Indian health official blames karma for people getting sick

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But the health minister of India’s Assam State, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has drawn widespread condemnation for saying that cancer can be caused by a person’s past sins or indiscretions.

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“God makes us suffer when we sin. Sometimes we come across young men getting inflicted with cancer or young men meeting with accidents. If you observe the background you will come to know that it’s divine justice. Nothing else. We have to suffer that divine justice,” said Sarma at a gathering of teachers in Guwahati, the largest city in the northeastern state, the Times of India reported.

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Sarma has defended his comments, saying they were made in the context of a speech about karma—a spiritual principle present in several Indian religions, including Hinduism, which holds that a person’s actions and behavior, good or bad, will have effects upon them in the future. The idea is closely associated with beliefs in rebirth or reincarnation.

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