Originally posted by: daniel49
So as I understand it a group of communists (Naxalites ) Indians killed a hindu priest , so in retaliation they reeked carnage on the Christian faith?
Am I missing some logic here?
Firstly the guy killed was not a priest. He was a local leader of a right wing hindu organization.
Orissa is one of the poorest and backward regions of India. And fairly lawless. Religious fanatics on both sides are active in that area. Christian missionaries are always trying to convert the poorest locals to Christianity with promises of charity etc. Also by becoming christians the poor can claim another right to affirmative action policies of the govt - even though as backward tribes and socio-economic classes they have many existing opportunities under similar policies. Google 'reservation in India' for more information.
The right wing Hindu organizations have been fighting that concept. It is a political issue as well as - vote banks etc. with local politicians and landlords tacitly backing the right wing. So the two sides often clash. This is not to say that all Christian missionaries are good and all right wingers are bad, there are good and bad people on both sides of the issue. The main tactics in this battle for 'control of souls' are conversion and reconversion with the poor being used as pawns in the middle. Frankly there are few innocents on both sides.
I'm no fan of right wing organizations (IMHO they should be banned) but it is important to understand that there is no concept of missionary in Hinduism, and consequently no concept of conversion of others to Hinduism - until the recent reconversion being followed by the right wingers.
It's a sorry and sad state of affairs with the root cause being poverty and lack of economic opportunities.
The naxalites are a bunch of communist based splinter organizations which look to Maoist ideology to overthrow the govt and 'upper classes'. Their strategy is anarchy. They will seed trouble wherever they can to introduce chaos.
Here's a news report about the recent clashes. Some of the comments below the article are worth reading.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes...rticleshow/3427994.cms