On a sleepy Sunday morning on October 29, Kerala woke up to the devastating multiple explosions at the annual three-day regional convention organised by the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town of Kalamasssery, Kochi. Three persons, including a 12-year-old child, were killed and over 50 injured in the blast. Martin V.D., a 57-year-old resident of Thammanam in Kochi city, surrendered before the Kerala Police a few hours later after he claimed responsibility for the act. The accused, who described himself as a ‘non-serious’ member of the group for nearly 16 years, said he wanted to teach the sect a lesson as it was “anti-national”. He alleged that the “teachings” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation “degraded members of other beliefs”.
The blasts brought the spotlight on the millenarian Christian group, which does not believe in the Christian Trinity but believes in Jesus as son of God and Jehovah as God. Its roots lay in the 19th century Adventist movement in the U.S. The modern-day organisation was an offshoot of the International Bible Students’ Association founded in Pittsburgh by Charles Taze Russell, a Unitarian pastor, in 1872. However, differences within the Bible study group after his death resulted in the formation of several groups, including the Witnesses, in the early 1930s.
The members of the group say they do their best to “imitate” Jesus Christ and is proud to be called Christians. They worship the creator, “whose name is Jehovah” and recognise the Bible as “God’s inspired message to humans”. However, they do not venerate the cross or any other images. According to the official website of the sect, they are known as Jehovah’s Witnesses as they “witness, or talk, about Jehovah God and his Kingdom”. The sect has come under the lens of several governments for their refusal to abide by certain laws.
