We was targeted due to our conspicuousness: Moscow Iskcon head

Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, the head of Iskcon’s Moscow unit, gets down to some plain-speak on the case and the organisation

You said that the case had very serious consequences. Why did you feel so?
The Russian law against extremist literature is very broad. It is very easy to bring anything under the purview of the law. I realised that the case could have serious consequences because if the Bhagwad Gita is recognised as extremist writing, then the whole Iskcon organisation will get stigmatised as extremist. When 17 books of Jehovah’s Witness (a Christian sect) were added to the list of extremist literature, the whole organisation was in turmoil with cases against them.

Was the case against the Bhagwad Gita filed by an individual or were there groups behind the case?
Such a case can be filed only by prosecution officials, but they were instigated by those allied to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Why was a case filed in a provincial town like Tomsk, rather than a big city like Moscow?
The case was specially filed in a smaller city because Moscow is very cosmopolitan. But the trick is that even a court ruling at a provincial city could affect the organisation nationally. So, we asked the judge to appoint experts from Moscow and St Petersburg: people who are more knowledgeable.

Were the experts helpful?
The experts, though biased, told me that that there were no instigations against other religions in the book or incitement to violence. They said they only found an instigation to limit the rights of women. But the Tomsk court could not try gender issues.

What is the instigation against women’s rights?
Swami Prabhupada says in the book that under the law of Manu, women should be protected in childhood by the father, in adulthood by the husband and by the son in old age. Prabhupad said women are innocent like children and they need protection. The experts found this as instigation against women’s rights.

Have other religious minorities in Russia faced similar problems?
Iskcon is quite conspicuous: the reason why they are good targets. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Protestants and other groups have faced similar problems. But they are less vulnerable because they have deeper roots, going back to a couple of hundred years.