Four Nuns raped in Central India
One of the communities most oppressed by the Brahmins have been women. The truly horrific customs of sati, female infanticide, bride-burning and dowry were savagely enforced by the Brahmins upon the women of India. Vedic barbarism continues today: since 1947, more than 50 million women have been killed in Brahmin-ruled India.
This being the lowly state of women in Brahmanism, one can only infer the treatment these `Sons of Brahma' mete out to women of other faiths. It is truly that of sub-humans, and indeed Brahminists treat animals better. As part of its plan to exterminate all Christians from Hindu Rashtra, the women have been especially marked for persecution by the Brahminists. This strategy displays itself in the well-organised mass raping of Christian women. This savage persecution began in 1998, when the Brahmin high command of the Hindutva parivar decided to give the Christians a special `Christmas'. In a well-planned offensive pogrom swarms of bloodthirsty upper-caste Hindu mobs tore their way through all the cities of India, assaulting every Christian man, women and child in sight. As they did so, the pious Hindus shouted `Jai Shri Ram - Avaran Isai Murdabad [ Long live Rama - Kill the casteless Christians ! ] '. Countless churches were demolished overnight as Christian-owned shops and houses went up in flames. Bibles were burnt amidst cries of `Hare Rama' and `Hare Krishna'. Christian women were dragged out of their houses and forced to spread their legs. They were then raped en masse in front of their family.
One such incident occurred in Madhya Pradesh on Sept. 23, 1998. A mob of Hindus, inflamed by speeches delivered by the Brahmins at the local temple, descended upon a church, dragged out the nuns, and raped them in public. The President of the Council of Khalistan deplored the incident -
Council of Khalistan Monday, September 28, 1998
Four Nuns Raped In India
WASHINGTON, September 28 -- Four nuns were raped in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on September 23. The case was sent to the National Commission on Minorities, which referred it to the National Human Rights Commission.
"This rape was designed to threaten religious minorities and prevent anyone from objecting to the repression India practices against its religious and ethnic minorities," said Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan, the government pro tempore of Khalistan, the independent Sikh homeland declared independent on October 7, 1987. The Council of Khalistan leads the Sikh Nation’s peaceful, democratic, nonviolent movement for independence "Such ghastly crimes are a disgrace for the nation and make us hang our heads in shame," said Tahir Mahmood, chairman of the National Commission on Minorities. "On behalf of the Sikh Nation, I extend our deepest sympathies to India’s Christians and to the nuns who were raped for the political advancement of Hindutva," said Dr. Aulakh. "If swift action is not taken, it will once again show India’s religious intolerance and its terrorism against the minorities under its rule," he said.
The Indian government has murdered more than 250,000 Sikhs since 1984, over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, almost 60,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Tamils, Manipuris, Dalits, and others. The U.S. State Department reported that the Indian government paid over 41,000 cash bounties to police officers for killing Sikhs. More than 50,000 young Sikhs have been abducted by the police, tortured, and killed, then their bodies were declared unidentified and cremated.
"These rapes are of a piece with the repression in Punjab, Khalistan, in Kashmir, and throughout the nations occupied by India," Dr. Aulakh said. "It is of a piece with the murders of Catholic priests in Bihar last year. The real aims of India’s theocracy are now exposed to the world," he said. "It is clear that there is no place in Indian democracy for Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, or any other minorities," Dr. Aulakh added. "As the Sikhs who recently demonstrated at the United Nations noted, a religiously intolerant country cannot be democratic."
Dr. Aulakh called on the United States to maintain its sanctions against India. "The repression of minorities and the nuclearization of South Asia by the Indian government both support India’s dreams of empire and its drive for hegemony over all South Asia," he said. He called on India to hold an internationally-supervised plebiscite in Punjab, Khalistan to let the Sikh Nation decide its future in a free and fair vote. He said that the people of Kashmir should have the plebiscite they are seeking as well. "That is the democratic way to do things," Dr. Aulakh said. "If India will not do this, how can it call itself a democracy?"
Behind all these attacks is the Brahmin high command. It is the Brahmins who fund, organise and protect these Hindutva terrorists. And in this the Brahmins of Congress are in hand with the Brahmins of the BJP. Once again, the Brahmin Problem is slowly destroying another race - this time, it is the Christians.
-- Surinder Majhi,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/4nunrape.html
Sunday, October 30, 2005
The Brahminist Plan to Exterminate Indian Christians
The Brahminist Plan to Exterminate Indian Christians
Ever since Independance from Anglo-Brahmin rule in 1947, India has been under the control of Brahmins. The most vicious and totalitarian of these have belonged to the dynasty of Pandit Nehru. Indira Nehru tried to fool the people of India by marrying a Parsi, Feroze Gandhy, and then changing her name to Gandhi - a Gujarati Baniya title. However, she was always a Brahmin, and even her marriage ceremony was Vedic ! She was part and parcel of this Brahmin tyranny, as were Pandit Rajiv Gandhi, Pandit Narasimha Rao, Pandit Shastri and now Pandit Vajpayee. During these 50 years the Brahminist state has unleashed the most horrifying genoicde against virtually all non-Brahmin races. Of these, the Christians have been especially targetted for annihilation. Indeed, noted human rights activists estimate that 300,000 Christians have been killed by the Brahminist Indian Government over the last 50 years, most of them in Nagaland. -
300,000 Christians Killed in Brahminist India !
" Experts estimate that nearly 300,000 Nagas have been killed during their 50-year struggle with India, in what one journalist calls India's dirty little war."
`Abuses in Nagaland' by John Sundquist
Christian Century, 15-22 July 1998, USA
Initially, it is only the Naga Christians who were persecuted under the guise of prevention of `terrorism'. In actual fact this `Christian terrorism' was the direct result of the Brahmin-controlled Indian Government's policy of settling upper-caste Aryan Hindus in the region. In December 1998, the Brahminist Government decided to give the Christians all over India a special treat : the systematic oppression of Christians was now extended from the North-East to the rest of India. Hundreds of churches were destroyed, dozens of Christian women raped and prominent Christian leaders killed in well-organised pogroms. These were carried out by various Hindutva outfits, which had been permitted to flourish and establish widespread grass-roots networks during benign Congress and BJP regimes. These pogroms were widely condemned by the international community. Unfortunately, the thick-skinned Brahmins of these Hindutva organisations then went on to demand that all Christian missionaries leave India !
"All Christian Priests and Missionaries
Out of Hindu Rashtra !"
Brahminist Butchers demand Christian Leaders leave India
Tuesday, September 29, 1998, page 13, col. c
VHP justifies attack on missionaries
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept. 28. An attempt is being by the fanatic fringe in the RSS to virtually justify the savage attacks on missionaries on the ground that they represented 'anti-national forces' which were working against Hindu interests. This section has demanded that the Centre must throw out of the country all those who 'tempt Hindus' to convert to Christianity and who through their schools spread anti-Hindu sentiment.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an RSS outfit, today stated that the recent incidents of violence against the Christian missionaries in Jhabua and Baghpat were the result of 'anger of patriotic Hindu youth against anti-national forces'. Virtually justifying the attacks, the VHP has demanded that these missionaries be asked ``to pack up and leave the country''.
This sharply-worded statement against the missionaries comes at a time when the country has been shocked by the violence of the attack on them. In a statement, the VHP central secretary and former BJP MP, Mr. B. L. Sharma `Prem', said that 'the assault on the missionaries in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, and the violence and loot against them in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, was the direct result of conversion of Hindus to Christianity by the Christian priests'. And as if to drive home his point, he also charged the Congress Party government in Madhya Pradesh with being 'unnecessarily energetic' in dealing with the incident and 'giving it undue importance.' The VHP alleged that 'the Congress Government is behaving as if India is still under colonial rule.'
In an aggressive and challenging tone, the statement virtually warned not only the missionaries but the Congress and other parties as well. 'They, the Congress Party, may close its eyes to the black deeds of the missionaries, to their efforts to convert Hindus, but we in the VHP will not shut our eyes to the activities of these traitors,' Mr. Sharma has said.
The VHP, is in fact the mainstream organisation for carrying forward the RSS ideology at the grassroots, for preparing the ground, testing the ideas, making them popular, before the political wing, the BJP, steps in. That was exactly what happened in the Babri Masjid-Ram temple controversy. It was the VHP which spearheaded the agitation, got various Hindu priests together on a platform, built the public mood, before the BJP stepped in to encash this as votes. The VHP statement on the Christian missionaries thus reflects the RSS view on the matter, for the RSS, like the BJP, has not yet given up its demand related to the Gyan Vapi mosque in Kashi and the Idgah in Mathura - that these should be handed over to the 'Hindus'.
There should not be any doubt in the minds of any Christian that it is the Brahmins who are behind this savage cruelty. It is sometimes erroneously claimed that the BJP is a Bania-dominated party; nothing could be further fom the truth. These Baniyas merely contribute money to the cause, the brains are the Brahmins. Indeed, it is no coincidence that a Brahmin, Pandit Atal Behari Vajpayee, heads the BJP and is the Prime Minister of India. The RSS was founded by Brahmins, as was the Congress Party. Everywhere, it is the Brahmin brain which is behind the massacres even when the actual perpetrators of the crimes against Christians are non-Brahmins.
The question arises - why are the Brahmin Supremacists insisting that the Christian missionaries leave ? The answer is simple, and comes from an analysis of the pattern of genocide in Nagaland. There, it was the leaders of the Christian Naga community who were first expelled by the Indian Government - the missionaries, the priests and the community leaders. All the while, false promises were given that it was only the `foreign' missionaries who were being `punished'. Once the brain of the community was destroyed, the leaderless Nagas were annihilated. This is the pattern which the Brahmin Supremacist Hindutvadins are now trying to repeat all over India: destroy the brains of the Christian community, then annihilate the leaderless Christians themselves. Indeed, it has been the strategy during mass genocides to first remove the leaders and elite of the community, such as was the case during the Soviet genocide of Poles, the Nazi extermination of Jews and the Chinese mass murders in Tiber. Then India shall have another genocide on the scales of the Sikh Holocaust or the Genocide of Kashmiri Muslims.
What is the solution to this grave problem facing the Christians ? The answer lies in unity with the Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, and all other non-Brahminist forces in the subcontinent. Awareness must be spread regarding the Brahmin Problem, and a permanent solution to this menace must be found at all costs. Mopreover, this solution should be undertaken in all parts of India, otherwise this disease shall re-infest the non-Brahmin races once the localised insurrection has subsided. Otherwise, the entire Christian community in India faces complete extinction.
-- Deepak Hansda,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/plnextch.html
Ever since Independance from Anglo-Brahmin rule in 1947, India has been under the control of Brahmins. The most vicious and totalitarian of these have belonged to the dynasty of Pandit Nehru. Indira Nehru tried to fool the people of India by marrying a Parsi, Feroze Gandhy, and then changing her name to Gandhi - a Gujarati Baniya title. However, she was always a Brahmin, and even her marriage ceremony was Vedic ! She was part and parcel of this Brahmin tyranny, as were Pandit Rajiv Gandhi, Pandit Narasimha Rao, Pandit Shastri and now Pandit Vajpayee. During these 50 years the Brahminist state has unleashed the most horrifying genoicde against virtually all non-Brahmin races. Of these, the Christians have been especially targetted for annihilation. Indeed, noted human rights activists estimate that 300,000 Christians have been killed by the Brahminist Indian Government over the last 50 years, most of them in Nagaland. -
300,000 Christians Killed in Brahminist India !
" Experts estimate that nearly 300,000 Nagas have been killed during their 50-year struggle with India, in what one journalist calls India's dirty little war."
`Abuses in Nagaland' by John Sundquist
Christian Century, 15-22 July 1998, USA
Initially, it is only the Naga Christians who were persecuted under the guise of prevention of `terrorism'. In actual fact this `Christian terrorism' was the direct result of the Brahmin-controlled Indian Government's policy of settling upper-caste Aryan Hindus in the region. In December 1998, the Brahminist Government decided to give the Christians all over India a special treat : the systematic oppression of Christians was now extended from the North-East to the rest of India. Hundreds of churches were destroyed, dozens of Christian women raped and prominent Christian leaders killed in well-organised pogroms. These were carried out by various Hindutva outfits, which had been permitted to flourish and establish widespread grass-roots networks during benign Congress and BJP regimes. These pogroms were widely condemned by the international community. Unfortunately, the thick-skinned Brahmins of these Hindutva organisations then went on to demand that all Christian missionaries leave India !
"All Christian Priests and Missionaries
Out of Hindu Rashtra !"
Brahminist Butchers demand Christian Leaders leave India
Tuesday, September 29, 1998, page 13, col. c
VHP justifies attack on missionaries
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept. 28. An attempt is being by the fanatic fringe in the RSS to virtually justify the savage attacks on missionaries on the ground that they represented 'anti-national forces' which were working against Hindu interests. This section has demanded that the Centre must throw out of the country all those who 'tempt Hindus' to convert to Christianity and who through their schools spread anti-Hindu sentiment.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an RSS outfit, today stated that the recent incidents of violence against the Christian missionaries in Jhabua and Baghpat were the result of 'anger of patriotic Hindu youth against anti-national forces'. Virtually justifying the attacks, the VHP has demanded that these missionaries be asked ``to pack up and leave the country''.
This sharply-worded statement against the missionaries comes at a time when the country has been shocked by the violence of the attack on them. In a statement, the VHP central secretary and former BJP MP, Mr. B. L. Sharma `Prem', said that 'the assault on the missionaries in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, and the violence and loot against them in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, was the direct result of conversion of Hindus to Christianity by the Christian priests'. And as if to drive home his point, he also charged the Congress Party government in Madhya Pradesh with being 'unnecessarily energetic' in dealing with the incident and 'giving it undue importance.' The VHP alleged that 'the Congress Government is behaving as if India is still under colonial rule.'
In an aggressive and challenging tone, the statement virtually warned not only the missionaries but the Congress and other parties as well. 'They, the Congress Party, may close its eyes to the black deeds of the missionaries, to their efforts to convert Hindus, but we in the VHP will not shut our eyes to the activities of these traitors,' Mr. Sharma has said.
The VHP, is in fact the mainstream organisation for carrying forward the RSS ideology at the grassroots, for preparing the ground, testing the ideas, making them popular, before the political wing, the BJP, steps in. That was exactly what happened in the Babri Masjid-Ram temple controversy. It was the VHP which spearheaded the agitation, got various Hindu priests together on a platform, built the public mood, before the BJP stepped in to encash this as votes. The VHP statement on the Christian missionaries thus reflects the RSS view on the matter, for the RSS, like the BJP, has not yet given up its demand related to the Gyan Vapi mosque in Kashi and the Idgah in Mathura - that these should be handed over to the 'Hindus'.
There should not be any doubt in the minds of any Christian that it is the Brahmins who are behind this savage cruelty. It is sometimes erroneously claimed that the BJP is a Bania-dominated party; nothing could be further fom the truth. These Baniyas merely contribute money to the cause, the brains are the Brahmins. Indeed, it is no coincidence that a Brahmin, Pandit Atal Behari Vajpayee, heads the BJP and is the Prime Minister of India. The RSS was founded by Brahmins, as was the Congress Party. Everywhere, it is the Brahmin brain which is behind the massacres even when the actual perpetrators of the crimes against Christians are non-Brahmins.
The question arises - why are the Brahmin Supremacists insisting that the Christian missionaries leave ? The answer is simple, and comes from an analysis of the pattern of genocide in Nagaland. There, it was the leaders of the Christian Naga community who were first expelled by the Indian Government - the missionaries, the priests and the community leaders. All the while, false promises were given that it was only the `foreign' missionaries who were being `punished'. Once the brain of the community was destroyed, the leaderless Nagas were annihilated. This is the pattern which the Brahmin Supremacist Hindutvadins are now trying to repeat all over India: destroy the brains of the Christian community, then annihilate the leaderless Christians themselves. Indeed, it has been the strategy during mass genocides to first remove the leaders and elite of the community, such as was the case during the Soviet genocide of Poles, the Nazi extermination of Jews and the Chinese mass murders in Tiber. Then India shall have another genocide on the scales of the Sikh Holocaust or the Genocide of Kashmiri Muslims.
What is the solution to this grave problem facing the Christians ? The answer lies in unity with the Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, and all other non-Brahminist forces in the subcontinent. Awareness must be spread regarding the Brahmin Problem, and a permanent solution to this menace must be found at all costs. Mopreover, this solution should be undertaken in all parts of India, otherwise this disease shall re-infest the non-Brahmin races once the localised insurrection has subsided. Otherwise, the entire Christian community in India faces complete extinction.
