Hindu Threat To Crhistians: Convert or Flee

Hindu Threat To Christians: Convert or Flee
By Somini Sengupta

This is a hard news article, because it is about events that are happening recently.
The lead of the article is: The family of Solomon Digal was summoned by neighbors to what serves as a public square in front of the village tea shop.

I don’t think this lead is well written, because it only says the ‘who’ and ‘where‘. The ‘what’ is said, but not specific enough to get a reader interested. The headline is interesting, but to have a lead like this is not a good idea for getting the reader’s attention. What could have been said was, “The Christian family of Solomon Digal were ordered by their neighbors to get down on their knees before the portrait of a Hindu preacher, and were forced to convert to avoid getting killed or thrown out the country.” This lead gives much more information and it would catch the reader’s attention.

Followed by the lead was the backup which is good, because since the lead was not as strong, the backup had more information about what happened. The “so-what statement” is followed by the backup, “India, the world’s most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is today haunted by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. Here in eastern Orissa State, riven by six weeks of religious clashes, Christian families like the Digals say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.” This statement tells why should the reader care about this issue that is going on in India. Because it is a big populated country, things can get worse in a short amount of time, and actions need to be made to stop it ahead of time.

The article gave a picture of a map that showed where exactly in India was this issue occurring. The map shows the city Borepanga and others near it. There is another picture of Christians sitting around in a refugee camp in Bhubaneshwar, India, being forced to pray and practice Hinduism.

Following the pictures, there is more information about another incident that happened to a priest and nun and that investigations have been made. It also talks about the past problems that Hindus and Christians had, and what lead the Hindus to threaten the Christians. The article ends with a statement stating a consequence that Lisura Paricha, one of the Hindu men who had summoned the Digals, confirmed that they had been penalized for talking to outsiders.