Remembering Shantikali Maharaj of Tripura

 

On 27 August, 2000, Swami Shantikali Maharaj was brutally assassinated by fanatics of Christian terrorist organization called National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT). This gruesome act was carried out by the enemies of Hindus at an Ashram near Jirania (Khumlwng area) under the Sadar subdivision in the State of Tripura. On Aug 27, 2000, he was presiding at his ashram with a gathering of local devotees. At night, these Christian militants broke into the ashram and murdered the priest for refusing to convert to Christianity along with his followers. It’s also important to note that in the same month another Hindu leader of the Jamatya community, Jaulushmoni Jamatya, was murdered in the hands of Christian terrorist active in the state.

Shantikali Maharaj was a popular Hindu priest also commonly known as Shantikali working among the tribals in Tripura for their socio-religious upliftment. The thirteenth child of Dhananjay Tripura and Khanjan Devi, he was born in a small village named Fulsori in south Tripura district of Subrum subdivision. At his early youth he left Tripura and ventured on a pilgrimage throughout India. It was during his travels that he determined to return to Tripura and establish a temple in the honor of Goddess Tripura Sundari and an ashram from which to administer to the needs of local tribals. After completing his pilgrimage, he devoted his life to establishing the Shantikali Ashram, first consecrated in 1979 at Manu in Subrum, on the auspicious day of Shiv Chaturdashi. The ashram has now grown to include 18 branches in Tripura. It has since been named the Shantikali Mission. The mission has been engaged in providing education to poor children, health services to the poor and running primary schools and orphanages.

Most of us from the other parts of India and many even from the north eastern states are not aware of the anti-India conspiracies cooking up in the region. On the name of serving humanity, the missionary organizations are carrying out large scale conversion. Not only that they are also sowing the treacherous seeds of separatist tendencies in the minds of converts who have posed a serious challenge to India’s sovereignty. The killing of Shanti Kali Maharaj and the chains of events thereafter prove testimony to such activities. The newly convert agents of Christian evangelical organizations are hell bent upon the uprooting the other indigenous faiths that have turned out to be minorities in the region long ago.

Even after the barbarous assassination of Shantikali Maharaj, the Christian terrorist and separatist organization NLTF was not satisfied. Its single point agenda is that Hinduism has to be expunged from their land of Christ. On Dec 4, 2000, nearly three months after his death, an ashram set up by Shantikali at Chachu Bazar near the Sidhai police station was raided by Christian militants belonging to the NLFT. In the months following his death, eleven of the priest’s ashrams, schools, and orphanages around the state were closed down by the Christian terrorist outfit. The mission has been engaged in providing education to poor children, health services to the poor and running primary schools and orphanages. Yet its social work was of no consequence. It was Hindu and that was that mattered to disciples of the intolerant sky-god of Tripura’s Bible belt terrorists. Hence Hindus, including the ‘tribals’, face not just a cultural genocide, but a very real physical one.

Anyone familiar with the history of Christianity should not be surprised by all this. In the west Christianity is on the decline. This is especially the case of established churches which have been rocked by scandals of rape, child abuse, and financial misdemeanors. Therefore they have turned up to India especially. This is because Hindus are the last remaining large body of what the Christian world has historically termed pagans, the unbelieving infidels who have the effrontery to bow down before graven images.

In Europe the indigenous pagan cultures were destroyed by the advancing soldiers of Christ. Charlemagne forced the peoples he conquered to accept Christ or face death. For this the Pope crowned him Holy Roman Emperor. The Teutonic Knights forcibly converted the Slavs and Baltic peoples, and later inspired the Nazi push for lebensraum in the east. The history of massacre of Jews is well known who were considered as the demonic entity therefore should be eradicated by those who served Christ. Only in India did Jews flourish free from persecution, as a direct result of the ancient Hindu tradition of tolerance and acceptance.

It’s this essential foundation of India which Christian evangelists are intent on destroying. The north eastern states of India have been largely converted to Christianity and various cessationist organizations had long plagued the region. In the recent years they seem to be on decline but the tribal belt of central India seems to be falling in the trap of various evangelical organizations. In the recent times we have witnessed activities such as Pathalgarhi movement in Jharkhand posing potential threats to India’s internal security. Its therefore, time has come to think of enacting strong anti-conversion laws if we were to protect India’s integrity and sovereignty.