-- Deepak Hansda,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/plnextch.html
Christian Priest Shot to Death in Jamabani
New York Times, September 3, 1999
Mob Kills a Catholic Priest in India
NEW DELHI -- A Roman Catholic priest, asleep in a remote eastern hamlet where he had been counseling the poor, was slain by a mob early Thursday morning, cut down by bows and arrows as he tried to escape an attack, the police said.
The killing was in Jamabani, a village in Orissa, not far from where a Christian missionary and his two sons were killed in January. Few details were known about the new incident as authorities from the district capital, Baripada, had to travel a long distance through rough terrain to go to the scene.
The priest, who used the single name Aruldoss, made weekly visits to the village from his church in Anandapur, said a fellow priest, the Rev. Jose Thundiyl. The journey required a 20-mile ride on a motor scooter followed by a 12-mile hike.
"He had been in our diocese for five years, and he was a very good missionary," Thundiyl said. "He led a simple life. All the time he wanted to be with the poor. His interest was not in conversions. It was in organizing poor people so they knew their rights, so they knew how to live their lives better."
A companion of the priest fled from the attackers. His statement to the police said 15 or 20 men set upon them at 2 a.m., the Press Trust of India reported. Aruldoss was felled by arrows as he ran away, and he was then beaten.
Neither the attackers' identities nor their motive was known. The president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, Archbishop Henry D'Souza of Calcutta, blamed a hate campaign by Hindu extremists. "The poor priest and his associate," D'Souza said, "seem to have been attacked for the only reason that they are Christians."
Times of India , Friday 3 September 1999
Christian priest lynched in Orissa village
BHUBANESWAR: In yet another gruesome incident similar to the Staines' murder case, irate tribals, armed with bows and arrows, attacked and killed a Roman Catholic priest in the inaccessible Jambani village under Mahuldiha police station in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district in the early hours of Thursday.
A church, set up in the village about 3 years back, was also set ablaze by the gang of 15 persons.
The victim has been identified as Arul Doss, priest of a church near Anandpur in Keonjhar district. The incident occurred around 2 a.m. when a dance programme was going on in the village, which was reportedly organised on the occasion of a congregation of converted Christians there.
The congregation, organised by the local church, was attended by Mr Doss who had reached the place earlier in the day. This was, however, opposed by non-Christians in the village, which possibly led to the violence, preliminary official reports reaching here said.
One person injured in the attack has since been admitted to the nearby Kaptipada hospital, the report added.
There are about 20 Christian families in the village, which is located in a thick jungle area, about 15 km from Mahuldiha police station, the report said.
Home secretary Ajit Tripathy, when contacted, maintained that the details of the incident and the circumstances leading to the violence were being collected. The village is not connected by any motorable road.
He said the incident was first reported to the police by the chowkidar (village guard) of the village. The home secretary could not say whether or not Dara Singh, who was involved in the Staines' murder on January 22 and the murder of a Muslim trader, Sheikh Rehman, on August 26 at the nearby Padiabeda village, was involved in this incident. Like the previous two incidents, the latest killing occurred on the day of a Hindu festival, Janmasthami. The Staines killing had occurred on the day of Saraswati Puja, while Rehman was hacked to death on Raksha Bandhan day.
Inspector general of police Amarandan Patnaik, deputy inspector general, district superintendent of police and other senior officials have rushed to the spot. No arrests have been made so far.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee strongly condemned the killing of the Christian priest and asked the state government to ``show its efficiency'' by arresting the culprits.
``I strongly condemn the dastardly killing of the Christian priest and especially urge the government of Orissa to show its efficiency and capability in quickly arresting the culprits in this and previous such crimes,'' the Prime Minister's statement said.
Mr Vajpayee said the perpetrators of this heinous crime, irrespective of their affiliation, must be immediately nabbed and brought to book.
``It is extremely distressing that such murderous attacks on representatives of a minority community should be taking place unchecked and with alarming regularity in Orissa,'' he said, while expressing his condolences to the family of the priest.
``Rather than making political capital out of such incidents on the eve of elections, all political parties and social organisations should join together in preventing them,'' Mr Vajpayee said.
Ironically, the incident occurred barely a few hours after the ruling Congress and several other political parties had observed a state- wide bandh to protest against the continuing attacks on minorities. The call for the bandh was given by the Janata Dal (secular) and Left parties.
The Janata Dal (United) strongly condemned the killing and blamed the state government for its ``total failure'' to protect the minorities. Party spokesman Mohan Prakash said the state government had repeatedly failed in apprehending the culprits and bringing them to book.
He said the repeated failures of the Congress government did not auger well for the people of Orissa and it was time for them to teach the government a lesson. end TOI
Statesman, September 3, 1999
Catholic priest slain in Orissa
BHUBANESWAR, Sept. 2. - A Roman Catholic priest was killed at a remote village of Orissa's Mayurbhanj district late last night.
An unidentified group of assailants attacked Fr Arul Doss at Jambani in Mahuldia area at 2 am, shot him with arrows and then set a church on fire.
The incident was a ghastly reminder of the Staineses' murder at Manoharpur on 22-23 January; strikingly similar because the group attacked the priest and local Christians engaged in festivities after organising a prayer meeting last night.
The cause of the murder is yet to be ascertained. Quoting a preliminary report, UNI said it was the manifestation of a conflict between converted tribal Christians and non-converted tribals.
Condemning the "dastardly killing", the Prime Minister urged the Orissa government to show efficiency in immediately arresting the perpetrators of this "heinous crime" and previous such incidents, irrespective of their affiliation.
"It is extremely distressing that such murderous attacks on representatives of the minority community should be taking place unchecked and with alarming regularity in Orissa," Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee said in New Delhi.
The Orissa chief minister blamed "non-secular" for the killing; the incident occurred in the "area of operation" of Dara Singh, wanted for the Staineses' murder and a Muslim trader.
"Any killing on the eve of elections can only be the handiwork of non-secular forces aimed at creating confusion in the minds of voters", he said without blaming any particular organisation.
Fr Doss, a south Indian based at Sinduria near Anandpur, was touring several villages since 31 August. He left for Jambani from Sarat village with Mr Darsan Birua and Mr Katesingh Khuntia.
They reached the village, organised a prayer meeting and were enjoying a dance programme by locals when a group armed with lathis, bow and arrows attacked them.
As panic-stricken villagers, including Fr Doss, tried to escape, the attackers shot at the priest piercing his body with arrows. The 15-18 member group escaped, but not before setting ablaze the church.
Birua and Khuntia, beaten up with lathis, rushed to Sarat police station and then to Mahuldia to lodge a complaint. Being outsiders, they couldn't identify the assailants.
Senior police officers rushed to the spot early this morning, but a swollen Salindi river and the inaccessible village not connected by roads delayed them.
Residents of Thakurmunda tried to reach Jambani, but in vain. There were snakes on the way and one had to trek 8-10 km, they complained.
The three recent gruesome incidents in Orissa, beginning with the Staineses' murder at Manoharpur; trader Sheikh Rehman's killing at Padiabeda and the latest one of Fr Doss, have occurred during festivals. The Australian missionary and his two sons were burnt alive few days after Saraswati Puja; Rehman was killed on Raksha Bandhan day, and today was Janmastami.
Parties in the state were quick to cash in on the latest incident. The Left, Janata Dal-Secular and Congress blamed "communal forces"; the BJP demanded Central rule and ally BJD said the Congress had lost moral right to rule the state.
Reactions: The NCM has blamed the Orissa government for killings of Fr Doss and Sheikh Rehman. Professor Tahir Mahmood, chairman, didn't rule out political motive behind the killings. "Why has all this resumed on the eve of elections?"
A "shocked" Delhi Archbishop, Alan de Lastic, sought urgent steps against the guilty.
The Calcutta Archbishop and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India blamed fundamentalists' continuous hate campaign against Christians.
These reports from respected media sources reveal that the Brahmin-Occupied Government has now started targetting Christians.
These terrorists also receive substantial support from the Pseudo-Secular establishment, which is merely another front for Hindutva. It must be pointed out that the killings occurred at a time when Orissa was ruled by the Congress Party. Indeed, after the truly barbaric killings of Christians in Orissa, the DIG, Police, Mr. Mohapatra (of course, a Brahmin !) publicly stated that the Christians were being killed because they were `evil people'. No severe action was taken against this person; as a result of an international outcry he was merely transferred to another post.
This incidence also gives the lie spread about by the Brahmin-controlled media that only `Foreign Missionaries' were being targetted. Was Father Arul Doss not an Indian ? It is the entire Christian community which is sought to be ethnically cleansed by the Hindutvadins. In this, the `soft' Pseudo-Secular Hindutva Congress shares most of the blame as the brain behind the massacres; the `right-wing' Hindutva parties are merely the henchmen on the ground.
-- Surinder Majhi,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/jamabani.html
Mob Kills a Catholic Priest in India
NEW DELHI -- A Roman Catholic priest, asleep in a remote eastern hamlet where he had been counseling the poor, was slain by a mob early Thursday morning, cut down by bows and arrows as he tried to escape an attack, the police said.
The killing was in Jamabani, a village in Orissa, not far from where a Christian missionary and his two sons were killed in January. Few details were known about the new incident as authorities from the district capital, Baripada, had to travel a long distance through rough terrain to go to the scene.
The priest, who used the single name Aruldoss, made weekly visits to the village from his church in Anandapur, said a fellow priest, the Rev. Jose Thundiyl. The journey required a 20-mile ride on a motor scooter followed by a 12-mile hike.
"He had been in our diocese for five years, and he was a very good missionary," Thundiyl said. "He led a simple life. All the time he wanted to be with the poor. His interest was not in conversions. It was in organizing poor people so they knew their rights, so they knew how to live their lives better."
A companion of the priest fled from the attackers. His statement to the police said 15 or 20 men set upon them at 2 a.m., the Press Trust of India reported. Aruldoss was felled by arrows as he ran away, and he was then beaten.
Neither the attackers' identities nor their motive was known. The president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, Archbishop Henry D'Souza of Calcutta, blamed a hate campaign by Hindu extremists. "The poor priest and his associate," D'Souza said, "seem to have been attacked for the only reason that they are Christians."
Times of India , Friday 3 September 1999
Christian priest lynched in Orissa village
BHUBANESWAR: In yet another gruesome incident similar to the Staines' murder case, irate tribals, armed with bows and arrows, attacked and killed a Roman Catholic priest in the inaccessible Jambani village under Mahuldiha police station in Orissa's Mayurbhanj district in the early hours of Thursday.
A church, set up in the village about 3 years back, was also set ablaze by the gang of 15 persons.
The victim has been identified as Arul Doss, priest of a church near Anandpur in Keonjhar district. The incident occurred around 2 a.m. when a dance programme was going on in the village, which was reportedly organised on the occasion of a congregation of converted Christians there.
The congregation, organised by the local church, was attended by Mr Doss who had reached the place earlier in the day. This was, however, opposed by non-Christians in the village, which possibly led to the violence, preliminary official reports reaching here said.
One person injured in the attack has since been admitted to the nearby Kaptipada hospital, the report added.
There are about 20 Christian families in the village, which is located in a thick jungle area, about 15 km from Mahuldiha police station, the report said.
Home secretary Ajit Tripathy, when contacted, maintained that the details of the incident and the circumstances leading to the violence were being collected. The village is not connected by any motorable road.
He said the incident was first reported to the police by the chowkidar (village guard) of the village. The home secretary could not say whether or not Dara Singh, who was involved in the Staines' murder on January 22 and the murder of a Muslim trader, Sheikh Rehman, on August 26 at the nearby Padiabeda village, was involved in this incident. Like the previous two incidents, the latest killing occurred on the day of a Hindu festival, Janmasthami. The Staines killing had occurred on the day of Saraswati Puja, while Rehman was hacked to death on Raksha Bandhan day.
Inspector general of police Amarandan Patnaik, deputy inspector general, district superintendent of police and other senior officials have rushed to the spot. No arrests have been made so far.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee strongly condemned the killing of the Christian priest and asked the state government to ``show its efficiency'' by arresting the culprits.
``I strongly condemn the dastardly killing of the Christian priest and especially urge the government of Orissa to show its efficiency and capability in quickly arresting the culprits in this and previous such crimes,'' the Prime Minister's statement said.
Mr Vajpayee said the perpetrators of this heinous crime, irrespective of their affiliation, must be immediately nabbed and brought to book.
``It is extremely distressing that such murderous attacks on representatives of a minority community should be taking place unchecked and with alarming regularity in Orissa,'' he said, while expressing his condolences to the family of the priest.
``Rather than making political capital out of such incidents on the eve of elections, all political parties and social organisations should join together in preventing them,'' Mr Vajpayee said.
Ironically, the incident occurred barely a few hours after the ruling Congress and several other political parties had observed a state- wide bandh to protest against the continuing attacks on minorities. The call for the bandh was given by the Janata Dal (secular) and Left parties.
The Janata Dal (United) strongly condemned the killing and blamed the state government for its ``total failure'' to protect the minorities. Party spokesman Mohan Prakash said the state government had repeatedly failed in apprehending the culprits and bringing them to book.
He said the repeated failures of the Congress government did not auger well for the people of Orissa and it was time for them to teach the government a lesson. end TOI
Statesman, September 3, 1999
Catholic priest slain in Orissa
BHUBANESWAR, Sept. 2. - A Roman Catholic priest was killed at a remote village of Orissa's Mayurbhanj district late last night.
An unidentified group of assailants attacked Fr Arul Doss at Jambani in Mahuldia area at 2 am, shot him with arrows and then set a church on fire.
The incident was a ghastly reminder of the Staineses' murder at Manoharpur on 22-23 January; strikingly similar because the group attacked the priest and local Christians engaged in festivities after organising a prayer meeting last night.
The cause of the murder is yet to be ascertained. Quoting a preliminary report, UNI said it was the manifestation of a conflict between converted tribal Christians and non-converted tribals.
Condemning the "dastardly killing", the Prime Minister urged the Orissa government to show efficiency in immediately arresting the perpetrators of this "heinous crime" and previous such incidents, irrespective of their affiliation.
"It is extremely distressing that such murderous attacks on representatives of the minority community should be taking place unchecked and with alarming regularity in Orissa," Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee said in New Delhi.
The Orissa chief minister blamed "non-secular" for the killing; the incident occurred in the "area of operation" of Dara Singh, wanted for the Staineses' murder and a Muslim trader.
"Any killing on the eve of elections can only be the handiwork of non-secular forces aimed at creating confusion in the minds of voters", he said without blaming any particular organisation.
Fr Doss, a south Indian based at Sinduria near Anandpur, was touring several villages since 31 August. He left for Jambani from Sarat village with Mr Darsan Birua and Mr Katesingh Khuntia.
They reached the village, organised a prayer meeting and were enjoying a dance programme by locals when a group armed with lathis, bow and arrows attacked them.
As panic-stricken villagers, including Fr Doss, tried to escape, the attackers shot at the priest piercing his body with arrows. The 15-18 member group escaped, but not before setting ablaze the church.
Birua and Khuntia, beaten up with lathis, rushed to Sarat police station and then to Mahuldia to lodge a complaint. Being outsiders, they couldn't identify the assailants.
Senior police officers rushed to the spot early this morning, but a swollen Salindi river and the inaccessible village not connected by roads delayed them.
Residents of Thakurmunda tried to reach Jambani, but in vain. There were snakes on the way and one had to trek 8-10 km, they complained.
The three recent gruesome incidents in Orissa, beginning with the Staineses' murder at Manoharpur; trader Sheikh Rehman's killing at Padiabeda and the latest one of Fr Doss, have occurred during festivals. The Australian missionary and his two sons were burnt alive few days after Saraswati Puja; Rehman was killed on Raksha Bandhan day, and today was Janmastami.
Parties in the state were quick to cash in on the latest incident. The Left, Janata Dal-Secular and Congress blamed "communal forces"; the BJP demanded Central rule and ally BJD said the Congress had lost moral right to rule the state.
Reactions: The NCM has blamed the Orissa government for killings of Fr Doss and Sheikh Rehman. Professor Tahir Mahmood, chairman, didn't rule out political motive behind the killings. "Why has all this resumed on the eve of elections?"
A "shocked" Delhi Archbishop, Alan de Lastic, sought urgent steps against the guilty.
The Calcutta Archbishop and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India blamed fundamentalists' continuous hate campaign against Christians.
These reports from respected media sources reveal that the Brahmin-Occupied Government has now started targetting Christians.
