A Sentinel Event

An open plea to the relevant Government departments:

Dear Sir/Madam

The Sentinelese have shown us the way.  They have shown you, the Government, the way to deal with unwanted intrusions and unruly behaviour by foreign elements.  

Shame on our national defence and security systems, that one missionary could bribe local fishermen and gain access to the protected island not less than five times.  

That the Sentinelese have a protected area - however tiny - to call their own and to follow their own customs and regulations in their own space, is revealing.  

It also shows that on the so-called civilized and secular mainland, we are unable to safeguard our own interests from the virus of conversions and misdemeanours of illegal immigrants and foreign criminals.  

Over the last few months, there have been several incidences of crime by these very same visa-dodgers and over-stayers.  Many illegal immigrants have procured passport/Aadhar/voter cards through racketeers.  

In certain parts of Bengaluru, for example, foreign elements have formed enclaves of their own - 'foreign Sentinelese' areas, if you like, that are no-go areas for 'locals'/'natives', as they call us.   

Go through page three crime news in any newspaper these days.  Nepalese, Bangladeshi and/or African nationals figure prominently in such crimes as drug-dealing, prostitution, petty theft and drunken driving.  

Are those foreign criminals that are caught - if at all - by the police, deported to their country of origin, after they are punished by our legal system?

While law and order problems continue unabated, the other unseen breaking-India force, to quote Rajiv Malhotra, continues its surreptitious accumulation of masses of gullible public into its dragnet.  I am talking about evangelism and religious conversions.  

The Andaman incident is only the tip of the iceberg; one that made it to news reports because of what happened to the missionary.  Unseen, unchecked, unabated, other missionaries carry on in their merry ways all across the mainland - from coastal Andhra and Orissa, to northern Karnataka, to even Punjab.  Indeed, no state is exempt from their proselytizing activities.

What are you doing to check these threats to national security and Sanatana Dharma?  

Cutting off foreign funding to these so-called NGOs was a good move, but it does not seem to be enough anymore.  Declare all conversions illegal.  Put the onus of proving willingness to convert on these NGOs by officially registering and/or restricting their activities.  Send officials/volunteers to remote areas where missionaries are most active, to counter-educate the gullible public as to the futility of conversions.  Even better, improve the living conditions of vulnerable populations, and provide them with good healthcare and education so that they do not have to depend on proselytizing NGOs.  

Kick out visa over-stayers and illegal immigrants.  Come down hard on the passport/Aadhar/voter card procurement racketeers.  Make sure that foreign criminals are compulsorily deported with no chance of return, after they have served out their prison sentences.

For god's sake, do something.  And do it NOW, before it's too late.  

Else, be prepared to deal with race-riots and Sentinel-type direct action even on the mainland.   

Thank you

A concerned 'local'/'native' citizen

******

Update (December 2023): 

An open plea to the relevant proselytizing departments:

Dear missionaries

I have just finished seeing the documentary, The Mission on Disney+ Hotstar India, based on the above incident that involves your fellow missionary.  It delves into the background of the missionary in question, and attempts to explain what motivated him to do what he did.  I am afraid there is no justification for what he did.  The underlying reason remains the same as that for any kind of proselytizing activity as explained in my earlier articles.  

Apart from breaking Indian law in approaching a protected area, he amply demonstrated the amorality involved in evangelical activities by bribing the local fishermen to take him there.  Thereupon he put himself and the tribespeople at risk by contaminating their space by his words, presence and possible infections that they might have no resistance against.  

This just goes to show the extent to which you missionaries have been afflicted by the evangelical bug; you are unable to consider an alternative worldview of mutual respect for other cultures and religions, and a spirit of cooperative coexistence rather than the patronising, condescending, colonizing, bigoted notion of 'my religion is the only true path to emancipation and all others are false' that is drummed into you.   

Contrast this with what Mr Pandit, a Hindu explorer had done in the past (as shown in the documentary): he approached the Sentinelese with respect, and presented them with coconuts which the tribespeople accepted willingly.  Shortly after, when one of them showed him a knife, he took this as a signal to go away, and made a quiet exit.  

Hard pill to swallow, but I can't help highlighting the difference between the two religions: Hinduism does not seek to convert anyone, whereas Christianity does.  Hinduism accepts all religious beliefs as valid paths to the One Eternal Truth that is present in all living beings.  In fact, we Hindus believe that the only conversion that really matters is the one that occurs from within: from egoism to egalitarianism, and from a feeling of separateness to a feeling of oneness of all.  

It was appalling to see in the documentary one of your kind, a friend of the slain missionary, exhort his audience by using his friend's 'martyrdom' as a motivating factor for others to strive harder to spread the gospel.  On the other hand, the program redeemed itself somewhat by including the views of a failed missionary, one who has learnt the hard way the stupidity inherent in the notion of painting all people with one religious colour, and forcing uniformity in the place of respectful diversity.  

Please note that indigenous cultures and Hinduism have existed for thousands of years before book-based religions even entered the world.  In India we have hundreds of saints who have experienced this One Eternal Truth and expounded ways and means of attaining the same to others without seeking to convert them.   

So here's what it comes down to.  We are doing just fine with our culture, tradition, food, attire, lifestyle and religion.  Just leave us alone, if you can.  Practice your faith with enthusiasm, but just don't try to thrust it upon us.  

Thank you

A heathen Hindu

Image sources:

• https://www.businessinsider.com/american-murdered-by-an-isolated-sentinelese-tribe-in-the-indian-ocean-2018-11?IR=T
• Deccan Herald, page 11, 25th November 2018
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28097834/?ref_=tt_mv_close