Moscow: Bhagavad
Gita, one of the holiest Hindu scriptures, is facing a legal ban
and the prospect of being branded as "an extremist" literature
across Russia. A court in Siberia's Tomsk city is set to deliver
its final verdict on Monday in a case filed by state
prosecutors.
The final pronouncement in the case will come two days
after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his December 15
to 17 official visit for a bilateral summit with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev consolidated bilateral trade and strategic ties and
personal friendship.
The case, which has been going on in Tomsk court since
June, seeks ban on a Russian translation of "Bhagavad Gita As It
Is" written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of
the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
It also wants the Hindu religious text banned in Russia
and declared as a literature spreading "social discord", its
distribution on Russian soil rendered illegal.
In view of the case, Indians settled in Moscow,
numbering about 15,000, and followers of the ISKCON religious
movement here have appealed to Manmohan Singh and his government to
intervene diplomatically to resolve the issue in favour of the
scripture, an important part of Indian epic Mahabharata written by
sage Ved Vyas.
The ISKCON followers in Russia have also written a
letter to the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi, calling for
immediate intervention, lest the religious freedom of Hindus living
here be compromised.
"The case is coming up for a final verdict on Monday in
Tomsk court. We want all efforts from the Indian government to
protect the religious rights of Hindus in Russia," Sadhu Priya Das
of ISKCON and a devotee of a 40-year-old Krishna temple in central
Moscow, told IANS.
The court, which took up the case filed by the state
prosecutors, had referred the book to the Tomsk State University
for "an expert" examination Oct 25.
But Hindu groups in Russia, particularly followers of
ISKCON, say the university was not qualified as it lacked
Indologists who study the history and cultures, languages, and
literature of the Indian subcontinent.
The Hindus pleaded with the court that the case was
inspired by religious bias and intolerance from a "majority
religious group in Russia", and have sought that their rights to
practice their religious beliefs be upheld.
The prosecutor's case also seeks to ban the preachings
of Prabhupada and ISKCON's religious beliefs, claiming these were
"extremist" in nature and preached "hatred" of other religious
beliefs.
"They have not just tried to get the Bhagavad Gita
banned, but also brand our religious beliefs and preachings as
extremist," Das said.
The ISKCON devotees have taken up the matter with the
Indian embassy in Moscow too for an early diplomatic intervention
before things get worse and the court passes an adverse verdict
banning the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna consciousness teachings.
In the Nov 1 letter addressed to Principal Secretary to
the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji, ISKCON's New Delhi branch
Governing Body Commissioner Gopal Krishna Goswami, said the
prosecutor's affidavit claims Lord Krishna "is evil and not
conforming to Christian religious view".
Goswami also urged Manmohan Singh to accord priority to
the matter during his Moscow stay and take it up with the Russian
authorities.
Indian diplomatic corps officials at the embassy here,
who were unwilling to be named, told IANS that they have been
following up the case since the time it was brought to their notice
earlier this year.
They had also taken up the matter at the appropriate
levels in the Russian government to get the case either withdrawn
or get the defence to fight the case to obtain a favourable
verdict.
Officials at the Indian Prime Minister's Office, who
were part of the Indian delegation accompanying Manmohan Singh,
confirmed to IANS the case and the letter they received from ISKCON
in this regard.
"This matter is receiving the highest attention and the
Indian embassy officials in Moscow have been instructed to follow
up the case with the Russian authorities," they said.