These terrorists also receive substantial support from the Pseudo-Secular establishment, which is merely another front for Hindutva. It must be pointed out that the killings occurred at a time when Orissa was ruled by the Congress Party. Indeed, after the truly barbaric killings of Christians in Orissa, the DIG, Police, Mr. Mohapatra (of course, a Brahmin !) publicly stated that the Christians were being killed because they were `evil people'. No severe action was taken against this person; as a result of an international outcry he was merely transferred to another post.
This incidence also gives the lie spread about by the Brahmin-controlled media that only `Foreign Missionaries' were being targetted. Was Father Arul Doss not an Indian ? It is the entire Christian community which is sought to be ethnically cleansed by the Hindutvadins. In this, the `soft' Pseudo-Secular Hindutva Congress shares most of the blame as the brain behind the massacres; the `right-wing' Hindutva parties are merely the henchmen on the ground.
-- Surinder Majhi,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/jamabani.html
Graham Staines and his sons Burnt Alive
The advent of Christmas, 1998 marks a shift in the pattern of genocide meted out by the Brahmin-Occupied Government of India. After Pandit Nehru and the Brahmins partitioned India in 1947, engineering the Partition Holocaust, the Brahmins under Indira Gandhi targetted the innocent Sikhs, murdering 300,000 of them. Subsequently, Pandit Rajiv Gandhi invaded Sri Lanka and exterminated more than 10,000 Tamils there. Then it was the turn of the Indian Muslims : Pandit Vajpayee destroyed the Babri Masjid and murdered 10,000 Muslims in well-organised pogroms. Then the wrath of the Brahmins descended upon the helpless Christians. Hundreds of Christians were massacred, scores of nuns raped, and dozens of churches demolished. One of the incidents which occurred during the systematic persecution and mass murder of Indian Christians was the savage murder of Graham Staines.
Graham Staines was an Australian missionary working in the Eastern districts of Orissa, one of India's poorest states. He was involved in curing leprosy amongst the Dalits, the Black Untouchables of India. Dedicated and hard-working, Graham Staines regularly toured the region in order to reach inaccessible Dalit villages. It was common for him to sleep overnight in his jeep on account of poor communication and transport facilities. On one such night, a mob of 100 brainwashed Brahminist Hindu fanatics cowardly surrounded the jeep Graham Staines was sleeping in, and torched it. Graham Staines was burned alive. Most shocking was that Graham's two infant sons also perished in the blaze. Even the Brahminist Pseudo-Secular Press of India could not hide a crime of such enormity from international view -
The Indian Express, Bhubaneswar, Jan 23, 1999
Missionary, sons set afire
by Srimoy Kar & Bijay Chaki
BHUBANESWAR, Jan 23: The campaign against Christians, so far largely limited to Gujarat, took an ominous turn with an Australian missionary and his two sons being torched to death in Keonjhar district early this morning.
Based in Baripada since 1965, Graham Stewart Staines, 58, ran a leprosy hospital and was the secretary and treasurer of the Evangelical Missionaries Society in Mayurbhanj. Staines was sleeping in his jeep with his two sons, nine-year-old Philip and seven-year-old Timothy, when a group of 100 people allegedly poured petrol and set the vehicle ablaze. The incident occurred in Manoharpur under the Anandpur police station.
According to reports from Baripada, another Australian, Gilbert Venge, and a lecturer, Rajendra Swain, who accompanied Steins to Manoharpur, escaped as they were sleeping inside the village church. The attackers spared the church.
Subhas Chouhan, convenor of the state unit of Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, alleged that Staines was killed because he was ``proselytising.'' Sayingthat people may have killed him in a ``fit of rage,'' Chouhan said that the issue should not be communalised.
Janata Dal president Ashok Das has blamed the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for the incident. He also criticised prime minister A B Vajpayee for giving a call for a national debate on conversions.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Government and the Congress party. While no official word came from either, both the Home Ministry and the Congress high command are keeping a close tab.
Home Ministry sources said a report from the Orissa Government would be sought. Vajpayee has also been alerted about the incident. Meanwhile, Australian High Commission officials told The Indian Express in New Delhi that they were still awaiting details. A consular official is planning to fly to Calcutta en route to Orissa tomorrow while the High Commissioner has spoken to Home Secretary B P Singh about the incident.
This is the second incident within the last two months when Christianshave been killed in Orissa. Two undertrial prisoners, both Christian, were dragged out from prison by a tribal mob and burnt to death in front of the police at R. Udaygiri on December 8. Besides, 111 houses belonging to the community were also burnt to ashes. Sources said some villagers tried to prevent the mob from setting Staines's jeep ablaze but were chased away. It was regular for Staines to spend the night in the jeep whenever he was on tour, sources said. Staines, described by local residents as ``popular and affable'' was well known for his charity work. He had gone to Monaharpur yesterday afternoon to attend a camp organised by the local church. He is survived by his wife Glades and daughter Easter, 13, both of whom were at Baripada.
Glades said she was ``greatly shocked but not angry.'' She is believed to have told the Australian High Commission that she and her daughter ``are not stranded in Baripada and the locals are sympathetic.'' The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.
Prayer halls attacked
A group of about 25 persons attacked two prayer halls in tribal-dominated Doswada village under Songadh rural police station in Surat on Friday evening.
According to the police, the miscreants destroyed furniture, musical instruments and walls of the prayer halls managed by the governing bodies of the Indian National Gospel Churches Federation and Good News Ministries Churches of Northern India for the last one decade.
Congress-BJP Conspiracy
The incident occurred in the Congress-ruled state of Orissa. Almost one year has since passed, and as of December, 1999, the culprits behind the savage killing have not been nabbed. Indeed, Congress is just a Pseudo-Secular mask behind which the fanatic Hindutvadins operate. A few months after the killing, the Wadhwa Commission Report into the inquiry, issued, once again, under the Brahmin-controlled Congress Party, said that the Hindu Parivar was innocent ! It is to be remembered that this same `Secular' Congress Party was in power when the Babri Masjid was destroyed, this same `Secular' Congress was in power when 300,000 Sikhs were massacred, and this same `Secular' Congress was in power when the Indian Army murdered 10,000 Tamils in Sri Lanka.
After the Wadhwa Commission Report, the same outfit, the Bajrang Dal, went on a killing spree to celebrate - another handful of Christians were murdered !
Who Killed Staines ?
It was clear from the onset that the Hindu Parivar was behind the savage and cowardly murder. Indeed, a few days later, a lower-caste member of the Hindu Parivar, Madan Lal Khurana, laden with pangs of guilt, publicly declared that the Hindu Parivar was responsible. Mr. Khurana was a member of the BJP Union ministry, and was very close to the inner circles of the BJP. He was forced to resign from the party on account of his being of lower Bania caste. In a public statement, he revealed that an organisation called `Bajrang Dal', founded by Brahmins from the RSS, was behind the incident. -
Times of India, Feb 1, 1999
Staines' killing: Khurana points to Bajrang Dal
NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Madan Lal Khurana on Sunday told newspersons a senior home ministry official had informed him that the Bajrang Dal was involved in the killing of the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa.
The remarks are significant as BJP president Kushabhau Thakre and Union home minister L K Advani had denied any involvement of the Bajrang Dal in the killings.
Mr Khurana who resigned from the Union Cabinet on Saturday, said ``A senior officer of the home ministry told me that the Bajrang Dal was allegedly involved in the Orissa incident.''
In fact, in a strongly-worded letter to Mr Thakre, Mr Khurana said the ``inhuman burning alive'' of the Australian missionary and his two sons had ``totally shattered'' him and he was feeling ``ashamed''.
Mr Khurana, condemned the ``pseudo-Hindutva'' being practised by certain sections. ``What we understood as Hindutva in the (Sangh) Parivar was not about destroying cricket pitches, burning cinema halls or burning places of worship. This is pseudo-Hindutva and I am against this,'' he said.
In his letter, copies of which were released to the Press on Sunday, he said this incident had further lowered the image of the party which had already suffered a setback due to the Hindu-Christian riots in Gujarat and the digging up of a cricket pitch by Shiv Sainiks in Delhi.
He said the ``recurrence of such incidents lends credence to my apprehension that some of the members of the Sangh Parivar are actively engaged in bringing a bad name and destabilising the Vajpayee government. In fact, I have been aware of their attitude towards Mr Vajpayee since the '50s''.
Clarifying his remarks on the Parivar, he said, ``I am not anti-Sangh Parivar with which I have been associated for the last 50 years, but only against those in the Parivar who want to tarnish Prime Minister Vajpayee's image.''
He said whatever he was today was due to the Parivar. Therefore, ``Nobody should abuse me of being anti-Parivar,'' he said, adding, ``I always fought for the organisation. I am not hankering after office. I have not committed any sin and I feel I did the right thing.''
In the letter, the second to Mr Thakre, he said he was deeply hurt to see the ``pitiable'' condition of the party as ``we have learnt since our childhood that the organisation is greater than the individual, and the country is all the more greater than the organisation''.
Mr Khurana said he had written these letters as he wanted to ``atone'' for what was happening in the country, as these went against the very precepts of Hindutva which he had learnt at the Sangh Parivar during the last 50 years.
These words from a highly-placed person within the Hindu Parivar ascertain that the Sangh was behind the gruesome killing. What is shocking, however, is that the Pseudo-Secular Indian media tried to somehow shift the blame onto the CIA and Pakistan !
Pseudo-Secularist Media : Hindutva Parivar is Innocent
Behind the facade of `secularism' put up by the Brahmin-Occupied Government of India lies the ugly face of Hindutva. Another fact which the Brahminist media chose to ignore is consistent reports that the killers sawed their victims alive, cut off pieces of the flesh of their victims, and then consumed it as per the Vedic rite of purushamedha or human sacrifice. Local reports indicate that it is only after the skin and flesh of the victims was peeled off and consumed by the cannibalistic Hindu fanatics that the innocent Christians were burned alive. However, all this was denied by the Pseudo-Secular Press, which claimed that it was somehow China which was behind the gruesome killing !
Monday, 1 Febuary 1999
Thakre disapproves of Khurana's allegation Fears destabilisation of Govt by Sangh members
NEW DELHI: BJP president Kushabhau Thakre said the ``campaign'' against minorities in the country was part of a ``conspiracy'' to defame the BJP and the government headed by it, and ruled out the involvement of Sangh Parivar outfits like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal in the recent violence against Christians.
``Those who are singing a bhajan against these organisations...it is not a new bhajan. Even when they were in power, they could not find any evidence (against these organisations) in any violent incidents,'' he said.
Mr Thakre said the conspiracy was hatched by foreign powers who were not happy with this government because it was not ``pliable''.
``Give the dog a bad name and hang it,'' he said, in reply to a question whether the Sangh Parivar outfits were emboldened because of a BJP-led coalition at the Centre. The BJP leader said the charge that the Bajrang Dal was involved in the killing of the Australian missionary in Orissa was incorrect since the ``Bajrang Dal does not exist there (Keonjhar district in Orissa where the killing occurred).''
He disapproved of party leader Madan Lal Khurana's allegations against the Sangh Parivar organisations, saying, ``In politics, do not panic.''
Though the Vajpayee government would not spare any culprit involved in the recent attacks on Christians, even if he belonged to the BJP, VHP, RSS or Bajrang Dal, he said he would not condemn anybody just to please these parties.
Asked to identify the foreign forces behind the conspiracy, he said, ``It is obvious. They are those who are supporting Pakistan's clandestine nuclear programme.''
Mr Thakre viewed all these incidents as part of a conspiracy by ``vested interests who do not want to see India grow strong. So far, the governments had been pliable but this government is not pliable.''
Meanwhile, the Congress and the CPI lashed out at the BJP-led government for failing to prevent attacks on minorities, even as defence minister George Fernandes maintained there were ``forces within and outside'' trying to destabilise the government.
While Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said conversion was a constitutional right and sought a central legislation on the issue, Mr Fernandes said certain elements were exploiting ``indigent circumstances'' to create a crisis.
Participating in a Doordarshan programme ``On the Record'', to be telecast on Monday, Mr Fernandes, while speaking on the recent attacks on Christians, said, ``There are forces within and outside who don't want this government.''
Agreeing with him, minister of state for human resource development Uma Bharati said there were ``powerful countries which did not want the BJP-led coalition to last''.
To this, Mr Mukherjee said if Mr Fernandes was making such allegations about certain foreign governments, ``I would like to know what initiative the government has taken in this regard with these countries.''
Mr Fernandes blamed the state governments where the incidents had occurred for not having taken action despite having received reports about threats or prevailing tension. (PTI)
It may now help to objectively analyse the real persons behind the attack. Firstly, the blame has been placed on one Dara Singh, a person of somewhat lower caste. This Dara Singh is a member of the Bajarang Dal, an outfit headed by a Jain, Thus, most of the blame for the incident has been placed on the OBCs and Jains. However, behind this veil of secrecy lie the Brahmins. It is indeed, Pandit Vajpayee and the Brahmins of the Congress and RSS who are behind the killing. Note the following :
The RSS was created by the Brahmin Hegdewar.
The Bajrang Dal was created by the RSS
The Bajrang Dal is part of the Hindutva Parivar, an umbrella organisation headed by the BJP.
The BJP is headed by a Brahmin, Pandit Vajpayee who is currently the Prime Minister of India.
The Brahmin-controlled Congress Party was in power in Orissa when the incident took place. It is this same Congress which arranged for the concocted Wadhwa Commission Report.
Thus, the henchmen on the ground are non-Brahmin OBCs and Jains, yet the brains behind Graham Staines' killing are the Brahmins. The Brahmin is much too clever to get his hands dirtied, he hides behind the facade. Even if someone gets convicted, it will be Dara Singh, or the Jain head of the Bajrang Dal. Pandit Vajpayee and the Brahmin brains behind the murder shall get away scot-clean. Once again, Staines' killing illustrates the effects of the Brahmin philosophy of `Divide and Rule'.
-- Surinder Majhi,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/staines.html
Graham Staines was an Australian missionary working in the Eastern districts of Orissa, one of India's poorest states. He was involved in curing leprosy amongst the Dalits, the Black Untouchables of India. Dedicated and hard-working, Graham Staines regularly toured the region in order to reach inaccessible Dalit villages. It was common for him to sleep overnight in his jeep on account of poor communication and transport facilities. On one such night, a mob of 100 brainwashed Brahminist Hindu fanatics cowardly surrounded the jeep Graham Staines was sleeping in, and torched it. Graham Staines was burned alive. Most shocking was that Graham's two infant sons also perished in the blaze. Even the Brahminist Pseudo-Secular Press of India could not hide a crime of such enormity from international view -
The Indian Express, Bhubaneswar, Jan 23, 1999
Missionary, sons set afire
by Srimoy Kar & Bijay Chaki
BHUBANESWAR, Jan 23: The campaign against Christians, so far largely limited to Gujarat, took an ominous turn with an Australian missionary and his two sons being torched to death in Keonjhar district early this morning.
Based in Baripada since 1965, Graham Stewart Staines, 58, ran a leprosy hospital and was the secretary and treasurer of the Evangelical Missionaries Society in Mayurbhanj. Staines was sleeping in his jeep with his two sons, nine-year-old Philip and seven-year-old Timothy, when a group of 100 people allegedly poured petrol and set the vehicle ablaze. The incident occurred in Manoharpur under the Anandpur police station.
According to reports from Baripada, another Australian, Gilbert Venge, and a lecturer, Rajendra Swain, who accompanied Steins to Manoharpur, escaped as they were sleeping inside the village church. The attackers spared the church.
Subhas Chouhan, convenor of the state unit of Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, alleged that Staines was killed because he was ``proselytising.'' Sayingthat people may have killed him in a ``fit of rage,'' Chouhan said that the issue should not be communalised.
Janata Dal president Ashok Das has blamed the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for the incident. He also criticised prime minister A B Vajpayee for giving a call for a national debate on conversions.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Government and the Congress party. While no official word came from either, both the Home Ministry and the Congress high command are keeping a close tab.
Home Ministry sources said a report from the Orissa Government would be sought. Vajpayee has also been alerted about the incident. Meanwhile, Australian High Commission officials told The Indian Express in New Delhi that they were still awaiting details. A consular official is planning to fly to Calcutta en route to Orissa tomorrow while the High Commissioner has spoken to Home Secretary B P Singh about the incident.
