Following is a highly edited version of a lengthy letter that we received from The Hindu Council of New Zealand Inc reprimanding us (scathing attack, actually) on the headline that we gave to the ‘Gandhi Nivas’ story published in our June 15, 2016 issue. While we thank the Hindu Council for exercising their right to respond, we have removed several sentences that showed the rage of its officials on a headline which was not taken from our published story.
We invite readers to respond to editor@indiannewslink.co.nz
Following is the letter:
We are writing to express concerns on the article published on 14th June 2016, entitled “Hindus prominent among ill-tempered”
(link: https://www.indiannewslink.co.nz/22130-2/).
The title of this article is an incorrect depiction of Hindus in New Zealand, as similarly it will be an incorrect and mischievously and unprofessionally stated generalisation for any community including Pakeha, Maori, Sikhs, and Muslims and Christians of innumerable denominations whether singled out as part of a specific sector as the cultural community in general.
We at Hindu Council of New Zealand condemn this ill-advised choice of words in your title to report.
The question we raise is what proportion of the National statistics do Hindus make in the national data for Family Violence for the above mentioned article to generalise and declare that Hindus are prominent among ill-tempered when it comes to domestic violence?
This article and its headline suggests that 2.11% Hindus of New Zealand are more ill-tempered in comparison to the rest of New Zealand.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_New_Zealand
The service mentioned in the article, ‘Gandhi Nivas’ was a service set up primarily for South Asian and Indian clientele following a gap in service that was identified for this particular community.
Hindus are the third largest religious following in New Zealand (after Christianity and ‘no religion’ following). Most Hindus in New Zealand are of South Asian origin therefore, it is, in our opinion…. that clients of Hindu following will present in larger numbers at the service mentioned.
