Hindu Intimidation Campaign Stops Film Showing In New York City

The Forum for Hindu Awakening has taken credit for an intimidation campaign that succeeded in preventing a public showing of the film “Sita Sings the Blues.”

The group claims that “Hindus have found this animation film to be an extremely denigrating twist on their sacred epic ‘Ramayan’.” (link)

The Forum for Hindu Awakening had warned Starlight Pavilion, the venue where the movie was scheduled, “to cancel the booking for this event as a show of goodwill to the Hindu community …. otherwise we would be forced to intensify our protests.”

To get an idea of what the Forum for Hindu Awakening was implying when they talk about “intensifying our protests”, we need only look at two recent stories on their website praising incidents of mob violence against Christians in India.

In one story at their website (link), dated April 3, praises a group of “devout Hindus” who broke up a private gathering in the home of a recent convert to Christianity. The mob beat up the Christian preacher who had been invited to the home and also vandalized his car for good measure. The same article also praises another Hindu mob who seized a Christian missionary and “dragged” him to the local police, who immediately released the man (religious freedom is, after all, guaranteed under the Indian Constitution). Both incidents took place in Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

In another article (link), dated July 23, a mob of “alert Hindus” in Nashik, Maharashtra, is congratulated for having “foiled” a “ploy of conversion.” If one reads the body of the article, though, one finds that the “ploy” consisted of a group of 8-10 Christians who were peacefully distributing literature. These Christians were physically attacked by a mob who seized them, their literature, and the car they were using. The mob then proceeded to stage a public book burning of the literature they had forcibly taken from the Christians (consisting of over one thousand books). The missionaries themselves were “handed over” to the police, who released them since they had committed no crime.

The sad story of the film cancellation has been covered by a number of journalists who have written prominent stories about it, including Sumathi Reddy writing for the Wall Street Journal, Saumya Arya Haas writing for the Huffington Post, and Salil Tripathi for the Daily Beast, and has also been blogged about by Kurt Semple at the New York Times, and Katherine Boyle at the Washington Post.

And, if somehow you have never heard of Nina Paley or her film “Sita Sings the Blues” then get thee to Nina’s blog and check her out! The film itself also has its very own website, where you can watch the whole thing for free online!

Also, here is a peak at just how awesome Nina Paley is: