HDFC removes video hailing notorious pastor as ‘Neighbourhood Hero’

Following The Commune’s story based on the expose by Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), HDFC Bank has removed the video in which it hailed the notorious Christian pastor Praveen Chakravarthy as a ‘Neighbourhood Hero’.

In a shocking revelation, Praveen Chakravarthy, the notorious Christian pastor who had boasted of kicking and defacing idols of Hindu Gods and creating ‘Christ Villages’ was declared as one of the ‘Neighbourhood Heroes’ by HDFC Bank.

Pastor Praveen Chakravarthy was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Wednesday (13th January, 2021) for promoting enmity between different religious groups and committing offence in places of worship. He has been charged under various 153 A, 153 B (1) (c), 505 (2), 295 A, 124 A and 115 of the Indian Penal Code and has multiple FIRs registered against him.

HDFC Bank in August 2020 had posted a video in its YouTube channel in which it hailed Pastor Praveen as a ‘Neighbourhood Hero’.

According to HDFC Bank, ‘Our Neighbourhood Heroes’ is an ‘initiative that thanks and celebrates heroes from across the country, who’ve gone above and beyond to help those in need during these difficult times’.

“A moment of courage is all it takes, to make the normal, heroic and that is exactly what you’ve done!”, the video put out by HDFC Bank said introducing Pastor Praveen.

The video also said that when underprivileged residents were struggling with ‘Volunteering Service & Time’ and needed help, Pastor Praveen stepped up.

“By providing Volunteering Services & Time to around more than 500 Underprivileged Residents you have truly helped and made a difference”, the video said and went on to declare that the bank prides itself in calling Pastor Praveen as the Neighbourhood Hero of Kakinada.

This video which was published in YouTube on August 28, 2020, several months after information about pastor’s rabid religious hatred were put out in public, has now been removed.

Pastor Praveen Chakravarthy is the President of ‘Sylom Blind Centre’. His activities were brought to light in 2019 by Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), a legal activism collective. LRPF had lodged a complaint with the Union Home Ministry in December 2019 against ‘Sylom Blind Center’and its President Praveen Chakravarthy for indulging in rampant rabid proselytization.

In a video tweeted by LRPF Pastor Praveen Chakravarthy can be heard saying with impunity in Telugu that he hit the ‘stone God’ and trees [sacred trees like Neem, Peepal, etc that are venerated by village people] with his leg. The video was first made available in a YouTube channel called ‘Bangalore go-sipps’. This video was published on December 11, 2019.

Chakravarty in the video can be seen describing how he converts a village to Christianity. He says that first a pastor would come and stay in the village to teach the Bible. He says that the village becomes a “Christ village” after everyone has accepted Christ as their saviour and adds that ‘stone gods’ and ‘trees’ are kicked as a finality.

“So there are many cases which (sic) I have kicked the God’s heads and I was so happy”, he says in that video.