With Chechnya and the Caucasus always simmering with jihad, and Beslan, and jihad attacks and plots in Moscow and everywhere, Russian authorities are waking up to the possibility that religious texts can incite people to violence. And so they’re considering banning…the Bhagavad Gita. No kidding.
The Lok Sabha is the lower house of Parliament in India.
“Lok Sabha storm as Russian court decides whether to ban Bhagavad Gita,” from NDTV, December 19 (thanks to HJS):
Moscow: The Lok Sabha was adjourned this morning over protests against the demand for a ban on the Bhagavad Gita in a Russian court.
In a Siberian court, state prosecutors have petitioned that the Gita, distributed locally by ISKCON members, is “extremist” literature. The court in Siberia’s Tomsk city is scheduled to deliver its verdict today….
Earlier today, Congress MP Milind Deora tweeted, “Absurd to suggest the Bhagwad Gita is even remotely pro-violence! Hope Russian Courts appreciate its intrinsic appeal in a pluralistic India.”
The case, which has been going on in Tomsk court since June this year, seeks to get a Russian translation of Bhagvad Gita As It Is written by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), on the Hindu religious text banned in Russia and declaring it as a literature spreading “social discord”, apart from rendering its distribution on Russian soil illegal….
The prosecutor’s case also seeks to ban the preaching 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 Bhagvad Gita banned, but also brand our religious beliefs and preachings as extremist,” Das said….