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Growing
resentment among Hindus in France
By Ranvir Nayar
http://www.indiaabroadonline.com/ia6.html
Paris: There is a growing resentment
amongst Hindus in France about the continuous denial of basic religious
freedom and the right to practice their religion according to their
traditions.
Even though Paris is home to over 125,000 Hindus, most of them hailing from
India and Sri Lanka, there is not a single Hindu temple anywhere in the
city. And all the attempts by the Hindu community to build a temple have
been persistently foiled by the French authorities.
"Hinduism is not even recognized as a
religion by the French authorities. They only know Christianity, Judaism,
Islam and Buddhism. Their laws don't even mention Hinduism as a religion and
we are identified as a collection of various sects. Sects in France have a
very negative, hippy-like connotations," charges an angry Madhusudan
Sukhwal, a prominent and active member of the Hindu community in Paris.
Though Paris and its suburbs have two temples, they are informal and are
housed in normal apartments and buildings on a temporary basis and have to
keep moving almost every year. "We established our temple nearly 25
years ago. However, in this time, we have had to move at least 15 times. We
are simply being chased from one locality to another. People don't want to
rent us the house when they hear that it is for a temple," says Mukesh
Chauhan, an International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
activist and a
regular visitor to the makeshift Krishna temple in the suburbs of Paris.
Whenever ISKCON or other organizations have tried to buy land to set up a
permanent and traditional temple, the local authorities have played the
villain. Using a law that allows the state to intervene in any purchase
agreement and buy the property at the declared price, the municipal
authorities in Paris and in the suburbs have intervened in every single deal
to purchase the property.
"Whenever they see the name of a Hindu trust, the authorities use the
law and deny us the property. They make it clear that they don't want to see
other religions prosper in this country," says Sukhwal, a nuclear
engineer,
who migrated to France over 30 years ago.
Sanderasekaram, a Tamil migrant from Sri Lanka, has a very similar
experience to recount. He arrived in France in 1975 and on not finding any
Hindu religious place in Paris he set up a Ganesh temple, Sri Manika
Vinayagar Alayam in 1985.
However, quite like ISKCON, Sanderasekaram also had huge problems with the
local authorities and has had to move the temple from place to place over
the last 15 years. He is also finding it increasingly difficult to organize
the annual rath yatra (chariot procession) to mark the festival of Ganesh
Chaturthi.
"Often the police does not want to help us in organizing the yatra
(procession) or they ask us to meet some stringent conditions. We are made
to feel like the French authorities clearly don't want any other religion to
prosper in this country," an angry Sanderasekaram said. Hindu leaders
also accept the limitations of their own community, which has contributed to
the lack of religious freedom.
"Most of the Hindus here are rather recent migrants, unlike those in
the U.S. or in Britain. They are still trying to settle down and have a
steady income and make their lives. Hence they have little time for the
community.
Moreover, due to the lack of wealth generally, the political clout of our
religion here is also limited," says Sukhwal.
India Abroad News Service.
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