This is the second incident within the last two months when Christianshave been killed in Orissa. Two undertrial prisoners, both Christian, were dragged out from prison by a tribal mob and burnt to death in front of the police at R. Udaygiri on December 8. Besides, 111 houses belonging to the community were also burnt to ashes. Sources said some villagers tried to prevent the mob from setting Staines's jeep ablaze but were chased away. It was regular for Staines to spend the night in the jeep whenever he was on tour, sources said. Staines, described by local residents as ``popular and affable'' was well known for his charity work. He had gone to Monaharpur yesterday afternoon to attend a camp organised by the local church. He is survived by his wife Glades and daughter Easter, 13, both of whom were at Baripada.
Glades said she was ``greatly shocked but not angry.'' She is believed to have told the Australian High Commission that she and her daughter ``are not stranded in Baripada and the locals are sympathetic.'' The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.
Prayer halls attacked
A group of about 25 persons attacked two prayer halls in tribal-dominated Doswada village under Songadh rural police station in Surat on Friday evening.
According to the police, the miscreants destroyed furniture, musical instruments and walls of the prayer halls managed by the governing bodies of the Indian National Gospel Churches Federation and Good News Ministries Churches of Northern India for the last one decade.
Congress-BJP Conspiracy
The incident occurred in the Congress-ruled state of Orissa. Almost one year has since passed, and as of December, 1999, the culprits behind the savage killing have not been nabbed. Indeed, Congress is just a Pseudo-Secular mask behind which the fanatic Hindutvadins operate. A few months after the killing, the Wadhwa Commission Report into the inquiry, issued, once again, under the Brahmin-controlled Congress Party, said that the Hindu Parivar was innocent ! It is to be remembered that this same `Secular' Congress Party was in power when the Babri Masjid was destroyed, this same `Secular' Congress was in power when 300,000 Sikhs were massacred, and this same `Secular' Congress was in power when the Indian Army murdered 10,000 Tamils in Sri Lanka.
After the Wadhwa Commission Report, the same outfit, the Bajrang Dal, went on a killing spree to celebrate - another handful of Christians were murdered !
Who Killed Staines ?
It was clear from the onset that the Hindu Parivar was behind the savage and cowardly murder. Indeed, a few days later, a lower-caste member of the Hindu Parivar, Madan Lal Khurana, laden with pangs of guilt, publicly declared that the Hindu Parivar was responsible. Mr. Khurana was a member of the BJP Union ministry, and was very close to the inner circles of the BJP. He was forced to resign from the party on account of his being of lower Bania caste. In a public statement, he revealed that an organisation called `Bajrang Dal', founded by Brahmins from the RSS, was behind the incident. -
Times of India, Feb 1, 1999
Staines' killing: Khurana points to Bajrang Dal
NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Madan Lal Khurana on Sunday told newspersons a senior home ministry official had informed him that the Bajrang Dal was involved in the killing of the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa.
The remarks are significant as BJP president Kushabhau Thakre and Union home minister L K Advani had denied any involvement of the Bajrang Dal in the killings.
Mr Khurana who resigned from the Union Cabinet on Saturday, said ``A senior officer of the home ministry told me that the Bajrang Dal was allegedly involved in the Orissa incident.''
In fact, in a strongly-worded letter to Mr Thakre, Mr Khurana said the ``inhuman burning alive'' of the Australian missionary and his two sons had ``totally shattered'' him and he was feeling ``ashamed''.
Mr Khurana, condemned the ``pseudo-Hindutva'' being practised by certain sections. ``What we understood as Hindutva in the (Sangh) Parivar was not about destroying cricket pitches, burning cinema halls or burning places of worship. This is pseudo-Hindutva and I am against this,'' he said.
In his letter, copies of which were released to the Press on Sunday, he said this incident had further lowered the image of the party which had already suffered a setback due to the Hindu-Christian riots in Gujarat and the digging up of a cricket pitch by Shiv Sainiks in Delhi.
He said the ``recurrence of such incidents lends credence to my apprehension that some of the members of the Sangh Parivar are actively engaged in bringing a bad name and destabilising the Vajpayee government. In fact, I have been aware of their attitude towards Mr Vajpayee since the '50s''.
Clarifying his remarks on the Parivar, he said, ``I am not anti-Sangh Parivar with which I have been associated for the last 50 years, but only against those in the Parivar who want to tarnish Prime Minister Vajpayee's image.''
He said whatever he was today was due to the Parivar. Therefore, ``Nobody should abuse me of being anti-Parivar,'' he said, adding, ``I always fought for the organisation. I am not hankering after office. I have not committed any sin and I feel I did the right thing.''
In the letter, the second to Mr Thakre, he said he was deeply hurt to see the ``pitiable'' condition of the party as ``we have learnt since our childhood that the organisation is greater than the individual, and the country is all the more greater than the organisation''.
Mr Khurana said he had written these letters as he wanted to ``atone'' for what was happening in the country, as these went against the very precepts of Hindutva which he had learnt at the Sangh Parivar during the last 50 years.
These words from a highly-placed person within the Hindu Parivar ascertain that the Sangh was behind the gruesome killing. What is shocking, however, is that the Pseudo-Secular Indian media tried to somehow shift the blame onto the CIA and Pakistan !
Pseudo-Secularist Media : Hindutva Parivar is Innocent
Behind the facade of `secularism' put up by the Brahmin-Occupied Government of India lies the ugly face of Hindutva. Another fact which the Brahminist media chose to ignore is consistent reports that the killers sawed their victims alive, cut off pieces of the flesh of their victims, and then consumed it as per the Vedic rite of purushamedha or human sacrifice. Local reports indicate that it is only after the skin and flesh of the victims was peeled off and consumed by the cannibalistic Hindu fanatics that the innocent Christians were burned alive. However, all this was denied by the Pseudo-Secular Press, which claimed that it was somehow China which was behind the gruesome killing !
Monday, 1 Febuary 1999
Thakre disapproves of Khurana's allegation Fears destabilisation of Govt by Sangh members
NEW DELHI: BJP president Kushabhau Thakre said the ``campaign'' against minorities in the country was part of a ``conspiracy'' to defame the BJP and the government headed by it, and ruled out the involvement of Sangh Parivar outfits like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal in the recent violence against Christians.
``Those who are singing a bhajan against these organisations...it is not a new bhajan. Even when they were in power, they could not find any evidence (against these organisations) in any violent incidents,'' he said.
Mr Thakre said the conspiracy was hatched by foreign powers who were not happy with this government because it was not ``pliable''.
``Give the dog a bad name and hang it,'' he said, in reply to a question whether the Sangh Parivar outfits were emboldened because of a BJP-led coalition at the Centre. The BJP leader said the charge that the Bajrang Dal was involved in the killing of the Australian missionary in Orissa was incorrect since the ``Bajrang Dal does not exist there (Keonjhar district in Orissa where the killing occurred).''
He disapproved of party leader Madan Lal Khurana's allegations against the Sangh Parivar organisations, saying, ``In politics, do not panic.''
Though the Vajpayee government would not spare any culprit involved in the recent attacks on Christians, even if he belonged to the BJP, VHP, RSS or Bajrang Dal, he said he would not condemn anybody just to please these parties.
Asked to identify the foreign forces behind the conspiracy, he said, ``It is obvious. They are those who are supporting Pakistan's clandestine nuclear programme.''
Mr Thakre viewed all these incidents as part of a conspiracy by ``vested interests who do not want to see India grow strong. So far, the governments had been pliable but this government is not pliable.''
Meanwhile, the Congress and the CPI lashed out at the BJP-led government for failing to prevent attacks on minorities, even as defence minister George Fernandes maintained there were ``forces within and outside'' trying to destabilise the government.
While Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said conversion was a constitutional right and sought a central legislation on the issue, Mr Fernandes said certain elements were exploiting ``indigent circumstances'' to create a crisis.
Participating in a Doordarshan programme ``On the Record'', to be telecast on Monday, Mr Fernandes, while speaking on the recent attacks on Christians, said, ``There are forces within and outside who don't want this government.''
Agreeing with him, minister of state for human resource development Uma Bharati said there were ``powerful countries which did not want the BJP-led coalition to last''.
To this, Mr Mukherjee said if Mr Fernandes was making such allegations about certain foreign governments, ``I would like to know what initiative the government has taken in this regard with these countries.''
Mr Fernandes blamed the state governments where the incidents had occurred for not having taken action despite having received reports about threats or prevailing tension. (PTI)
It may now help to objectively analyse the real persons behind the attack. Firstly, the blame has been placed on one Dara Singh, a person of somewhat lower caste. This Dara Singh is a member of the Bajarang Dal, an outfit headed by a Jain, Thus, most of the blame for the incident has been placed on the OBCs and Jains. However, behind this veil of secrecy lie the Brahmins. It is indeed, Pandit Vajpayee and the Brahmins of the Congress and RSS who are behind the killing. Note the following :
The RSS was created by the Brahmin Hegdewar.
The Bajrang Dal was created by the RSS
The Bajrang Dal is part of the Hindutva Parivar, an umbrella organisation headed by the BJP.
The BJP is headed by a Brahmin, Pandit Vajpayee who is currently the Prime Minister of India.
The Brahmin-controlled Congress Party was in power in Orissa when the incident took place. It is this same Congress which arranged for the concocted Wadhwa Commission Report.
Thus, the henchmen on the ground are non-Brahmin OBCs and Jains, yet the brains behind Graham Staines' killing are the Brahmins. The Brahmin is much too clever to get his hands dirtied, he hides behind the facade. Even if someone gets convicted, it will be Dara Singh, or the Jain head of the Bajrang Dal. Pandit Vajpayee and the Brahmin brains behind the murder shall get away scot-clean. Once again, Staines' killing illustrates the effects of the Brahmin philosophy of `Divide and Rule'.
-- Surinder Majhi,
Dalitstan Journal
Volume 1, Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/staines.html
Dalit Woman Stripped, Killed
THE TELEGRAPH, http://www.telegraphindia.com/, March 18, 2000
Dalit Woman Stripped, Killed
FROM ANAND SOONDAS
Lucknow, March 17
Days ahead of Bill Clinton's visit to Agra, a Dalit woman was stripped and beaten to death by two men in broad daylight even as villagers stood by helplessly and watched the gory spectacle to its tragic end.
Twenty-three-year-old Sukhviri Devi of Nagla village in Agra district made the mistake of crossing the path of Virendra Pal and Vijay Pal, carrying an empty matka. The price she paid for it was death.
The Pal brothers, who were going to their fields in a tractor, were enraged to see that Sukhviri did not have the "decency" to stop and allow them passage when she knew that it was inauspicious to cross someone's path with an empty matka.
Getting down from their vehicle, they first tried to throttle the woman and when she tried to scream for help, smashed her head on the ground.
Not content with that, they stripped her and beat her mercilessly even as a crowd that gathered, stood by mutely with none daring to risk the ire of the Pals.
Virendra and Vijay then left an unconscious Sukhviri on the road and drove away. When neighbours rushed her to a nearby hospital she was pronounced dead.
Confirming the murder, O.P. Sharma, head constable attached to the SSP, Agra, S.K. Singh, said he "had heard about the death", but had to find out why the Kagaraul police station had not taken any action yet.
Though the young Dalit girl was thrashed to death in broad daylight and in the midst of about a dozen villagers, there were no witnesses available and the police have made no arrests.
After his visit to the Taj Mahal at Agra, Clinton, ironically, will be addressing a select gathering on human rights and our environment.
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/dalits/d_170300.html
Dalit Woman Stripped, Killed
FROM ANAND SOONDAS
Lucknow, March 17
Days ahead of Bill Clinton's visit to Agra, a Dalit woman was stripped and beaten to death by two men in broad daylight even as villagers stood by helplessly and watched the gory spectacle to its tragic end.
Twenty-three-year-old Sukhviri Devi of Nagla village in Agra district made the mistake of crossing the path of Virendra Pal and Vijay Pal, carrying an empty matka. The price she paid for it was death.
The Pal brothers, who were going to their fields in a tractor, were enraged to see that Sukhviri did not have the "decency" to stop and allow them passage when she knew that it was inauspicious to cross someone's path with an empty matka.
Getting down from their vehicle, they first tried to throttle the woman and when she tried to scream for help, smashed her head on the ground.
Not content with that, they stripped her and beat her mercilessly even as a crowd that gathered, stood by mutely with none daring to risk the ire of the Pals.
Virendra and Vijay then left an unconscious Sukhviri on the road and drove away. When neighbours rushed her to a nearby hospital she was pronounced dead.
Confirming the murder, O.P. Sharma, head constable attached to the SSP, Agra, S.K. Singh, said he "had heard about the death", but had to find out why the Kagaraul police station had not taken any action yet.
Though the young Dalit girl was thrashed to death in broad daylight and in the midst of about a dozen villagers, there were no witnesses available and the police have made no arrests.
After his visit to the Taj Mahal at Agra, Clinton, ironically, will be addressing a select gathering on human rights and our environment.
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/dalits/d_170300.html
Attacks on Christians increase in UP
Asian Age April 25, 2000
Attacks on Christians increase in UP
By Amita Verma, Lucknow, April 24
It began in Lucknow in February, when the principal of St. Paul?s school, Father Simon Fernandes, was charged with molestation by a teacher who also happened to be a Bajrang Dal activist.
The Bajrang Dal activists staged a dharna in the state capital and demanded the principal?s arrest. The harassed principal wrote a letter to the district magistrate asking for security. ?I have been receiving threatening calls from the persons who claim they are from the Bajrang Dal.
The callers have informed me that they would burn down the church in the school premises,? the letter said. The district administration turned a blind eye to the content of the letter, asked two unarmed policemen to guard the school and forgot about the incident. The principal still lives under the shadow of fear.
On March 31, in Agra, a school teacher accused three priests in St. Johns college of attempting to molest her. The teacher had been dismissed from the school in 1992 and she claimed that she had returned to plead her case - eight years later - when the incident occurred. The incident led to communal tension in the city but the police remained indifferent till a stern note from the Prime Minister?s Office arrived on UP chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta?s table, asking him to act sensibly in such sensitive matters. The UP government on Sunday asked the commissioner of Bareilly division to investigate the allegations and counter allegations in the case.
Earlier this month unidentified persons attacked three Christians schools in Mathura and two nuns were among those injured in the incident. The government claimed that two of the incidents were a result of the schools? decision to raise fees without telling the parents. In the third incident, the UP government maintained that it was a case of robbery.
A week ago another Christian missionary school was attacked in Bijnore district and the UP police dismissed it as a case of dacoity. On Saturday, a group of Bajrang Dal activists attacked Christian missionaries who were selling Biblical literature and burnt pamphlets in the Jagdishpura police circle in Agra district.
Five persons were arrested on Monday and the home department spokesman claimed that there was no need for an enquiry into the incident since the culprits had already been arrested. Attacks on Christian institutions and individuals in UP are registering an alarming growth but the UP government, in general, and the chief minister, in particular, seem to be in no mood to take effective steps to check the trend.
Except for a press note issued by the state information department in which the chief minister has asked all district magistrates and police officials to be vigilant about such incidents and take steps to prevent any disruption of social harmony, the state government has not bothered to evolve mechanisms and check such attacks.
The state department press note, however, was promptly faxed to the PMO on Monday as a proof of the UP government?s good intentions. Bajrang Dal activists and other Sangh Parivar leaders, on the other hand, maintained that they are being unduly blamed for attacks on Christians
A Bajrang Dal spokesman said, ?For anything that goes wrong with Christians and Muslims we are blamed. No one blames the Christian missionaries who are trying to forcibly convert poor Hindus to Christianity. We are keeping a low profile but if the non-BJP parties continue to blame us, we shall expose them all.?
Christians leaders, meanwhile, admit that a feeling of insecurity engulfs them because the government ?seems non-existent.? A spokesman for the Christian missionary institution in Lucknow said that despite several requests, they had not been granted an appointment with the chief minister.
?The government does not seem interested in protecting us. They want our services only when their children come for education,? the spokesman said. The state legislature, too, seems completely insensitive to the issue and the Opposition parties, too have remained indifferent to the issue so far.
Asian Age April 25, 2000
Attacks on Christians increase in UP
By Amita Verma, Lucknow, April 24
It began in Lucknow in February, when the principal of St. Paul?s school, Father Simon Fernandes, was charged with molestation by a teacher who also happened to be a Bajrang Dal activist.
The Bajrang Dal activists staged a dharna in the state capital and demanded the principal?s arrest. The harassed principal wrote a letter to the district magistrate asking for security. ?I have been receiving threatening calls from the persons who claim they are from the Bajrang Dal.
The callers have informed me that they would burn down the church in the school premises,? the letter said. The district administration turned a blind eye to the content of the letter, asked two unarmed policemen to guard the school and forgot about the incident. The principal still lives under the shadow of fear.
