Editor,
Martyrs’ Day is observed on 30 January to commemorate the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. A few days ago, on 22 January, residents of Manoharpur, a remote village in Keonjhar district of Odisha, observed the 25th death anniversary of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons. After two months, Good Friday will be observed on 29 March to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Interestingly, there are many similarities between the way all of them lived and died.
Care for leprosy patients
Even today, social stigma is attached to leprosy. It is not difficult to understand what the situation was during the time of Jesus Christ. Jesus tried to get the message across to us against this stigma by healing 10 leprosy patients. On the other hand, Gandhiji provided care and support to leprosy-affected persons. This is the reason why Anti Leprosy Day is observed in our country on 30 January, which marks the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi.
Now the third person of our story, Graham Staines, had been working with leprosy patients in Odisha since his coming to India in 1965, till his death in 1999. In the words of District Collector R Balakrishnan, “For the past 35 years, dressed in casuals, sporting his trademark hat and wheeling his rickety bicycle, Saibo – as he was popularly called – was a fixture in Baripada where he did god’s work, tending and nursing leprosy patients in a specially-run home on the town’s outskirts.”
Friday
All of them were killed on a Friday. Though it was known that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, there was confusion about the actual date and year. On the basis of textual and geological clues along with astronomical data, researchers have found that Friday, 3 April, 33 AD is the date of his crucifixion. Mahatma Gandhi was killed on Friday, 30 January, 1948. On the other hand, Graham Staines (58) and his two sons Philip (10) and Timothy (6) were burnt to death on a Friday, close to midnight of 22 January, 1999.
Cold-blooded murders
All these murders were cold-blooded and gruesome. Crucifixion is undoubtedly one of the most gruesome murders because of its prolonged suffering. When 78-year-old Gandhiji was walking to a prayer hall, Nathuram Godse came and greeted him. Gandhiji returned the salute. But at that moment the man pulled out a revolver and fired three shots from point-blank range. The bullets pierced Gandhi’s frail body in upper thigh, abdomen and chest. Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt alive when they were all asleep in their jeep in a forest in Manoharpur. When Dara Singh and his followers had set fire to the vehicle, they woke up and tried to come out. But those fanatics used their long stout sticks to shove them back into the fire, till they died.
Religious fanatics
Each of these murders was meticulously planned and executed by religious fanatics. All the killers had the same fear psychosis that the victims were threats to their respective religions.
Forgiveness
Before death, Jesus Christ said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing,” while his blood was flowing down from the cross. On the other hand, while falling to the ground after being shot, Gandhi put his hand to his forehead in the gesture of forgiveness saying, “Hey Ram.” I do not know what Graham Staines said before his death when he was shoved into the fire by long sticks. However, his wife Gladys Staines told television reporters, “I forgive those who have killed my husband and my two sons.” After his husband’s death, she continued to serve leprosy patients and managed to turn his husband’s home for those patients into a hospital.
Warning signs
Every year, Good Friday, Martyrs’ Day and the day when Staines and his sons were killed will come and remind us of the warning signs of religious fanaticism on the road to our evolutionary progress.
Sujit De,
Kolkata