and a few windowpanes were shattered. Within minutes a crowd of 200 Muslims collected and went on a rampage, torching State Government buses and private vehicles. About 50 buses were damaged and 5 shops were attacked. Private and public property worth rupees two crores (20 million) was destroyed. The Government had to impose a curfew for four days.

Mr. YS. Rajashekara Reddy, leader of the AP Congress Legislative Party issued a statement repeating the usual Congresslie that the explosion was the handiwork of RSS, VHP and the Bajrang Dal. He also asserted that it was not the act of the {SI. However, the Chief Minister revealed that among the 50 persons arrested for arson there were several functionaries of the Congress (I).

On July 8, Christian Organizations observed 'National Solidarity Day' in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai. They also held a demonstration near the Parliament Building in New Delhi. On July 9, a huge speech cum prayer rally was held in the Nizam College grounds, Hyderabad. Rt. Rev. M. Joli, Archbishop of Hyderabad, Rev. B.P. Sugandhar, Bishop, Church of South India, Medak, Mr. Joseph D'Souza, National President, All India Christian Council, Mr. G. Samuel, its State Vice President, and Rev. P.p. Johnson and others spoke. 25 Christian organizations participated in the mobilization for which lakhs of rupees were spent on advertisements alone.


The bubble bursts.

Within hours of this elaborate political buildup by the Christian Associations in Hyderabad, on 9'h July, the balloon of lies burst in Bangalore. One Maruti van, racing towards St. Mary's Basilica exploded at about 9.45 PM near Binny Mills area, killing Mohamad Zakir of Hyderabad and Rahman Siddique of Bangalore on the spot. Another, one S.M. Ibrahim ofVijayawada had suffered serious injuries. The bomb planted by them in St. Peter's and Paul's Church earlier, exploded a few minutes later. Investigations further revealed that they belonged to a little known organization, Deendar Anjuman whose headquarters is located in Hyderabad. This organization was responsible for all the explosions in religious places in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa since May 2000 [when the serial bombings began].

One Hazrat Moulana Siddiqi of Gulbarga propunded the cult Deendar Anjuman in 1929 [sic 1924] at Hyderabad. His sons migrated to Pakistan. One of them, Ziaul Hassan now heads the cult with headquarters in Mardan in Pakistan. It was revealed that Ziaul Hassan usually made an annual trip to India for the urs [death anniversary] of his father. (Siddiqi's grave is in Hyderabad.) The Government of India further revealed that Ziaul Hassan set up the Jamaat Hizbollah Mujahideen with offices in Lahore, Mardan, Karachi, Faislabad, Rawalpindi and Sargodha (all in Pakistan). The DGP of AP, Mr. H.J. Dora revealed that Deendar Anjuman was involved in militant activity in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya through the World Association of Muslim Youth (WAMY), A Saudi Arabia based fundamentalist outfit. During Mr. Bill Clinton's visit to Hyderabad, Deendar Anjuman published a pamphlet, where it advised Mr. Clinton to embrace Islam.. , '

[Editors' comment: Here are a few more facts. In 1924 its founder, Moulana Siddiqi, a Muslim mendicant from Gulbarga, went around claiming to be the reincarnation of Lord Chennabasaveshwara. While quoting profusely from Basavanna's poems, he proclaimed that all religions in India were valid but incomplete. His main injunction was that it was unnecessary for Veerashaivas to wear the lingam, but they could reach heaven simply by converting to Islam. In other words, he had borrowed a page from some Christian missionaries who went around presenting Christianity as the 'completion' of the 'incomplete' Hinduism. This camouflage by the founder of Deen Anjuman Siddeshwara - to give its original name - did not escape notice. A contributor to the paper Mysore Star (February 1926) cautioned readers that Moulana Siddiqi had the support of Nizami officials who were sponsoring conversions in the Nizam's domains. (This 'Nizami official' was Sir Akbar Haidari, the Diwan of Hyderabad. The Nizam also had given a substantial grant of land to the founder Moulana Siddiqi.) In an article titled 'Warning toYeerashaiva brothers'. (in Kannada) the correspondent of Mysore Star cautioned all Veerashaivas against falling into the trap set by this impostor. Its founder was expelled from Mysore State by the Maharaja's Government for false claims and complaints from the citizens, especially Veerashivas, that it was disturbing the peace.].

During his visit to Hyderabad last November [1999], Ziaul Hassan [its present head] and his son Zahid Pasha conducted closed door meetings, where they called for lehad and asked the members to "create hatred among religious groups in India." Ziaul Hassan coordinated these explosions from Pakistan through his follower,s in southern states. [He also proclaimed a lehad claiming that, following widespread communal disturbances in India, he would bring 9 lakh Pathans on an invasion of the country!]

Rahman Siddiqi [killed in the Maruti van explosion in Bangalore] was in the people's War Group of Naxalites for sometime. [The Naxalite connection again!] Along with ten associates he visited Pakistan to undergo training insubversion.

Zakir maintained a low profile as an auto rickshaw driver in Hyderabad. A year back he was arrested by the Maharashtra police for desecrating the statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Prabhani. According to senior officials of the AP police, members of Deendar Anjuman were also responsible for attacks on Sikh Gurudwaras in Mumbai about three years back, which led to communal riots.

The Pakistan connection

Ibrahim [wounded in the Maruti van explosion in Bangalore] was also a frequent visitor to Pakistan. The police have recovered from Ibrahim's houses in Bangalore and Vijayawada, documents, pamphlets and literature in Urdu, English and Telugu. This literature was printed in Mumbai, Delhi, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The anti-Christian stickers found in Ibrahim's house tallied with the stickers pasted sometime ago on the walls of Stanley's Girls School and Methodist Boys School in Hyderabad. [Hyderabad again!] The police also seized a picture from his house in Vijayawada in which all religions were shown as different animals while Islam was depicted as the hunter. The hunter [in the picture] aims his guns at the 'animals' to demonstrate that Islam would triumph ultimately. Police officials say that Deendar Anjuman attracted people by stating that all that religions were equal and slowly impressed upon them the deficiencies in other religions and drove home the point that Islam was superior. The titles of the documents - "The God That Never Was Jesus", "Is This the Bible You Believe In?" are self-revealing. [Is this is the cult that Christian leaders and the 'secular' Congress are defending?]

Ibrahim visited Wadi, Goa and Hubli and handed over explosives to local contacts. Syed Muniruddin and Hiramath, secretary and joint secretary of Deendar Anjuman together with Zakir planted the bomb in the Hubli Church. Muniruddin and Hiramath were arrested by Karnataka police.

The Andhra Pradesh police have arrested on July 17, Syed Iqbal, Secretary of the Deendar Anjuman of Vijayawada and his accomplice Najeemuddin. Both had received training in Pakistan. Investigations revealed that that they desecrated the statues of Dr. Ambedkar in Macharam and Purnandapet of Krishna District in 1996-97. The Deendar Anjuman of Vijayawada converted some Hindu students of Siddhartha Evening College into Islam according to a letter dated August 27, 1998, written by Iqbal to WAMY, Riyadh. He requested more funds to distribute Islamic literature. The police have recovered a copy of the letter. [The cult is known to have made extravagant claims about conversions, including supplying false names. This was one of the complaints that resulted in the expulsion of its founder by the Maharaja of Mysore.]

The AP police have also arrested Shaik Khaja and MJ. Humayun Khan who planted the bomb in the Ongole Church. The police identified other culprits- Khaliq-ul-Zaman responsible for the blast in the Guntur Masjid, Maqbool and Abdul Khadar Jeelani for the Mauslipatam explosion. Maqbool also planted a bomb in the Kodandarama Temple in Vijayawada.


Church leaders' responsibility

Since the involvement of the agents of Pakistan in the blasts has been established beyond any doubt, the Church leaders owe an explanation to the country why they made false allegations against the Sangh Parivar without any shred of evidence in their possession. On the contrary, they are continuing their tirade against the RSS without any remorse. Mr. John Dayal of All India Christian Council, addressed a press conference in Bangalore (16 July) along with some Muslim leaders and stressed that, "the hate campaign spearheaded by the Sangh Parivar provides the ambience in which fringe groups, cult criminal elements are engaged to carry out their agenda of terror." [Why are Christian groups still trying to shield Muslim organizations?] Obviously some Church leaders and Christian associations are not interested in finding the truth. [They probably dread it!] They are working for some hidden agenda.

[Editors' comments: The real question is, what do the Christian leaders know and are any of them involved in this obviously highly coordinated plan of action and propaganda? There appears to be a Naxalite link between the church leaders and the Deen Alljuman. Also interesting is how Hyderabad seems to have been the focal point for both Christian and Muslim groups. Reports from America indicate that Hyderabad has become the center for planning and organization for several Christian missions. The police investigations seem to lend support to this. Of course, Hyderabad has always been a hotbed of ISI activity. But again the question is- was there any coordination between the Muslim blasts and the Christian propaganda blitz? The police should begin questioning some Christian leaders and spokesmen, beginning with John Dayal, for surely, making false statements meant to mislead the police in such a serious criminal conspiracy is a very serious offence. No less disturbing is the role of the Congress.]