On March 31, in Agra, a school teacher accused three priests in St. Johns college of attempting to molest her. The teacher had been dismissed from the school in 1992 and she claimed that she had returned to plead her case - eight years later - when the incident occurred. The incident led to communal tension in the city but the police remained indifferent till a stern note from the Prime Minister?s Office arrived on UP chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta?s table, asking him to act sensibly in such sensitive matters. The UP government on Sunday asked the commissioner of Bareilly division to investigate the allegations and counter allegations in the case.
Earlier this month unidentified persons attacked three Christians schools in Mathura and two nuns were among those injured in the incident. The government claimed that two of the incidents were a result of the schools? decision to raise fees without telling the parents. In the third incident, the UP government maintained that it was a case of robbery.
A week ago another Christian missionary school was attacked in Bijnore district and the UP police dismissed it as a case of dacoity. On Saturday, a group of Bajrang Dal activists attacked Christian missionaries who were selling Biblical literature and burnt pamphlets in the Jagdishpura police circle in Agra district.
Five persons were arrested on Monday and the home department spokesman claimed that there was no need for an enquiry into the incident since the culprits had already been arrested. Attacks on Christian institutions and individuals in UP are registering an alarming growth but the UP government, in general, and the chief minister, in particular, seem to be in no mood to take effective steps to check the trend.
Except for a press note issued by the state information department in which the chief minister has asked all district magistrates and police officials to be vigilant about such incidents and take steps to prevent any disruption of social harmony, the state government has not bothered to evolve mechanisms and check such attacks.
The state department press note, however, was promptly faxed to the PMO on Monday as a proof of the UP government?s good intentions. Bajrang Dal activists and other Sangh Parivar leaders, on the other hand, maintained that they are being unduly blamed for attacks on Christians
A Bajrang Dal spokesman said, ?For anything that goes wrong with Christians and Muslims we are blamed. No one blames the Christian missionaries who are trying to forcibly convert poor Hindus to Christianity. We are keeping a low profile but if the non-BJP parties continue to blame us, we shall expose them all.?
Christians leaders, meanwhile, admit that a feeling of insecurity engulfs them because the government ?seems non-existent.? A spokesman for the Christian missionary institution in Lucknow said that despite several requests, they had not been granted an appointment with the chief minister.
?The government does not seem interested in protecting us. They want our services only when their children come for education,? the spokesman said. The state legislature, too, seems completely insensitive to the issue and the Opposition parties, too have remained indifferent to the issue so far.
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/upattkch.html
Attacks on Christians increase in UP
By Amita Verma, Lucknow, April 24
It began in Lucknow in February, when the principal of St. Paul?s school, Father Simon Fernandes, was charged with molestation by a teacher who also happened to be a Bajrang Dal activist.
The Bajrang Dal activists staged a dharna in the state capital and demanded the principal?s arrest. The harassed principal wrote a letter to the district magistrate asking for security. ?I have been receiving threatening calls from the persons who claim they are from the Bajrang Dal.
The callers have informed me that they would burn down the church in the school premises,? the letter said. The district administration turned a blind eye to the content of the letter, asked two unarmed policemen to guard the school and forgot about the incident. The principal still lives under the shadow of fear.
On March 31, in Agra, a school teacher accused three priests in St. Johns college of attempting to molest her. The teacher had been dismissed from the school in 1992 and she claimed that she had returned to plead her case - eight years later - when the incident occurred. The incident led to communal tension in the city but the police remained indifferent till a stern note from the Prime Minister?s Office arrived on UP chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta?s table, asking him to act sensibly in such sensitive matters. The UP government on Sunday asked the commissioner of Bareilly division to investigate the allegations and counter allegations in the case.
Earlier this month unidentified persons attacked three Christians schools in Mathura and two nuns were among those injured in the incident. The government claimed that two of the incidents were a result of the schools? decision to raise fees without telling the parents. In the third incident, the UP government maintained that it was a case of robbery.
A week ago another Christian missionary school was attacked in Bijnore district and the UP police dismissed it as a case of dacoity. On Saturday, a group of Bajrang Dal activists attacked Christian missionaries who were selling Biblical literature and burnt pamphlets in the Jagdishpura police circle in Agra district.
Five persons were arrested on Monday and the home department spokesman claimed that there was no need for an enquiry into the incident since the culprits had already been arrested. Attacks on Christian institutions and individuals in UP are registering an alarming growth but the UP government, in general, and the chief minister, in particular, seem to be in no mood to take effective steps to check the trend.
Except for a press note issued by the state information department in which the chief minister has asked all district magistrates and police officials to be vigilant about such incidents and take steps to prevent any disruption of social harmony, the state government has not bothered to evolve mechanisms and check such attacks.
The state department press note, however, was promptly faxed to the PMO on Monday as a proof of the UP government?s good intentions. Bajrang Dal activists and other Sangh Parivar leaders, on the other hand, maintained that they are being unduly blamed for attacks on Christians
A Bajrang Dal spokesman said, ?For anything that goes wrong with Christians and Muslims we are blamed. No one blames the Christian missionaries who are trying to forcibly convert poor Hindus to Christianity. We are keeping a low profile but if the non-BJP parties continue to blame us, we shall expose them all.?
Christians leaders, meanwhile, admit that a feeling of insecurity engulfs them because the government ?seems non-existent.? A spokesman for the Christian missionary institution in Lucknow said that despite several requests, they had not been granted an appointment with the chief minister.
?The government does not seem interested in protecting us. They want our services only when their children come for education,? the spokesman said. The state legislature, too, seems completely insensitive to the issue and the Opposition parties, too have remained indifferent to the issue so far.
Asian Age April 25, 2000
Attacks on Christians increase in UP
By Amita Verma, Lucknow, April 24
It began in Lucknow in February, when the principal of St. Paul?s school, Father Simon Fernandes, was charged with molestation by a teacher who also happened to be a Bajrang Dal activist.
The Bajrang Dal activists staged a dharna in the state capital and demanded the principal?s arrest. The harassed principal wrote a letter to the district magistrate asking for security. ?I have been receiving threatening calls from the persons who claim they are from the Bajrang Dal.
The callers have informed me that they would burn down the church in the school premises,? the letter said. The district administration turned a blind eye to the content of the letter, asked two unarmed policemen to guard the school and forgot about the incident. The principal still lives under the shadow of fear.
On March 31, in Agra, a school teacher accused three priests in St. Johns college of attempting to molest her. The teacher had been dismissed from the school in 1992 and she claimed that she had returned to plead her case - eight years later - when the incident occurred. The incident led to communal tension in the city but the police remained indifferent till a stern note from the Prime Minister?s Office arrived on UP chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta?s table, asking him to act sensibly in such sensitive matters. The UP government on Sunday asked the commissioner of Bareilly division to investigate the allegations and counter allegations in the case.
Earlier this month unidentified persons attacked three Christians schools in Mathura and two nuns were among those injured in the incident. The government claimed that two of the incidents were a result of the schools? decision to raise fees without telling the parents. In the third incident, the UP government maintained that it was a case of robbery.
A week ago another Christian missionary school was attacked in Bijnore district and the UP police dismissed it as a case of dacoity. On Saturday, a group of Bajrang Dal activists attacked Christian missionaries who were selling Biblical literature and burnt pamphlets in the Jagdishpura police circle in Agra district.
Five persons were arrested on Monday and the home department spokesman claimed that there was no need for an enquiry into the incident since the culprits had already been arrested. Attacks on Christian institutions and individuals in UP are registering an alarming growth but the UP government, in general, and the chief minister, in particular, seem to be in no mood to take effective steps to check the trend.
Except for a press note issued by the state information department in which the chief minister has asked all district magistrates and police officials to be vigilant about such incidents and take steps to prevent any disruption of social harmony, the state government has not bothered to evolve mechanisms and check such attacks.
The state department press note, however, was promptly faxed to the PMO on Monday as a proof of the UP government?s good intentions. Bajrang Dal activists and other Sangh Parivar leaders, on the other hand, maintained that they are being unduly blamed for attacks on Christians
A Bajrang Dal spokesman said, ?For anything that goes wrong with Christians and Muslims we are blamed. No one blames the Christian missionaries who are trying to forcibly convert poor Hindus to Christianity. We are keeping a low profile but if the non-BJP parties continue to blame us, we shall expose them all.?
Christians leaders, meanwhile, admit that a feeling of insecurity engulfs them because the government ?seems non-existent.? A spokesman for the Christian missionary institution in Lucknow said that despite several requests, they had not been granted an appointment with the chief minister.
?The government does not seem interested in protecting us. They want our services only when their children come for education,? the spokesman said. The state legislature, too, seems completely insensitive to the issue and the Opposition parties, too have remained indifferent to the issue so far.
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/upattkch.html
Bajrang attacks Christians in Agra
Asian Age April 24, 2000
Bajrang attacks Christians in Agra
By Our Correspondent Hyderabad, April 23
Less than a fortnight after a Chris-tian priest and two nuns were assaulted at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, a Christian group from Hyderabad was attacked and Biblical literature was set on fire by the Bajrang Dal activists on the outskirts of Agra.
The Bajrang Dal lodged a first information report with the Jagdishpura police station alleging that the 14-member Christian group, which had come to Agra on Good Fri-day, was trying to convert villagers by offering them money, the police officials said.
In Hyderabad, it was confirmed that a delegation of the Hebron Church located at Golconda crossroads had gone to Agra. Samuel, a pastor with Hebron Church, told The Asian Age that they were still awaiting details of the Agra incident. ?We were informed via telephone on Sunday morning that members of the Hebron were confined in the police station for more than an hour before being let off.?
According to his information, the police told the members of the church not to carry out their activities as it might create trouble and then let them off after an hour.
In Agra, the police sources said the Christian delegation was arrested but later released on the intervention of deputy inspector-general of police (Agra Range) Arvind Jain.
Dharmendra Sharma, Baj-rang Dal co-convener for Brij Pradesh, said the Biblical literature was set aflame by some volunteers of the Dal and residents of Nagla Ajita on Saturday night. The sources said the Hebron Church delegation has also lodged a complaint with the police alleging that about 20-30 people surrounded their van, snatched the Biblical literature and then burnt it.
Some members of the group were also beaten up and an attempt was made to set the van on fire, the complaint lodged by the group said.
-- Tanya Newar,
Dalitstan Journal,
Volume 2, Issue 3 (April 2000)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/agrabajr.html
Bajrang attacks Christians in Agra
By Our Correspondent Hyderabad, April 23
Less than a fortnight after a Chris-tian priest and two nuns were assaulted at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, a Christian group from Hyderabad was attacked and Biblical literature was set on fire by the Bajrang Dal activists on the outskirts of Agra.
The Bajrang Dal lodged a first information report with the Jagdishpura police station alleging that the 14-member Christian group, which had come to Agra on Good Fri-day, was trying to convert villagers by offering them money, the police officials said.
In Hyderabad, it was confirmed that a delegation of the Hebron Church located at Golconda crossroads had gone to Agra. Samuel, a pastor with Hebron Church, told The Asian Age that they were still awaiting details of the Agra incident. ?We were informed via telephone on Sunday morning that members of the Hebron were confined in the police station for more than an hour before being let off.?
According to his information, the police told the members of the church not to carry out their activities as it might create trouble and then let them off after an hour.
In Agra, the police sources said the Christian delegation was arrested but later released on the intervention of deputy inspector-general of police (Agra Range) Arvind Jain.
Dharmendra Sharma, Baj-rang Dal co-convener for Brij Pradesh, said the Biblical literature was set aflame by some volunteers of the Dal and residents of Nagla Ajita on Saturday night. The sources said the Hebron Church delegation has also lodged a complaint with the police alleging that about 20-30 people surrounded their van, snatched the Biblical literature and then burnt it.
Some members of the group were also beaten up and an attempt was made to set the van on fire, the complaint lodged by the group said.
-- Tanya Newar,
Dalitstan Journal,
Volume 2, Issue 3 (April 2000)
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/agrabajr.html
3 churches attacked in Indore
Pioneer, May 13, 2000
3 churches attacked in Indore
Agencies/Indore
Miscreants ransacked a church damaging the holy cross and threw stones at two other churches in the city on Thursday night, police said.
The Additional Superintendent of Police Bhagwant Singh Chauhan said security had been beefed up in the vicinity of the three churches and a manhunt had been launched to arrest the culprits following complaints by the church priests.
Father Ramesh Chandekar of St Paul's Church said that miscreants damaged the holy cross, the prayer place and broke holy utensils and the mike system.
He said the miscreants also threw stones at a church in Vandana Nagar and the Messiah Vidya Bhavan, another church on the Jail Road. Senior police officials rushed to the churches on getting information of the attacks and posted policemen for security.
Additional SP, Jaideep Prasad, said police has made some preventive arrests and is in contact with the religious heads of the institutions.
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/3chuindo.html
3 churches attacked in Indore
Agencies/Indore
Miscreants ransacked a church damaging the holy cross and threw stones at two other churches in the city on Thursday night, police said.
The Additional Superintendent of Police Bhagwant Singh Chauhan said security had been beefed up in the vicinity of the three churches and a manhunt had been launched to arrest the culprits following complaints by the church priests.
Father Ramesh Chandekar of St Paul's Church said that miscreants damaged the holy cross, the prayer place and broke holy utensils and the mike system.
He said the miscreants also threw stones at a church in Vandana Nagar and the Messiah Vidya Bhavan, another church on the Jail Road. Senior police officials rushed to the churches on getting information of the attacks and posted policemen for security.
Additional SP, Jaideep Prasad, said police has made some preventive arrests and is in contact with the religious heads of the institutions.
http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/genocide/christians/3chuindo.html
Saturday, October 29, 2005
HINDUTVA THREAT TO MAKE `BANSWARA DISTRICT FREE OF CHRISTIANS' BY 2000 AD
POLICE COMPLICITY IN REPRESSION OF TRIBALS IN RAJASTHAN
GOVERNMENT SILENT ON HINDUTVA THREAT TO MAKE `BANSWARA DISTRICT FREE OF CHRISTIANS' BY 2000 AD
Rajasthan, a desert state in West India, is among the poorest in the country. Banswara district is among the poorest in the state, populated mainly by tribals who have been victims of social and economic exploitation for generations. The district now has the dubious distinction of being the only place in India which has been hand-picked by the Hindutva Parivar for an exercise in what can really be called ethnic cleansing. The Parivar's leaders have made repeated public statements that they will clear the disrtrict of all Christian presence by 2000 AD.
This statement violates every canon of the nation's law code. The governments of the state and of the Union of India are yet to take any action. Thdre is in fact considerable evidence now that the police and civil authioriis in many cases have actually connived with the culprits. The state has been ruled for much of this decade by the Bharatiya Janata party, the political wing of the Hin4utva parivar. For the record, Rajasthan's chief minister Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, has been pilloried by India's feminist movements for his tacit condoning of some cases of the tradition of `Suttee', in which a widow immolates herself on the burning pyre of her husband. Suttee was outlawed in the early years of the British Raj at the insistence of Indian social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy and others. The chief minister, Mr Shekhawat, has also been under attack for not discouraging the tradition of child marriages. Every year, Indian newspapers carry photographs of ten to twelve year old boys marrying really young girls, some barely three or four years of age. The girl is sent to the husband's house soon after puberty despite the face that in India the age of consent is 18 years for girls.
The Indian Social Insitute recently sent a team of two independdent investigators, one of them a lawyer, to probe into allegations that Christians were under severe pressure in the district, and charges of atrocities on the tribals by the Hindutva parivar. The investigators came across evidence of brutal oression and violence. The following is the report submitted by Advocate P.L. Mimroth and M.P. Chaudhry):
"Short report on brutal repression of tribal Christians in Banswara Dist (Rajasthan)
"On behalf of the Legal Department of Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi we two signatories mentioned at the end of this report visited the Banswara Distt in Rajasthan for two days between 31st March & 1st April 1998 in order to assess the situation arising out of continued excesses, torture and violations of basic human rights of tribal Christian in that troubled area. It may be mentioned here that Banswara Distt is a tribal predominate area where a good number of tribal Christians families are residing peacefully over the last many decades.
We are greatly assisted in our work by Mr Peter Masih and Siter Deepika, President and Secty of the WARD Christian Association, Village AGORIA Post Bangalore, Distt Banswara. We also got the assistance of several other members and also Siter Carol Advocate from SASVIKA Legal Cell Ajmer.
We confined to our enquiries to comparatively recent incidents of atrocities and excesses committed on Tribal Christian, so that our report may reflect the present human rights situation in the area. Besides meeting a large number of people of the area we have directly interviewed the aggrieved persons and victims who described how they were harassed tortured and subjected to implicate in false police cases by police at the instance of able to gone through very minutely the various representations and complaints including FIR's relating to the grievances of the victims.
