An evangelist was caught distributing books that denigrate Hindu dharma and propagating Christianity to the customers of State Bank of India. The bank’s branch is operating in a rented building and the owner of the building had spread out the books in front of the bank and distributed them to the customers.
The Purasawalkam branch of SBI is operating in a rented building on Thana Street. The building belongs to one Senthil. He had set up a table in the front room to spread out a variety of books pro-Christian and anti-Hindu. He is said to have distributed these books to the customers of the bank.
Upon coming to know about it Hindu Munnani staged a protest in front of the bank demanding that the books be removed from the premises. Following this, local police interrogated Senthil and removed the books from the bank’s premises. Hindu Munnani has formally lodged a complaint against Senthil and his associate Deepak accusing them of hurting Hindus’ religious sentiments and disturbing communal harmony and peace of the society.
Books distributed in the bank included ‘Hindu Dharma That Never Existed’ and ‘Ram Janm Bhumi’. Other books on Christianity with the cross and the picture of Jesus can also be seen among those that were spread out on the table. Distributing books that denigrate Hindu dharma and promote Christianity for free in a Public Sector Bank has outraged the sentiments of Hindus.
Many questioned how the space of a government office can be used to propagate a particular religion. But this is not the first time government owned spaces are being used to propagate Christianity. Evangelists have been using government hospitals and schools for proselytisation. Apart from evangelists coming from outside, Christians working in government offices also use their position to spread the religion.
Many government school teachers have been caught trying to convert Hindu students. Similarly evangelists target poor Hindus who get treatment in government hospitals for conversion. Recently Tirunelveli Government Hospital had banned religious preaching in its premises after continuous protests by Hindu Munnani.