By Matters India Reporter
Bhubaneswar, November 29, 2019: Kandhamal Christians find “Christianity a more human way of life,” says a Spanish filmmaker who made the latest documentary film on the anti-Christian persecution of Kandhamal 2008.
The documentary film “One” tells the plight of Christians India in general and Kandhamal in particular, said Fernando de Haro, a Spanish journalist and director of La Mañana Fin de Semanaof radio Cope.
India, which is the largest democracy of the world, competes against China for the leadership of Asia and of a big part of the planet and has still a rigid caste system. Because of it the Christian minority, who dares claim the effective equality between Indians, is persecuted. Those who leave Hinduism and embrace Christianity are looking for a better life, lose every social help, said de Haro, who is a journalism and law graduate and has a Ph.D. in information science.
He worked at CNN Plus. He directs www.paginasdigital.es and is the producer of a series of documentaries on persecutions of Christians in the world.
According to him, the legal obstacles that limit the conversions of Indians have been supported by the High Court.
The growing Hindu nationalism does not have any problem in using violence to restrict freedom and perform acts that by some are considered genocide against Christians in India. Proof of it is what happened in the district of Kandhamal during 2008 in Eastern Indian State Odisha. They tied to do annihilate Christians from the region, he said.
This documentary was filmed in New Delhi, Bhubaneswar (State capital of Odisha) and the Kandhamal.
“The film gathers the faces and stories of simple Christian people, who have found in Christianity a more human way of life,” de Haro, who is also an author.
Many explain why Christians embraced the new religion and left the old one. Others tell the injustices suffered and the reasons why they are still loyal to the cross.
“The film serves, as well, as voice to the Hindu nationalists that justify the discrimination policies,” the filmmaker said.
This is a documentary of a series about Christian persecution. All of them are available in video https://vimeo.com/user38259375/vod_pages.
The film also gives voice to Hindu nationalists who justify discriminatory policies against Christians and other marginalized communities in India.
This is the fourth documentary in a series dedicated to persecuted Christians.
The first one, “Walking next to the wall,” was shot in Egypt and is dedicated to the Copts.
The second, “Nasarah,” recorded in Lebanon, is dedicated to Syrians and Iraqis persecuted by the Daesh.
The third was “Alleluia to Nigeria.”
The series is directed by de Haro who works with the production company N Medio. The project is carried out with the help of the Institute of Historical Studies of the CEU San Pablo University and the Hernando de Larramendi Foundation.
The anti-Christian persecution was the worst violence in 300 years of India’s history. It started in the aftermath of killing Swamy Laxmananda Saraswati, a nonagenarian leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on the night of August 23, 2008, in a Kandhamal village.
Maoist extremists active in the Odisha jungles had claimed responsibility for the killing. However, Hindu extremist groups used as the murder as a pretext to unleash unprecedented anti-Christian persecution that killed more than 100 people and displaced 50,000 local Christians.