by Unapologetic Hindu November 29, 2020
The truth about the controversial Australian missionary and what led to his untimely demise
Sanatana Dharma is under attack. We are in the midst of a civilisational war whereby the Abrahamic religions are waging an aggressive crusade to annihilate Sanatana Dharma. The war is waged in a well-planned and systematic manner through a deep-rooted ecosystem. For example, the media cabal comprising of Indian and international organisations often cherry-pick cases to push biased narrative and inaccurate descriptions of incidents to portray Bharat as an intolerant society towards ‘minorities’.
The tactics of the Abrahamic media cabal was evident in the coverage of Godhra massacre of Hindus in 2002, Kandhamal riots in 2008, award wapsi in 2014, cow protection protests, the anti-CAA protests in 2019, Delhi and Bengaluru riots in 2020 or the retaliatory actions on Christians for destroying Hindu temples. The media cabal attempts to push a fake narrative of these incidents as alleged ‘anti-minority attacks’ under a so-called “Hindutva” government. The 1999 Graham Staines case was no different to specifically target late Mr. Vajpayee led Indian government.
Graham Staines came to Odisha in 1995 supposedly to ‘work’ with leprosy patients and tribals. Staines was associated with The Evangelicals Fellowship of India, which is involved in expanding Christianity. Staines became newsworthy when alleged members of Bajrang Dal torched a vehicle on 23rd January 1999. Dara Singh an alleged member of Bajrang Dal was named as the prime accussed for the crime.
After the incident, Orissa police filed and a FIR and later the case was transferred to CBI. A judicial commission of inquiry too was setup, headed by a retired Supreme Court Justice D. P. Wadhwa, to probe the circumstances surrounding the incident. Both, CBI and Wadhwa Commission concluded, “Conversion of tribals was a motivating factor behind the Staines murders”. Wadhwa commission also noted “some tribals were baptised at the camp”. The Commission described the camp as “a congregation of Christians of a locality and some invitees. The purpose of the camp is said to be interaction among Christians and spiritual renewal. A jungle camp means four days of Bible teaching, prayer and fellowship”. The report also mentioned that Dara Singh was not affiliated with any organisation and acted alone. But, National Minorities Commission interjected into the case and dismissed the Wadhwa commission’s report and made their own enquiry and ‘established’ Dara Singh’s links with Bajrang Dal.
Before the examining the links between Graham Staines, Christian missionaries, and the associated Christian ecosystem that worked to malign Hindus, we need to understand the history of Mayurbhanj
The history of Christian crusade in Mayurbhanj
Mayurbhanj had been a target of Christian missionaries since mid 19th Century. In a book titled “Kate Allanby of Mayurbhanj”, published in 1933 by Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM), there are details of missionary activities undertaken by the founder, Kate Allanby in Mayurbhanj. The book mentions how EMSM missionaries were able to control the young heir of Mayurbhanj kingdom by brainwashing the young prince into Christianity via an English tutor, Mr. Kiddell. Mr. Kiddell also was the Private Secretary to the then Maharaja. While describing the efforts taken by Allaby to spread ‘the word of Jesus’, the book describes in great detail how it used Puri’s Jagannath rath yatra as a platform to brainwash Hindu devotees towards Christianity. The missionaries describe the rath yatra as ‘heathen’, ‘evil’, ‘depressing’, and ‘sad’ while Lord Jagannath is called “heathen god”. The book mentions how missionaries used Jagannath rath yatra to spread the ‘Gospel’, and hoped that “a seed was being sown which will slowly but surely bring fruit”. Below are some excerpts from the book.
Excerpts from book about Mayurbhanj, published in 1933
Since mid-19th Century a succession of missionaries served to expand the Christian influence in Mayurbhanj and by January 1999 they operated a Leprosy Home, a rehabilitation Community and farm, two mission compounds and around 27 churches.
Missionary activities of Graham Staines
Graham Staines was associated with Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj (EMSM). EMSM is a registered Christian charity in Australia. Sydney Archbishop describes Graham Staines as an Australian Christian Missionary who since 1995 was part of EMSM that runs the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home. EMSM is affiliated with The Leprosy Mission (TLM). TLM is an international Christian charity founded in 1874. One of its main activities includes ‘Support for Church’.
Further research of EMSM in Australia unearths more information about the missionary. Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits commission mention that EMSM’s charity license was voluntarily revoked in 2019. Under the charity’s sub-type it’s mentioned as “Advancing religion”.
In a Facebook post on 14th May 2019, Staines daughter admitted her family were Christian missionaries. According to OpIndia, Staines had made a note in his personal journal “his missionary work was disrupted by certain people on motorcycles and later, the Police told him to pack up and leave as they couldn’t provide him with security due to elections.” In one of Staines’ reports he says, “The first jungle camp in Ranchandrapur was a fruitful one and the Spirit of God worked among the people. About 100 attended, some were baptised at the camp. At present, Misayel and some of the church leaders are touring a number of places where people are asking for baptism. Five were baptised at Bigonbadi”.
Mayurbhanj, with its long missionary history and EMSM’s active efforts to convert the adivasis, proves beyond reasonable doubt that Graham Staines was a radical Christian missionary whose rampant proselytization in Orissa angered Hindus of the region. The Christian missionary history of the region and EMSM was conveniently omitted by Indian and international medias reportage on Graham Stains case.
