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Published on Saturday September 15, 2012
Touria Izri
Staff Reporter
A prominent member of the Hindu community has denounced a Toronto Hindu group’s decision to screen the anti-Muslim movie that has sparked riots throughout the Middle East.
“I can see no reason for showing the film in light of what is happening across the world,” said Pandit Roopnauth Sharma, president of the Canadian Hindu Federation and a pandit at Ram Mandir, a Hindu temple in Mississauga.
Ron Banerjee, who heads a group called Canadian Hindu Advocacy, said last week he will show the film, which portrays the prophet Muhammad as a madman and womanizer, to fight intolerance. Banerjee said he will also show snippets from movies that are insulting to Christians and Hindus.
However, Sharma called Banerjee’s motives “suspect” and said he is creating a situation that can lead to unnecessary conflict and is trying to put “Hindus in conflict with the Muslim community.”
Sharma said Banerjee’s group “does not represent the Hindu community by any means.”
Banerjee’s group last year had demanded an end to Muslim Friday prayers at a Toronto school. At the time, he was quoted in the Star as saying: “In its entire history, Islam, the Islamic civilization, has invented and contributed less to human advancement than a pack of donkeys.”
Touria Izri
Staff Reporter
A prominent member of the Hindu community has denounced a Toronto Hindu group’s decision to screen the anti-Muslim movie that has sparked riots throughout the Middle East.
“I can see no reason for showing the film in light of what is happening across the world,” said Pandit Roopnauth Sharma, president of the Canadian Hindu Federation and a pandit at Ram Mandir, a Hindu temple in Mississauga.
Ron Banerjee, who heads a group called Canadian Hindu Advocacy, said last week he will show the film, which portrays the prophet Muhammad as a madman and womanizer, to fight intolerance. Banerjee said he will also show snippets from movies that are insulting to Christians and Hindus.
However, Sharma called Banerjee’s motives “suspect” and said he is creating a situation that can lead to unnecessary conflict and is trying to put “Hindus in conflict with the Muslim community.”
Sharma said Banerjee’s group “does not represent the Hindu community by any means.”
Banerjee’s group last year had demanded an end to Muslim Friday prayers at a Toronto school. At the time, he was quoted in the Star as saying: “In its entire history, Islam, the Islamic civilization, has invented and contributed less to human advancement than a pack of donkeys.”
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