Who am I? I belong to the Surinamese Indian community that came to Suriname, South America, 135 year ago. I consider myself of Hindustani origin, the third generation Indian Christians, born in the Netherlands in the early sixties of the last century. My father came to the Netherlands from Suriname to study by that time. My own history started 96 years ago when my  “aja/ dada”, my paternal grand father - came as a three years old boy with his mother, Nani (my maternal grandmother) and elder brother in 1912 from “United Provinces”, later known as “Uttar Pradesh” India with a ship named Ganges IV to Suriname. They departed from Calcutta on February 27th 1912 and arrived in Suriname on the 7th April 1912. He was the son of one of the free immigrants. My grandfather, a Hindu, settled down on the West Coast of Suriname, in a town called Nickerie, where he married a girl from a family who was partly Hindu, partly Muslim.

Ask most Parisians about an area called “Little Bombay” and they will know that this is where large Indian communities live. They will tell you of women in colourful saris, sidewalks crowded with market stalls selling curries, exotic vegetables, silks, and the fragrance of spices in the air. Many people in Paris however fail to grasp the remarkable diversity of the Indian community in Paris. Among the some 46,000 immigrants originating from the Indian sub-continent and settled in the Parisian region, only a fraction is natives of India. Bengalis, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Punjabis, and Sri-Lankan Tamils form culturally and socially distinct groups are in Paris. Different languages and dialects are spoken. Differing customs are practised. Of these communities, the largest and most visible is the Tamil.

Revolutionaries are uncompromising men and women. They are unafraid to stand for their conviction. They may give up their life but not their conviction. They do not dilute their stand to please men or to avoid dangers ahead. If such are the characteristics of a revolutionary, then surely Christian revolutionaries are born in Orissa. They were uncompromising men and women. They stood unafraid for their conviction even in the face of sure death. They did not swing the sword of men but sang the song from the Word of God. They were revolutionaries of a different God. They did not take a sword, they did not take a trishul, they did not take a gun but they took their cross. They are revolutionaries of the God who took the cross.
 

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.”  Hebrews 13:3 The body of Christ in Orissa is currently undergoing severe persecution.  Followers of Jesus are being beaten, burned in the streets, hacked to pieces, and forced to hide in jungles. Churches have been burned to the ground, pastors have been assaulted, and nuns have been gang raped. Worse, the violence against Christians is spreading to other parts of India. Pray for the persecuted bride of Christ in Orissa.

I am appalled at the rampant insensitivity in most Indian-Christian responses to the gross human rights violation in Orissa. In 1999, We didn’t know how to respond to the attacks against the Church in Gujarat. It’s been almost a decade now and We still haven’t learnt to respond to attacks against hapless tribal christians. We can only view it ‘religiously’. We speak about the glories of martyrdom. We resort to jingoism and claim it to be signs of an impending explosion of churches. We moralize and ask our brothers to forgive the perpetuators. We treat these ghastly acts as events that would bring revival. Sadly, we do everything but stand alongside our brothers and sisters in Orissa.

Ms. Rajni Majhi, a 20 year old student who lived in the orphanage and was also working as an auxiliary nurse in the orphanage confronted the mob of Hindus. When Fr Sequeira arrived at the spot, the mob locked him and Rajni into separate rooms, and ordered the children to vacate the orphanage. The mob then ransacked Fr Sequeira's room, poured petrol on him and Rajni and set the orphanage on fire. I could hear the cries of Rajni, and the mob was cheering and shouting through the window. These criminals tied her hands together - they made a huge bonfire in the orphanage room and threw her onto the fire. They used sickles, shovels and other weapons to prevent her from running away, these extremists did not allow her to even move from the burning flames". All the while I could hear the cries of Rajni from the next room where she was writhing in agony. After sometime, there was silence. Rajni Mahji was burnt alive.

INDIA’S north-eastern state Orissa continues to be in grip of gory anti-Christian riots. Scores of Christians, including some nuns, pastors and ordinary innocent people have been burnt alive. Countless churches, houses and shops have been gutted. Even Christian orphanages have not been spared. They burnt our homes, our churches, our crops, our vehicles. They ransacked our schools, our orphanges and destroyed our clinics. Everything we owned is gone. We have nothing left. Absolutely nothing.

Christians of Orissa Attacked

NUN BURNT ALIVE: A nun was burnt to death on 25th, Monday 2008, after an orphanage was torched in at Phutpali in Bargarh district in Orissa during a bandh called by Hindu nationalist parties. RASANANDA PRADHAN TORCHED ALIVE: Another person, Rasananda Pradhan, was burnt to death when his house was set ablaze at Rupa village in Kandhamal district. INFLAMMATORY SPEECHES TARGET CHRISTIANS: During the bandh inflammatory speeches spreading hatred against the Christian workers and the community were given by the VHP leaders. CHURCHES BURNT ALL ACROSS ORISSA STATE: Churches were attacked in various districts as also in the state capital, police sources said, adding 40 houses were set ablaze in Phulbani town. PRAY NOW FOR PERSECUTED INDIAN CHRISTIANS.

You may find it odd that I ended up in a former Soviet republic of Belarus from South India. But the story of how I got here is a testament to God’s bountiful grace and His communication of purpose for me . . . . As a mission leader, my father always encouraged young people to pursue God’s agenda and be willing to go to new places and bring others to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The will to go was certainly there, both in my parents and I. But the resources were not.  As a result, there was little money to draw from.  My dad had the answer: “You can go,” he said.  “But, your only resource will be faith in our living Saviour.  And he will provide.”  But the question of where the money would come from remained. My purpose was to become a “medical missionary” but God’s higher purpose was to make me a  “student missionary” first.