We give below, in very short as far as possible an account of places visited by us what we saw and heard there as well the substance of our discussions with some of the important persons interviewed by us. This is followed by the general conclusion reached by us on the grave violations of basic human rights of the tribal Christians in the area and the recommendations for seeking justice & fairdeal to them. During our two days stay in Bansawara Distt, we visited village AGORIA, BAGIDORA and other adjoining places and Banswara. On 1/4/98 the WARD Christian Association also organised a meeting at village AGORIA in which almost all the victims and aggrieved persons were present and submitted their written Complaints before us for perusal and scrutiny. The officials of the WARG Christian Association also informed us that earlier they have personally submitted a memorandum containing 13 incidents of excesses on local Christians to Dr James Massey Member of National Minorities Commission, New Delhi which was subsequently forwarded to the National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi on 27/11/97. On 6/12/97, the National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Chief Secty Govt of Rajasthan for conducting high level inquiry and sending report to the commission within three weeks. Accordingly, the Rajasthan Govt submitted the enquiry report in respect of all the 13 cases of excesses and atrocities before the National Human Rights Commission vide No P1 (194)HHR/97 dated 13/2/98, copy of the same was also forwarded to the WAGD Christian Association for comments. We has also studied the Report of the Govt of Rajasthan with reference to the original complaints and also in the light of personnel hearings of the victims. After a very close scrutiny of documentary evidences adduced by the victims of each & every case, we noticed large number of contradictions and factually incorrect position explained by the Rajasthan Govt in its aforesaid report. It was therefore, advised to the WAGD Christian Association to file a comprehensive and detailed Rejoinder to the said Report strongly controverting the official version of the Rajasthan Govt duly supported by documentary evidences. We have interviewed one Shri War Singh Bhagat a local Christian priest resident of village GOAPAD who was subjected to serious physical assault at the hands of miscreants and also by police people besides implicated false criminal cases. On 9/11/97 while he was waiting for bus stand at Talwara he was taken away in jungle and seriously beaten up at the instand of local police. Later on he was insulted, humiliated & harassed by police also on the mare ground that he belongs to Christian religion. The another Christian priest Gavji Bhai resident of village Bokhedi narrated his sad story of undue harassment at the hands of police staff of Thikriya police station who at the instance of RSS elements lodged a false FIR No 463/97 against Paster Govji. A large number of residents of village Borkhedi have also stated on oath that no such incident was ever took place on 3/11/97 as mentioned in the above said FIR and even the police have admitted the no conversion took place.
We also interviewed the other victims who too complained about the biased and partial attitude of the local police towards them. They further complained that local administration and police are aiding the RSS and VHP volunteers who said to be behind these incidents of excesses on tribal Christians to harass & humiliate them not as an organisers but as efficient executioners of attacks.
It was the general complaint from the members who attended our meeting on 1/4/98 that local administration and police officials are condoing the criminal acts being committed by powerful religious & dominant social groups in the area especially on tribal Christian & poor people. We were shocked to learn from the victims that the police normally refuse to lodge the FIR of the tribal Christians and instead have registered numerous false criminal cases against them at the instance of RSS & VHP elements.
It was the general complaint from the members who attended our meeting on 1/4/98 that local adminstration and police officials are condoing the criminal acts being committed by powerful religious & dominant social groups in the area especially on tribal Christian & poor people. We were shocked to learn from the victims that the police normally refuse to lodge the FIR of the tribal Christians and instead have registered numerous false criminal cases against them at the instance of RSS & VHP elements.
Conclusion
In retrospect, it seems that the object of the excesses on tribal Christians in Banswara area is to harass, and terrorise and compelling them to wind up their educational and health care institutions and stop their social welfare activities. This is probably the main reason of their harassment that Christian are peacefully pursuing the social development activities and in the area especially in tribals who are being subjected to grave social oppressions and intolerable economic exploitations.
We, therefore, squarly blame the hard core Hindu fundamental organisations for planning the present phase of virulent attacks on tribal Christians communities and their places on faith in Banswara district.
Recommendations
There should be a through enquiry and indepth investigation in to all the cases of excesses and harassment on tribal Christian in Banswara Distt and all false cases lodged against tribal Christian people of the area should be withdraw hereforth.
The culprits, miscreants officials and police staff responsible for initiating false police cases against tribel Christians of the area should be indentified and punished in accordance with law of the land.
Govt should contain the aggressive rise of fundamentalism of all hues and kind.
Effective steps be taken to ensure protection and safety to the Christian community of the area about basic rights of the equality, equal acess to the rule of law & the rights of humane treatment by local administration & police.
Urgent need to coordinate, support and promote secular and human right organisations to act as watchdog machinery in the area.
M.P. Chaudhry
Social Activist
General Secty.
Delhi Kamgar Dal
Newdelhi P.L. Mimroth
Advocate
Hony. Genl. Secty.
Society of Depressed
People for SocialJustice,
New Delhi
Phone No 5724967
http://www.angelfire.com/pe/indianchristians/rajastan1.html
GOVERNMENT SILENT ON HINDUTVA THREAT TO MAKE `BANSWARA DISTRICT FREE OF CHRISTIANS' BY 2000 AD
Rajasthan, a desert state in West India, is among the poorest in the country. Banswara district is among the poorest in the state, populated mainly by tribals who have been victims of social and economic exploitation for generations. The district now has the dubious distinction of being the only place in India which has been hand-picked by the Hindutva Parivar for an exercise in what can really be called ethnic cleansing. The Parivar's leaders have made repeated public statements that they will clear the disrtrict of all Christian presence by 2000 AD.
This statement violates every canon of the nation's law code. The governments of the state and of the Union of India are yet to take any action. Thdre is in fact considerable evidence now that the police and civil authioriis in many cases have actually connived with the culprits. The state has been ruled for much of this decade by the Bharatiya Janata party, the political wing of the Hin4utva parivar. For the record, Rajasthan's chief minister Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, has been pilloried by India's feminist movements for his tacit condoning of some cases of the tradition of `Suttee', in which a widow immolates herself on the burning pyre of her husband. Suttee was outlawed in the early years of the British Raj at the insistence of Indian social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy and others. The chief minister, Mr Shekhawat, has also been under attack for not discouraging the tradition of child marriages. Every year, Indian newspapers carry photographs of ten to twelve year old boys marrying really young girls, some barely three or four years of age. The girl is sent to the husband's house soon after puberty despite the face that in India the age of consent is 18 years for girls.
The Indian Social Insitute recently sent a team of two independdent investigators, one of them a lawyer, to probe into allegations that Christians were under severe pressure in the district, and charges of atrocities on the tribals by the Hindutva parivar. The investigators came across evidence of brutal oression and violence. The following is the report submitted by Advocate P.L. Mimroth and M.P. Chaudhry):
"Short report on brutal repression of tribal Christians in Banswara Dist (Rajasthan)
"On behalf of the Legal Department of Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi we two signatories mentioned at the end of this report visited the Banswara Distt in Rajasthan for two days between 31st March & 1st April 1998 in order to assess the situation arising out of continued excesses, torture and violations of basic human rights of tribal Christian in that troubled area. It may be mentioned here that Banswara Distt is a tribal predominate area where a good number of tribal Christians families are residing peacefully over the last many decades.
We are greatly assisted in our work by Mr Peter Masih and Siter Deepika, President and Secty of the WARD Christian Association, Village AGORIA Post Bangalore, Distt Banswara. We also got the assistance of several other members and also Siter Carol Advocate from SASVIKA Legal Cell Ajmer.
We confined to our enquiries to comparatively recent incidents of atrocities and excesses committed on Tribal Christian, so that our report may reflect the present human rights situation in the area. Besides meeting a large number of people of the area we have directly interviewed the aggrieved persons and victims who described how they were harassed tortured and subjected to implicate in false police cases by police at the instance of able to gone through very minutely the various representations and complaints including FIR's relating to the grievances of the victims.
We give below, in very short as far as possible an account of places visited by us what we saw and heard there as well the substance of our discussions with some of the important persons interviewed by us. This is followed by the general conclusion reached by us on the grave violations of basic human rights of the tribal Christians in the area and the recommendations for seeking justice & fairdeal to them. During our two days stay in Bansawara Distt, we visited village AGORIA, BAGIDORA and other adjoining places and Banswara. On 1/4/98 the WARD Christian Association also organised a meeting at village AGORIA in which almost all the victims and aggrieved persons were present and submitted their written Complaints before us for perusal and scrutiny. The officials of the WARG Christian Association also informed us that earlier they have personally submitted a memorandum containing 13 incidents of excesses on local Christians to Dr James Massey Member of National Minorities Commission, New Delhi which was subsequently forwarded to the National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi on 27/11/97. On 6/12/97, the National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Chief Secty Govt of Rajasthan for conducting high level inquiry and sending report to the commission within three weeks. Accordingly, the Rajasthan Govt submitted the enquiry report in respect of all the 13 cases of excesses and atrocities before the National Human Rights Commission vide No P1 (194)HHR/97 dated 13/2/98, copy of the same was also forwarded to the WAGD Christian Association for comments. We has also studied the Report of the Govt of Rajasthan with reference to the original complaints and also in the light of personnel hearings of the victims. After a very close scrutiny of documentary evidences adduced by the victims of each & every case, we noticed large number of contradictions and factually incorrect position explained by the Rajasthan Govt in its aforesaid report. It was therefore, advised to the WAGD Christian Association to file a comprehensive and detailed Rejoinder to the said Report strongly controverting the official version of the Rajasthan Govt duly supported by documentary evidences. We have interviewed one Shri War Singh Bhagat a local Christian priest resident of village GOAPAD who was subjected to serious physical assault at the hands of miscreants and also by police people besides implicated false criminal cases. On 9/11/97 while he was waiting for bus stand at Talwara he was taken away in jungle and seriously beaten up at the instand of local police. Later on he was insulted, humiliated & harassed by police also on the mare ground that he belongs to Christian religion. The another Christian priest Gavji Bhai resident of village Bokhedi narrated his sad story of undue harassment at the hands of police staff of Thikriya police station who at the instance of RSS elements lodged a false FIR No 463/97 against Paster Govji. A large number of residents of village Borkhedi have also stated on oath that no such incident was ever took place on 3/11/97 as mentioned in the above said FIR and even the police have admitted the no conversion took place.
We also interviewed the other victims who too complained about the biased and partial attitude of the local police towards them. They further complained that local administration and police are aiding the RSS and VHP volunteers who said to be behind these incidents of excesses on tribal Christians to harass & humiliate them not as an organisers but as efficient executioners of attacks.
It was the general complaint from the members who attended our meeting on 1/4/98 that local administration and police officials are condoing the criminal acts being committed by powerful religious & dominant social groups in the area especially on tribal Christian & poor people. We were shocked to learn from the victims that the police normally refuse to lodge the FIR of the tribal Christians and instead have registered numerous false criminal cases against them at the instance of RSS & VHP elements.
It was the general complaint from the members who attended our meeting on 1/4/98 that local adminstration and police officials are condoing the criminal acts being committed by powerful religious & dominant social groups in the area especially on tribal Christian & poor people. We were shocked to learn from the victims that the police normally refuse to lodge the FIR of the tribal Christians and instead have registered numerous false criminal cases against them at the instance of RSS & VHP elements.
Conclusion
In retrospect, it seems that the object of the excesses on tribal Christians in Banswara area is to harass, and terrorise and compelling them to wind up their educational and health care institutions and stop their social welfare activities. This is probably the main reason of their harassment that Christian are peacefully pursuing the social development activities and in the area especially in tribals who are being subjected to grave social oppressions and intolerable economic exploitations.
We, therefore, squarly blame the hard core Hindu fundamental organisations for planning the present phase of virulent attacks on tribal Christians communities and their places on faith in Banswara district.
Recommendations
There should be a through enquiry and indepth investigation in to all the cases of excesses and harassment on tribal Christian in Banswara Distt and all false cases lodged against tribal Christian people of the area should be withdraw hereforth.
The culprits, miscreants officials and police staff responsible for initiating false police cases against tribel Christians of the area should be indentified and punished in accordance with law of the land.
Govt should contain the aggressive rise of fundamentalism of all hues and kind.
Effective steps be taken to ensure protection and safety to the Christian community of the area about basic rights of the equality, equal acess to the rule of law & the rights of humane treatment by local administration & police.
Urgent need to coordinate, support and promote secular and human right organisations to act as watchdog machinery in the area.
M.P. Chaudhry
Social Activist
General Secty.
Delhi Kamgar Dal
Newdelhi P.L. Mimroth
Advocate
Hony. Genl. Secty.
Society of Depressed
People for SocialJustice,
New Delhi
Phone No 5724967
http://www.angelfire.com/pe/indianchristians/rajastan1.html
No season of goodwill for India's Christians [ BBC]
Christmas in the Indian state of Gujarat has been marked by violent clashes between Hindu extremists and Christians.
Tensions remain high, despite police the western state making a number of arrests following a weekend of violence.
Buildings, including schools, hospitals, and churches were attacked on Christmas Day.
In the village of Varki, a Pentecostal church was burned down by what the United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) said was a mob of around 70 people from a Hindu extremist organisation.
The Christian community says the attacks are part of a concerted campaign against them which has worsened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party came to power in Delhi in March.
However, the leadership of the BJP - which also holds power in the state of Gujarat - has consistently condemned the violence.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met Christian leaders earlier this month after they held a nationwide protest.
The Chief Secretary of Gujarat and the Director-General of police have been summoned to appear before India's National Commission for Minorities to explain why the Christian population has not been protected.
The commission's chairman, Dr Tahir Mahmood, said he was at a loss to understand why the state government had not succeeded in protecting the Christian population.
Hindus blame 'forcible conversion'
Churches are under police guard
The Hindu groups Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) and Bajrang Dal have both denied accusations that they were responsible in the attacks.
Both organisations said the violence had been provoked by the forcible conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
Christian missionaries in turn say their work is to help the poor, and not to force people to adopt Christianity.
UCFHR co-ordinator Cedric Prakash said the situation remained tense.
"Attacks are continuing despite the presence of police," he said.
The UCFHR says it has recorded more than 60 cases of violence against Christians, including incidents of Bible burning and rape, since January. Most of the attacks are said to have taken place in Gujarat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/243906.stm
Tensions remain high, despite police the western state making a number of arrests following a weekend of violence.
Buildings, including schools, hospitals, and churches were attacked on Christmas Day.
In the village of Varki, a Pentecostal church was burned down by what the United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) said was a mob of around 70 people from a Hindu extremist organisation.
The Christian community says the attacks are part of a concerted campaign against them which has worsened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party came to power in Delhi in March.
However, the leadership of the BJP - which also holds power in the state of Gujarat - has consistently condemned the violence.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met Christian leaders earlier this month after they held a nationwide protest.
The Chief Secretary of Gujarat and the Director-General of police have been summoned to appear before India's National Commission for Minorities to explain why the Christian population has not been protected.
The commission's chairman, Dr Tahir Mahmood, said he was at a loss to understand why the state government had not succeeded in protecting the Christian population.
Hindus blame 'forcible conversion'
Churches are under police guard
The Hindu groups Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) and Bajrang Dal have both denied accusations that they were responsible in the attacks.
Both organisations said the violence had been provoked by the forcible conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
Christian missionaries in turn say their work is to help the poor, and not to force people to adopt Christianity.
UCFHR co-ordinator Cedric Prakash said the situation remained tense.
"Attacks are continuing despite the presence of police," he said.
The UCFHR says it has recorded more than 60 cases of violence against Christians, including incidents of Bible burning and rape, since January. Most of the attacks are said to have taken place in Gujarat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/243906.stm
Attacks on Indian Christians continue [BBC]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/244653.stm
A day after the launch of a government investigation into attacks against the Christian minority in the western Indian state of Gujurat, there has been renewed violence, according to state police.
"We have received complaints of mobs setting on fire two prayer halls last night and additional forces have been rushed to these areas," the state's Additional Director General of Police, S.Banerjee said on Wednesday.
Representatives from the Indian Home Ministry are now in Gujarat to look into the disturbances following growing criticism that not enough was being done to protect the Christian community.
International concern
A representative of the Vatican in Delhi has been in touch with the Indian government about the attacks, and a US embassy spokeswoman said the American representative had also taken the matter up with the Home Ministry.
Demonstrators in Delhi condemn attacks on Christians
The Asian Age newspaper said other Western countries, including the UK, Italy and Germany had expressed their concern to the Indian government.
