Controversy strengthens resolve of Hindu Community

Controversy strengthens resolve of Hindu Community to promote and organise Hindu conference

Controversy was created due to false and misleading news published in The New Zealand Herald, one of the leading newspapers in New Zealand, on 3rd May 2010. The news article entitled “Hindu group accused of ‘hijacking’ other faiths” in NZ Herald was written by Lincoln Tan, Senior Reporter of Diversity, Immigration and Ethnic Affairs for the newspaper.

The way this article has been written questions the reliability and integrity of news published in the NZ Herald.

In his article, Mr Tan wrote “A controversial Buddhist monk from India, Bhikkhu Bodhipala, will be here to promote the conference, and will perform a Buddhist prayer at the opening. According to a Newsweek report, Mr Bodhipala was involved in a police investigation in 2008 for his alleged role in an incident where a branch of a holy tree was chopped off, supposedly to be sold to a wealthy Buddhist”.

“It appears from the present article, and from the past reporting of Hindu Youth and Elders Conferences, that this reporter is in a hurry to publish with “eye catching” titles rather than writing a well researched articles. It looks that for Mr Tan, good news is no news, and only false and misleading news has value. He has not bothered verifying the facts in his report” said Pritika Sharma, conference coordinator and Hindu Youth leader.

Ven. Dr. Bhikkhu Bodhipala, a teacher of Vipassana (Buddhist Meditation), is a well respected Buddhist Monk in India and Sri Lanka and around the world. He has been visiting groups around New Zealand with his message of peace, unity and collaboration with among communities.

“This is a direct attempt to defame a respected member of the community and maligned attempt against a community conference” said Mr Vinod Kumar, President of Hindu Council of New Zealand.

This article has not only caused the grievance to Ven Dr. Bodhipala Solomon Raj but also damage to his image. He is from Tamilnadu (southern part of India) who has post graduate degrees in Inter-Faith Dialogue, and Gandhian Thought and Ph.D in Vipassana meditation. He was the first Tamil Buddhist fully ordained having completed 15 years monastic life. He has never been the chief priest of Maha Bodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Naturally, this is not the Bodhipala published in NZ Herald referring The Newsweek report.

“The eastern cultures are based on the reputation that an individual builds throughout their life and we feel that for Ven Bodhipala, this has been snatched away” Mr Kumar added.

There are certain “attention seeking” individuals in Indian community, claiming to be the students of religious history, are disturbed by the growth of charitable and reputed organizations such as Hindu Council of New Zealand. These individuals who want “cheap popularity” through writing some unwanted articles (without doing proper research) in some on-line networks are pathetic. Instead they should think of joining good organisations to do some real community work.

Newspaper reporters who take information from such individuals without verifying the facts and using the false information in their articles are more pathetic.

Following the publication of the article, Ven Bodhipala wrote to Mr Tan suggesting that as a recognized reporter of a respected newspaper, Mr Tan should have done some research instead of getting secondary information from so-called student of religious history.

A letter has been sent to the Editor of NZ Herald and to the concerned reporter. Neither NZ Herald nor the reporter apologised for the error. Instead they wrote “To clarify, the full name of the Buddhist monk attending the conference is Bhikkhu Bodhipala Solomon Raj”.

This information does not clear the damage it caused to Dr Ven Bhikkhu Bodhipala.

“This incidence has disturbed a large number of people in various communities and we feel that a small correction on page 3 in a corner would not suffice. We want to see a similar coverage to the above mentioned article with a reply from Ven Dr Bhikkhu Bodhipala and also from Ms Pritika Sharma in the present context” said Mr Kumar.

“This is not a small issue for us and if this is not properly addressed by NZ Herald, we would be taking this up with the Media Council of New Zealand” Mr Kumar added.

Because of its public programmes and community activities, respect for the Hindu Council of New Zealand has been growing and its reach is even more than some local newspapers have.

The 3rd New Zealand Hindu Conference will be held on 15th & 16th May 2010 (not July as per NZ Herald) at the Hindu Heritage Centre, Mangere, Auckland. The theme of the conference is "Sustaining New Zealand through strengthening bond amongst communities". The conference aims to achieve:
- Collaboration and networking among Hindu organisations, temples and associations
- Bridging the gap among Hindus coming to New Zealand from different countries
- Understanding Dharma civilizations and working together

ENDS

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