Windjammer
ELITE MEMBER
![](/styles/default/xenforo/ranks/airchiefmarshal.jpg)
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2009
- Messages
- 41,319
- Reaction score
- 181
- Country
- Location
![Hare-Krishna-protest-outs-007.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.guim.co.uk%2Fsys-images%2FGuardian%2FAbout%2FGeneral%2F2011%2F12%2F19%2F1324318078316%2FHare-Krishna-protest-outs-007.jpg&hash=462b922c5a3c502fd84028763e9bea60)
Indian politicians forced parliament to close on Monday in a protest against a Siberian trial calling for a version of a Hindu holy book to be banned.
Indian protesters gathered outside a Russian consulate to condemn the case, which if successful, would place the Bhagavad Gita on a list of banned literature alongside Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
The case filed by state prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk claims that a translation of the Bhagavad Gita is extremist because it insults non-believers.
The book takes the form of a conversation between Hindu god Krishna and a prince called Arjuna prior to a battle. Its philosophical insights form a bedrock of the Hindu belief system and were praised by Albert Einstein.
India and Russia enjoy close diplomatic ties, and prime minister Manmohan Singh returned from an annual visit to Moscow at the weekend. Lawmakers demanded to know if he had raised the trial with Russian officials.
The translation cited in the trial is central to the global Hare Krishna movement. Its members link the case against the text to the Russian Orthodox church, which they claim wants to limit their activities.
During the protest Hare Krishna worshippers in orange robes shouted slogans and danced outside the Russian consulate in Kolkata. Parliament was adjourned for several hours by the house speaker, after ministers began shouting: "We will not tolerate an insult to Lord Krishna."
A petition against the trial has been signed by 20,000 people and the word "Gita" was one of the main trends on the Indian version of Twitter on Monday.
Last year Russian prosecutors banned Hitler's 1925 semi-autobiographical book Mein Kampf in an attempt to combat the rise of far-right politics.
Post-Soviet Russia recognises freedom of religion and namesRussian Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism as the nation's main religions. Other beliefs, particularly sects or groups that try to convert people, are sometimes subject to pressure such as court cases, efforts to break them up and limits on gatherings.
India's foreign minister will address parliament on Tuesday to clarify the government's position on the Bhagavad Gita case.
Bhagavad Gita trial in Russia closes Indian parliament | World news | guardian.co.uk