The United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) says it has recorded more than 60 cases this year of violence against Christians, including incidents of Bible burning and rape. Most of the attacks are said to have taken place in Gujarat.
The BBC Correspondent in Delhi, Paul Danahar says that the investigation is clearly an attempt to prove to the Christian minority that the national government is taking the problem seriously.
Allegations
The Christian community says the attacks are part of a concerted campaign against them by Hindu organisations, including the World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad, VHP).
Paul Danahar in Delhi: "The Government is taking this very seriously."
"The Hindu activists are literally on the war path and there is a tremendous amount of fear among the Christians," said Cedric Prakash, UCFHR co-ordinator in Gujarat.
The VHP has denied any involvement, and repeatedly accused the Christian missionaries of converting the poor by force, a charge the Christians rejected saying their work is only to help the poor.
The damaged roof of a Christian school - one of everal attacks over Christmas
They also say that the situation has worsened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power in Delhi in March.
But Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who met Christian leaders earlier this month after they held a nationwide protest, dissociated himself from the VHP, and assured safety to Christians.
"India is a secular state and all citizens irrespective of religion and caste and region ... are to be provided with full safeguards, full security," he told reporters on Wednesday.
A day after the launch of a government investigation into attacks against the Christian minority in the western Indian state of Gujurat, there has been renewed violence, according to state police.
"We have received complaints of mobs setting on fire two prayer halls last night and additional forces have been rushed to these areas," the state's Additional Director General of Police, S.Banerjee said on Wednesday.
Representatives from the Indian Home Ministry are now in Gujarat to look into the disturbances following growing criticism that not enough was being done to protect the Christian community.
International concern
A representative of the Vatican in Delhi has been in touch with the Indian government about the attacks, and a US embassy spokeswoman said the American representative had also taken the matter up with the Home Ministry.
Demonstrators in Delhi condemn attacks on Christians
The Asian Age newspaper said other Western countries, including the UK, Italy and Germany had expressed their concern to the Indian government.
The United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) says it has recorded more than 60 cases this year of violence against Christians, including incidents of Bible burning and rape. Most of the attacks are said to have taken place in Gujarat.
The BBC Correspondent in Delhi, Paul Danahar says that the investigation is clearly an attempt to prove to the Christian minority that the national government is taking the problem seriously.
Allegations
The Christian community says the attacks are part of a concerted campaign against them by Hindu organisations, including the World Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad, VHP).
Paul Danahar in Delhi: "The Government is taking this very seriously."
"The Hindu activists are literally on the war path and there is a tremendous amount of fear among the Christians," said Cedric Prakash, UCFHR co-ordinator in Gujarat.
The VHP has denied any involvement, and repeatedly accused the Christian missionaries of converting the poor by force, a charge the Christians rejected saying their work is only to help the poor.
The damaged roof of a Christian school - one of everal attacks over Christmas
They also say that the situation has worsened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power in Delhi in March.
But Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who met Christian leaders earlier this month after they held a nationwide protest, dissociated himself from the VHP, and assured safety to Christians.
"India is a secular state and all citizens irrespective of religion and caste and region ... are to be provided with full safeguards, full security," he told reporters on Wednesday.
Hindus say Christians blameless in proselytising
28 July, 2005
INDIA
Hindus say Christians blameless in proselytising
by Nirmala Carvalho
Panel in Jhabua district find no forced conversions. Tribals’ interest in Christianity stems from love and care missionaries provide.
Jhabua (AsiaNews) – In an official statement, John Dayal, chairman of the All India Christian Council, reports that a panel set up to investigate allegations of forced conversions levelled at Christians in the district of Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh) concluded that the accusations are baseless and unfounded.
That conclusion was reached after the panel toured the district from July 19 to the 21 meeting local representatives of Hindu organisations, Christian missionaries, public and party officials, government officials and social workers.
The panel, which visited Alirajpur, Meghnagar, Aamchoor, Jobat and a number of small villages in the district, stopped at both public and missionary-run schools and hospitals.
Most of the people panel members met denied the allegations made by Hindu extremists to the effect that Tribals are subject to forced conversions
Even Shri Mahesh Agarwal, a member of several Hindu organisations involved in the anti-conversion campaign, had to admit that in Jhabua many Tribals are drawn to Christianity because of the care and aid they receive from the missionaries and not because they are in any way forced or coerced.
Pintoo Jaiswal, the young vice chairman of the Alirajpur Municipal Corporation and a local leader in the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), agreed.
Mr Jaiswal said there was absolutely no basis for the allegations of forced conversions. Instead, he said missionaries readily “embraced” and served Tribals in every way, whereas Hindus were hesitant to “even touch” them.
The missionaries also play a key role in providing education to the Tribals, so much so that Mr Jaiswal said that even his children were studying in Christian missionary schools.
“My children have never complained that any attempt was ever made to convert either them or any of their friends to Christianity”, he said.
In the district of Jhabua, Fr Thomas P.T., from St. Michael’s Parish Church, was arrested on July 21 on false accusations that he tried to induce some local Tribals, who wanted to send their children to the school he manages, to convert. He has since been released on bail.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3807
INDIA
Hindus say Christians blameless in proselytising
by Nirmala Carvalho
Panel in Jhabua district find no forced conversions. Tribals’ interest in Christianity stems from love and care missionaries provide.
Jhabua (AsiaNews) – In an official statement, John Dayal, chairman of the All India Christian Council, reports that a panel set up to investigate allegations of forced conversions levelled at Christians in the district of Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh) concluded that the accusations are baseless and unfounded.
That conclusion was reached after the panel toured the district from July 19 to the 21 meeting local representatives of Hindu organisations, Christian missionaries, public and party officials, government officials and social workers.
The panel, which visited Alirajpur, Meghnagar, Aamchoor, Jobat and a number of small villages in the district, stopped at both public and missionary-run schools and hospitals.
Most of the people panel members met denied the allegations made by Hindu extremists to the effect that Tribals are subject to forced conversions
Even Shri Mahesh Agarwal, a member of several Hindu organisations involved in the anti-conversion campaign, had to admit that in Jhabua many Tribals are drawn to Christianity because of the care and aid they receive from the missionaries and not because they are in any way forced or coerced.
Pintoo Jaiswal, the young vice chairman of the Alirajpur Municipal Corporation and a local leader in the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), agreed.
Mr Jaiswal said there was absolutely no basis for the allegations of forced conversions. Instead, he said missionaries readily “embraced” and served Tribals in every way, whereas Hindus were hesitant to “even touch” them.
The missionaries also play a key role in providing education to the Tribals, so much so that Mr Jaiswal said that even his children were studying in Christian missionary schools.
“My children have never complained that any attempt was ever made to convert either them or any of their friends to Christianity”, he said.
In the district of Jhabua, Fr Thomas P.T., from St. Michael’s Parish Church, was arrested on July 21 on false accusations that he tried to induce some local Tribals, who wanted to send their children to the school he manages, to convert. He has since been released on bail.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3807
Five Catholic Nuns Brutally Attacked In Rajasthan
By SAR NEWS
BANSWARA, Rajasthan, Oct 28 (SAR NEWS) -- An uneasy calm prevails in Banswara after five Catholic nuns were brutally attacked by Hindu activists at Bhandaria in Banswara district, October 25 morning, while they were waiting for a bus to travel to Udaipur.
Sixty-eight-year-old Sister Rosario, one of the victims, said that she along with four of her colleagues were waiting at the bus stop at 5 a.m. on October 25 when a youth on a motorbike spotted them and rushed to the a nearby ashram hostel and returned with over a dozen boys armed with canes and weapons.
In the meantime, a state-owned bus arrived and while the nuns were about to board it, the rowdies tried to pull the nuns down and beat them. Sister Rosario and her 62-year-old colleague were badly beaten with canes while Sister Flora, 65, was pushed down in the melee. The nuns were brought to Udaipur and admitted to the government hospital.
Tension has been brewing in Banswara since October 16 when the Sangh Parivar raised objections to a function organized in connection with the conclusion of the Eucharistic Year, alleging that it aimed at converting the tribals. Sensing trouble, the Church authorities informed the district administration about the event. However, the Catholics who were arriving for the function October 16 were harassed on the way by Hindu activists. Passengers traveling in public transport buses to the function venue were frisked and Christians were forced to disembark.
Udaipur Bishop Joseph Pathalil’s vehicle was also prevented from reaching the venue. On his return journey, he was attacked with stones by RSS workers led by Moti Lal Patel and Rakesh Damor. Patel already has over a dozen cases against him pertaining to attack on Christians. Bishop Pathalil said his vehicle was attacked by Patel, Rakesh Damor and Parthing. But they were chased away by some Catholic youths accompanying the bishop in a bus. The trio fled the scene leaving the motorbike behind, threatening the Christian youths with dire consequences.
On October 21, while Sunil Baria and his friends Rocky and George, all Christians, were at a bus stand in Banswara city, the Sangh Parivar activists picked up a quarrel with them. A traffic policeman intervened and separated them, but soon the Sangh activists returned with weapons in a jeep bearing No. RJ 03-2091. They attacked Sunil and his friends with canes and swords, eyewitnesses said.
Sunil suffered severe head injuries and Rocky sustained injury on his back. The Sangh men allegedly also forced Rocky into a jeep in an attempt to kidnap him but he wriggled out and escaped, witnesses said.
Sunil’s anguished father, Lawrence Baria, tried to lodge a complaint with the Banswara police station, but instead of recording his statement, the senior policeman in charge, Inspector Abhay Singh Bhati, abused the activists and Christians for creating law and order problems and threatened Lawrence with charges of inciting communal violence.
Only after the intervention of higher police authorities and public pressure, a first information report (No. 371/G) was later registered by the local police. After the FIR, the culprits Moti Lal Patel and Taju, accused of murderous attack, were picked up by the police at 8 p.m. on October 22 but they duo was released half hour later. They were later found addressing a meeting to celebrate their “victory”.
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=15741&n_tit=Five+Catholic+Nuns+Brutally+Attacked+In+Rajasthan
BANSWARA, Rajasthan, Oct 28 (SAR NEWS) -- An uneasy calm prevails in Banswara after five Catholic nuns were brutally attacked by Hindu activists at Bhandaria in Banswara district, October 25 morning, while they were waiting for a bus to travel to Udaipur.
Sixty-eight-year-old Sister Rosario, one of the victims, said that she along with four of her colleagues were waiting at the bus stop at 5 a.m. on October 25 when a youth on a motorbike spotted them and rushed to the a nearby ashram hostel and returned with over a dozen boys armed with canes and weapons.
In the meantime, a state-owned bus arrived and while the nuns were about to board it, the rowdies tried to pull the nuns down and beat them. Sister Rosario and her 62-year-old colleague were badly beaten with canes while Sister Flora, 65, was pushed down in the melee. The nuns were brought to Udaipur and admitted to the government hospital.
Tension has been brewing in Banswara since October 16 when the Sangh Parivar raised objections to a function organized in connection with the conclusion of the Eucharistic Year, alleging that it aimed at converting the tribals. Sensing trouble, the Church authorities informed the district administration about the event. However, the Catholics who were arriving for the function October 16 were harassed on the way by Hindu activists. Passengers traveling in public transport buses to the function venue were frisked and Christians were forced to disembark.
Udaipur Bishop Joseph Pathalil’s vehicle was also prevented from reaching the venue. On his return journey, he was attacked with stones by RSS workers led by Moti Lal Patel and Rakesh Damor. Patel already has over a dozen cases against him pertaining to attack on Christians. Bishop Pathalil said his vehicle was attacked by Patel, Rakesh Damor and Parthing. But they were chased away by some Catholic youths accompanying the bishop in a bus. The trio fled the scene leaving the motorbike behind, threatening the Christian youths with dire consequences.
On October 21, while Sunil Baria and his friends Rocky and George, all Christians, were at a bus stand in Banswara city, the Sangh Parivar activists picked up a quarrel with them. A traffic policeman intervened and separated them, but soon the Sangh activists returned with weapons in a jeep bearing No. RJ 03-2091. They attacked Sunil and his friends with canes and swords, eyewitnesses said.
Sunil suffered severe head injuries and Rocky sustained injury on his back. The Sangh men allegedly also forced Rocky into a jeep in an attempt to kidnap him but he wriggled out and escaped, witnesses said.
Sunil’s anguished father, Lawrence Baria, tried to lodge a complaint with the Banswara police station, but instead of recording his statement, the senior policeman in charge, Inspector Abhay Singh Bhati, abused the activists and Christians for creating law and order problems and threatened Lawrence with charges of inciting communal violence.
Only after the intervention of higher police authorities and public pressure, a first information report (No. 371/G) was later registered by the local police. After the FIR, the culprits Moti Lal Patel and Taju, accused of murderous attack, were picked up by the police at 8 p.m. on October 22 but they duo was released half hour later. They were later found addressing a meeting to celebrate their “victory”.
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=15741&n_tit=Five+Catholic+Nuns+Brutally+Attacked+In+Rajasthan
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Praying and fasting to counter anti-Christian violence
4 August, 2005
INDIA
Praying and fasting to counter anti-Christian violence
by Nirmala Carvalho
Praying is the best weapon against rising persecution in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, says the Archbishop of Bhopal. Catholic Tribals attend the prayer meeting in great numbers.
Bhopal (AsiaNews) – People gathered for a prayer meeting to counter “the deliberate and rising tide of anti-Christian violence” in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, Indian states ruled by the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In both places, local legislatures have adopted anti-conversion laws.
In an interview with AsiaNews, Mgr Pascal Topno, Archbishop of Bhopal, where the day of prayer was held two days ago, said that “all Christians from the two states came together to fast and pray as a result of the atrocities inflicted on our community by the anti-conversion law”.
“The Council of Bishops of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh chose a day of prayer and fasting as the best means to counter the increasing persecution we are now facing,” he noted.
As one of the promoters of the event, Archbishop Topno explained that Christians from all denominations arrived in Bhopal from both states, including Protestant ministers and Catholic bishops following Eastern rites.
“We prayed for those who persecute us and for the enemies of Christianity, whose lives have not been enlightened by the ‘Light of Truth’,” he said. “Many of the participants have been themselves victims of anti-Christian violence perpetrated by Hindu fundamentalists. As spiritual guides we called on the faithful to forgive their attackers, explaining that prayer and forgiveness are the response to injustice.”
“The plight of [Christian] Tribals is pathetic,” the prelate lamented. They are poor, unemployed and “at the mercy of rightwing extremists who try to reconvert them to Hinduism using intimidation and threats”. The presence of many Catholic Tribals at the event is good though, “a sign, an indication that is encouraging and makes us more confident”.
Tribals from Jhabua—where a catholic priest was charged and arrested for alleged forced conversions—were among those who came.
Local police provided security but were unprepared for the lack of fiery speeches or inflammatory remarks. “They were surprised,” Archbishop Topno said, “by the atmosphere of serenity and spirituality of the day”.
For him, August 2 was a “marvellous ecumenical experience”. He noted that “despite the monsoon rains, people came [. . .] from far and wide to express their solidarity and voice their concern over the escalating anti-Christian violence”.
Archbishop Topno said that he prepared a memorandum for Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Babulal Gaur, in which it is made plain and clear that Christians are guilty only of bearing witness of Christ, not of forcing anyone to convert to their religion.
The document also denounces the conditions of discrimination and threat in which Christian Tribals live.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3857
INDIA
Praying and fasting to counter anti-Christian violence
by Nirmala Carvalho
Praying is the best weapon against rising persecution in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, says the Archbishop of Bhopal. Catholic Tribals attend the prayer meeting in great numbers.
Bhopal (AsiaNews) – People gathered for a prayer meeting to counter “the deliberate and rising tide of anti-Christian violence” in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, Indian states ruled by the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In both places, local legislatures have adopted anti-conversion laws.
In an interview with AsiaNews, Mgr Pascal Topno, Archbishop of Bhopal, where the day of prayer was held two days ago, said that “all Christians from the two states came together to fast and pray as a result of the atrocities inflicted on our community by the anti-conversion law”.
“The Council of Bishops of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh chose a day of prayer and fasting as the best means to counter the increasing persecution we are now facing,” he noted.
As one of the promoters of the event, Archbishop Topno explained that Christians from all denominations arrived in Bhopal from both states, including Protestant ministers and Catholic bishops following Eastern rites.
“We prayed for those who persecute us and for the enemies of Christianity, whose lives have not been enlightened by the ‘Light of Truth’,” he said. “Many of the participants have been themselves victims of anti-Christian violence perpetrated by Hindu fundamentalists. As spiritual guides we called on the faithful to forgive their attackers, explaining that prayer and forgiveness are the response to injustice.”