Evidence of sexual abuse of adivasis
The Church, world over is aware and tolerant of sexual abuse of children, women and nuns by pastors, priests and bishops yet it has done very little to stop it. Few examples are worth mentioning. In 2019, Pope Francis admitted he was aware that some clerics have sexually abused nuns and were also kept as sex slaves. In France, an independent commission set up revealed there were 6,500 calls in 17 months from victims and witnesses of sexual abuse in Churches. In India, Bishop Franco Mullakal is an accused in the rape of a nun. In 2019, Madras Christian College sacked two of their professors of Zoology department for sexually abusing students. In Australia, Pastor George Pell’s case shed light on the “paedophile networks” rampant in Australian Churches.
Australian missionary Graham Staines was no different. One, Hemalata Karua of Machhagarh village accused Staines of sexually assaulting her during a conversion camp in the area. She told this story in front of a Sessions Judge M.N.Pattnik.
On the eve of Makar Sankranthi on January 1999, Staines had organised an annual camp for local Christians. The camp was setup to discuss the locals’ Christian belief in a social setting and was conducted at the border of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar in Odisha. Hemalata Karua and her husband too were invited to participate in the camp. She told the judge that Staines persuaded her and her husband to convert to avoid financial difficulties. Both converted to Christianity and stayed over at the camp for the night. Recounting the events of the night Hemalata said, “He entered and asked me to close my eyes and meditate. As I was meditating he laid his hands on my body, I protested but he continued to persuade me, saying physical relationship with him would benefit me.” When she screamed, Hemalata said, Graham fled. She left the camp with her husband the next day. Two days later Staines was killed. She also told the judge that 20 days after the incident, Staines wife, Gladys, approached her and expressed regret for her husband’s actions. BJP MP Satya Pal Singh accused Graham Staines of molesting 30 tribal girls and converting them to Christianity. He said Staines behaviour with women and relentless conversion activities angered the locals who took law into their own hands. He also accused a senior Congress leader of forcing CBI to exclude this accusation from the charge sheet
Church influence on Indian Supreme Court
In 2011, the Church applied pressure and connived with the anti-Hindu State to force the Hon. Supreme Court to expunge two paragraphs from the original observations made in the sentencing of Dara Singh, prime accused, in the death of Staines. In a rare move Justices P. Sathasivm and B.S. Chauhan reversed two original paragraphs after immense pressure from the media cabal and Christian organisations. The original observations of the Supreme Court carried references to conversion activities by the Church.
| Original observation of Supreme Court | Replaced with |
| In the case on hand, though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity.” | However, more than 12 years have elapsed since the act was committed, we are of the opinion that the life sentence awarded by the High Court need not be enhanced in view of the factual position discussed in the earlier paragraphs |
| It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone’s belief by way of use of force, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other. | There is no justification for interfering in someone’s religious belief by any means. |
Analysis of changes to Supreme Court judgement in the Dara Singh sentencing
In the original observation, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on the activities of Christian missionaries. The original bench of the Supreme Court had observed, “the investigations revealed that Staines was involved in conversions and there are materials to suggest that the missionaries were involved in forceful conversions“. The Wadhwa Commission stated that Dara Singh was not connected to Bajrang Dal since there was no evidence. But the National Commission for Minorities ignored the Commision’s report and adjudicated Dara Singh as a Bajrang Dal member.
It’s quite apparent from the above events that there was likely a conspiracy to:
1) hide allegations of sexual abuse by Staines
2) pin blame on Hindu organisations despite lack of evidence to prove intolerance, hatred and bigotry
3) complicity of State machinery via National Commission of Minorities, which is proven to be anti-Hindu in a ‘secular’ country.
A Christian propaganda film based on the life of Graham Staines life, ‘The Least of These: The Graham Staines Story’ was released in 2019. The film was directed by Aneesh Daniel and Graham Staines was played was Stephen Baldwin. The film also stars Sharman Joshi, who previously starred in the film 3 Idiots. While Aneesh Daniel had previously made Christian-faith based short films, Stephen Baldwin is active in faith based film circuit. Stephen Baldwin is a brother of actor Alec Baldwin and the father-in-law of singer Justin Bieber. Both Daniel and Baldwin vehemently deny it’s a propaganda film. However, Skypass Entertainment founder and the film’s producer, Victor Abraham is a known Christian fundamentalist.
Conclusion
Vigilante justice as in the case of Graham Stains is condemnable; Hindus in Mayurbhanj should have relied on Bharat’s robust judicial system. Having said that, Hindus have a right to protest, defend against sustained crusade being waged for hundreds of years by Abrahamic forces. Is Sadhu lynching in Palghar a revenge for Graham Staines? Investigative agencies need to look for any connections.
Graham Staines and family were breaking Indian visa rules; it also showed the respect Western nations have towards India. Mission Kali team have exposed many Western evangelicals who have taken India for granted and use lax Indian visa system and implementation to convert native Indians. They then turn around and call us ‘intolerant’ when we stand up to their supremacism, hatred and bigotry. In 2005 Indian government went a step further and conferred Padma Shri on Gladys Staines for conversion activities and for breaking Indian visa rules.
Christians world over need to own up to their brutal past riddled with oppression, enslaving and killing in the name of Jesus to establish Christian supremacy. Christian evangelicals operating in India need to stop proselytization, disengage and leave followers of Sanatana Dharma alone.