“The plight of [Christian] Tribals is pathetic,” the prelate lamented. They are poor, unemployed and “at the mercy of rightwing extremists who try to reconvert them to Hinduism using intimidation and threats”. The presence of many Catholic Tribals at the event is good though, “a sign, an indication that is encouraging and makes us more confident”.
Tribals from Jhabua—where a catholic priest was charged and arrested for alleged forced conversions—were among those who came.
Local police provided security but were unprepared for the lack of fiery speeches or inflammatory remarks. “They were surprised,” Archbishop Topno said, “by the atmosphere of serenity and spirituality of the day”.
For him, August 2 was a “marvellous ecumenical experience”. He noted that “despite the monsoon rains, people came [. . .] from far and wide to express their solidarity and voice their concern over the escalating anti-Christian violence”.
Archbishop Topno said that he prepared a memorandum for Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Babulal Gaur, in which it is made plain and clear that Christians are guilty only of bearing witness of Christ, not of forcing anyone to convert to their religion.
The document also denounces the conditions of discrimination and threat in which Christian Tribals live.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3857
Priest seriously injured in attack against Catholic Church
Priest seriously injured in attack against Catholic Church
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Last Sunday night a gang of armed men attacked a Catholic parish church in the city of Kubbu in the Lohardaga district of eastern Indian State of Jharkhand. Both parish priest and vicar were injured and admitted to hospital with the latter suffering serious knife wounds.
The dozen or so attackers, age ranging from 25 to 55, struck under the cover of darkness. They entered the church building armed with hatchets, swords, and knives. They eventually made their escape but not before ransacking the parochial house and emptying the church’s moneyboxes. The police did arrive at the crime scene a while later but has not so far found any clue as to the attackers’ identity. It has however posted two sentries to guard the church against any further danger.
Mgr. Michael Minj, Bishop of Gumla (another district in Jharkhand State) told AsiaNews that “the attack has shaken locals. The fact that the attackers were armed means that their act was premeditated.”
The pro-Hindu fundamentalism Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in Jharkhand State, a State with a large Adivasi (tribal) population. The Church has for a long time been committed to empowering the Adivasis through education and development programmes, but in doing so it has caused a backlash among Hindu fundamentalists who see the Church’s action as proselytising. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), which are even more extremist than the BJP, are prominent in the State.
“Attacks against Christian institutions like the one that occurred on Sunday are worrying,” Bishop Minj said. By contrast, local law enforcement authorities were quick to dismiss the attack as a simple case of robbery, and no further investigation seems to be planned since the attackers got away. For his part Bishop Minj is waiting for “the return of Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi (Jharkhand’s State capital), who is now in South Korea attending the Assembly of Asian Bishops, before the case is taken up with State authorities.” (NC)
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1346
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Last Sunday night a gang of armed men attacked a Catholic parish church in the city of Kubbu in the Lohardaga district of eastern Indian State of Jharkhand. Both parish priest and vicar were injured and admitted to hospital with the latter suffering serious knife wounds.
The dozen or so attackers, age ranging from 25 to 55, struck under the cover of darkness. They entered the church building armed with hatchets, swords, and knives. They eventually made their escape but not before ransacking the parochial house and emptying the church’s moneyboxes. The police did arrive at the crime scene a while later but has not so far found any clue as to the attackers’ identity. It has however posted two sentries to guard the church against any further danger.
Mgr. Michael Minj, Bishop of Gumla (another district in Jharkhand State) told AsiaNews that “the attack has shaken locals. The fact that the attackers were armed means that their act was premeditated.”
The pro-Hindu fundamentalism Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in Jharkhand State, a State with a large Adivasi (tribal) population. The Church has for a long time been committed to empowering the Adivasis through education and development programmes, but in doing so it has caused a backlash among Hindu fundamentalists who see the Church’s action as proselytising. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), which are even more extremist than the BJP, are prominent in the State.
“Attacks against Christian institutions like the one that occurred on Sunday are worrying,” Bishop Minj said. By contrast, local law enforcement authorities were quick to dismiss the attack as a simple case of robbery, and no further investigation seems to be planned since the attackers got away. For his part Bishop Minj is waiting for “the return of Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi (Jharkhand’s State capital), who is now in South Korea attending the Assembly of Asian Bishops, before the case is taken up with State authorities.” (NC)
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1346
Priests killed, churches ransacked by Hindu fundamentalists
Priests killed, churches ransacked by Hindu fundamentalists
2 September, 2004
INDIA
Priests killed, churches ransacked by Hindu fundamentalists
by Lorenzo Fazzini
Catholic activist John Dayal blames government impotence and western indifference to religious freedom.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – According to John Dayal, national vice president of the All India Catholic Union, an organisation that represent India’s 16 million Catholics, “attacks against religious freedom in India do not draw the attention of Western civil rights organisations even though religious minorities are still victimised by Hindu fundamentalism.”
In the last 10 days the Indian Catholic Church has been hit by three serious violent incidents. On August 22, armed assailants attacked and beat up Father John Sunderam, a parish priest in Kubbu, in Jharkhand state’s Lohardaga district (eastern India) leaving him in a coma. Another priest, Father Albanus Tirkey also suffered injuries.
On August 26, a group of 300 Hindu fundamentalists stormed the Parish Church of Our Lady of Charity in the town of Raikia, in Orissa’s Kandhamal district (north-eastern India). The attackers burst into the church burning bibles, bringing down the Tabernacle and destroying statues of saints. Police was present at the scene but did not intervene. Later local authorities announced the arrest of three people charged with the mayhem in which six people were injured.
Both Orissa and Jharkhand are governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which backs Hindu fundamentalists.
On August 28, the most serious incident took place. Father Job Chittilappilly was killed at his parish in the town of Thuruthiparambu, Kerala state (south-western India). He was saying the Rosary in his private quarters. The circumstances of the crime –no signs of robbery and recent phone calls threatening him because of his pastoral activities among Hindu families– suggest the murder was premeditated.
Human rights activist John Dayal recently met Shivraj Patil, Union Home Minister, to remonstrate with him about the Christian minority’s adverse situation. “We can’t intervene because it is a local security matter,” was the minister’s terse reply.
Here is John Dayal’s interview with AsiaNews:
When the Congress Party was back in government many thought that the situation for religious minorities would improve . . .
Even if the BJP is no longer in power, Christians are still victims of attacks and violence. The worst cases are in Orissa, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Although fewer people are killed, violence against individuals and religious buildings has not ceased. Violations of religious freedom continue.
In the last few days there have been attacks against Catholics in India . . .
Catholics are not the only victims. Protestant believers and churches have also come under attack. This is why I met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to tell him about the serious attacks against Christians of the last few weeks.
What do you want from the government?
I explicitly told Minister Shivraj Patil –who is also responsible for religious minorities– that we want the government to better guarantee minorities’ religious freedom. I told him that we would like to see the situation of religious minorities placed on the national political agenda. Moreover, I said we want each and every violent incident to be fully investigated. I emphasised to him that anti-Christian attacks like those in Rajasthan and Orissa are now under the scrutiny of the international media and public opinion.
What did the minister say?
“We’ll see what we can do,” was his answer. He said that the Union government could not intervene in areas such as local security that are under the jurisdiction of each state.
What does western public opinion do for religious freedom in India?
We are backed by European Catholic and Evangelical groups, but western civil rights organisations are not interested in religious freedom.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1404
2 September, 2004
INDIA
Priests killed, churches ransacked by Hindu fundamentalists
by Lorenzo Fazzini
Catholic activist John Dayal blames government impotence and western indifference to religious freedom.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) – According to John Dayal, national vice president of the All India Catholic Union, an organisation that represent India’s 16 million Catholics, “attacks against religious freedom in India do not draw the attention of Western civil rights organisations even though religious minorities are still victimised by Hindu fundamentalism.”
In the last 10 days the Indian Catholic Church has been hit by three serious violent incidents. On August 22, armed assailants attacked and beat up Father John Sunderam, a parish priest in Kubbu, in Jharkhand state’s Lohardaga district (eastern India) leaving him in a coma. Another priest, Father Albanus Tirkey also suffered injuries.
On August 26, a group of 300 Hindu fundamentalists stormed the Parish Church of Our Lady of Charity in the town of Raikia, in Orissa’s Kandhamal district (north-eastern India). The attackers burst into the church burning bibles, bringing down the Tabernacle and destroying statues of saints. Police was present at the scene but did not intervene. Later local authorities announced the arrest of three people charged with the mayhem in which six people were injured.
Both Orissa and Jharkhand are governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which backs Hindu fundamentalists.
On August 28, the most serious incident took place. Father Job Chittilappilly was killed at his parish in the town of Thuruthiparambu, Kerala state (south-western India). He was saying the Rosary in his private quarters. The circumstances of the crime –no signs of robbery and recent phone calls threatening him because of his pastoral activities among Hindu families– suggest the murder was premeditated.
Human rights activist John Dayal recently met Shivraj Patil, Union Home Minister, to remonstrate with him about the Christian minority’s adverse situation. “We can’t intervene because it is a local security matter,” was the minister’s terse reply.
Here is John Dayal’s interview with AsiaNews:
When the Congress Party was back in government many thought that the situation for religious minorities would improve . . .
Even if the BJP is no longer in power, Christians are still victims of attacks and violence. The worst cases are in Orissa, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Although fewer people are killed, violence against individuals and religious buildings has not ceased. Violations of religious freedom continue.
In the last few days there have been attacks against Catholics in India . . .
Catholics are not the only victims. Protestant believers and churches have also come under attack. This is why I met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to tell him about the serious attacks against Christians of the last few weeks.
What do you want from the government?
I explicitly told Minister Shivraj Patil –who is also responsible for religious minorities– that we want the government to better guarantee minorities’ religious freedom. I told him that we would like to see the situation of religious minorities placed on the national political agenda. Moreover, I said we want each and every violent incident to be fully investigated. I emphasised to him that anti-Christian attacks like those in Rajasthan and Orissa are now under the scrutiny of the international media and public opinion.
What did the minister say?
“We’ll see what we can do,” was his answer. He said that the Union government could not intervene in areas such as local security that are under the jurisdiction of each state.
What does western public opinion do for religious freedom in India?
We are backed by European Catholic and Evangelical groups, but western civil rights organisations are not interested in religious freedom.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=1404
Hindu extremists slander the Church but send their children to Church-run schools
26 July, 2005
INDIA
Hindu extremists slander the Church but send their children to Church-run schools
by Nirmala Carvalho
False charges of “forced conversions” are levelled at a Catholic priest. For the local bishop, this is a plot by Hindu extremists, backed by the state government that provides the legal instruments. Behind it, there is an attempt by extremists to get free access to high-status Catholic schools.
Jhabua (AsiaNews) – The growing anti-Christian campaign in states controlled by Hindu fundamentalist administrations has fallen upon another Catholic priest. For the bishop of his diocese who has come to the clergyman’s defence, this is another example of how the Madhya Pradesh’s Freedom of Religion Act can be used as a “legal instrument” for every kind of abuse.
The main character in the story is Fr Thomas P.T., a parish priest at St Michael’s Church in the diocese of Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh). He was arrested on July 21 on false charges of favouring the conversion of local Tribals. The facts are quite different.
The Father’s troubles go back to July 8, when Rusmal Charpota, an activist with the Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and six other people pressed charges against the priest in the village of Jhaapadra for violating the state’s Freedom of Religion Act, which bans forced conversions.
On June 25, Mr Charpota had already publicly accused Father Thomas with raising fees at the mission school he runs in order to discriminate against Hindus.
On that occasion, the RSS activist warned the Catholic priest that his organisation would decide what steps to take against him at its next meeting and would inform the authorities.
Father Thomas was eventually charged with demanding very high tuition fees whilst offering parents who couldn’t pay them with the option of converting to Christianity in order to have the fees waved. The parents are said to have refused and so their children were not allowed to attend school.
In an interview with AsiaNews, Mgr Chaako Thottumarickal, Bishop of Jhabua, the diocese in which Father Thomas’s parish is located, rejects the charges as false, a plot by Hindu extremists.
“These accusations are completely false. Sister Pratima and the teachers are in charge of admissions. The priest is the overall administrator but he is not involved in the day-to-day affairs of the school,” Bishop Thottumarickal said.
According to the prelate, “Father Thomas’s arrest is part of a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar (an umbrella group, a ‘family’ of organisations and parties to which the RSS belongs). In the RSS’s agenda, there is a campaign to foment anti-Christian hatred among Hindus and cause social unrest as a means to increase its popular appeal and slander the Church and its missionaries”.
What is more, for Bishop Thottumarickal “the attitude of Hindu extremists towards Christians is inconsistent. First, they attack us and then they want to send their children to our schools because of the high quality of education.”
The problem, he laments, is that often these families “demand their children pass the admission exams and be exempted from the fees”.
The situation is made worse by the tacit support of the state government for these anti-Christian acts.
“The Freedom of Religion Act is a legal instrument offered by the authorities to extremists to persecute missionaries whom they accuse of ‘forced conversions’,” he said.
“Being persecuted is the price the Church must pay to pursue its mission, but at the same time our voice must be heeded. We need justice and those responsible for these odious crimes should be punished to prevent future violence.”
Still, there is a silver lining in all of this, namely “solidarity among Christians in such a critical time.”
None the less, ”everyone is angered by the false charges brought against Father Thomas and are determined to obtain justice,” Bishop Thottumarickal stressed.
After the priest’s arrest, Jhabua Catholics in fact submitted a memorandum to the local and district administrations demanding that” the charges against Father Thomas be dropped and that his accusers be charged with unjustly attacking Christians and their institutions, which provide a valued service to the population in the social, educational and health fields”.
The state of Madhya Pradesh is administered by the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu fundamentalist party.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3792
INDIA
Hindu extremists slander the Church but send their children to Church-run schools
by Nirmala Carvalho
False charges of “forced conversions” are levelled at a Catholic priest. For the local bishop, this is a plot by Hindu extremists, backed by the state government that provides the legal instruments. Behind it, there is an attempt by extremists to get free access to high-status Catholic schools.
Jhabua (AsiaNews) – The growing anti-Christian campaign in states controlled by Hindu fundamentalist administrations has fallen upon another Catholic priest. For the bishop of his diocese who has come to the clergyman’s defence, this is another example of how the Madhya Pradesh’s Freedom of Religion Act can be used as a “legal instrument” for every kind of abuse.
The main character in the story is Fr Thomas P.T., a parish priest at St Michael’s Church in the diocese of Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh). He was arrested on July 21 on false charges of favouring the conversion of local Tribals. The facts are quite different.
The Father’s troubles go back to July 8, when Rusmal Charpota, an activist with the Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and six other people pressed charges against the priest in the village of Jhaapadra for violating the state’s Freedom of Religion Act, which bans forced conversions.
On June 25, Mr Charpota had already publicly accused Father Thomas with raising fees at the mission school he runs in order to discriminate against Hindus.
On that occasion, the RSS activist warned the Catholic priest that his organisation would decide what steps to take against him at its next meeting and would inform the authorities.
Father Thomas was eventually charged with demanding very high tuition fees whilst offering parents who couldn’t pay them with the option of converting to Christianity in order to have the fees waved. The parents are said to have refused and so their children were not allowed to attend school.
In an interview with AsiaNews, Mgr Chaako Thottumarickal, Bishop of Jhabua, the diocese in which Father Thomas’s parish is located, rejects the charges as false, a plot by Hindu extremists.
“These accusations are completely false. Sister Pratima and the teachers are in charge of admissions. The priest is the overall administrator but he is not involved in the day-to-day affairs of the school,” Bishop Thottumarickal said.
According to the prelate, “Father Thomas’s arrest is part of a conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar (an umbrella group, a ‘family’ of organisations and parties to which the RSS belongs). In the RSS’s agenda, there is a campaign to foment anti-Christian hatred among Hindus and cause social unrest as a means to increase its popular appeal and slander the Church and its missionaries”.
What is more, for Bishop Thottumarickal “the attitude of Hindu extremists towards Christians is inconsistent. First, they attack us and then they want to send their children to our schools because of the high quality of education.”
The problem, he laments, is that often these families “demand their children pass the admission exams and be exempted from the fees”.
The situation is made worse by the tacit support of the state government for these anti-Christian acts.
“The Freedom of Religion Act is a legal instrument offered by the authorities to extremists to persecute missionaries whom they accuse of ‘forced conversions’,” he said.
“Being persecuted is the price the Church must pay to pursue its mission, but at the same time our voice must be heeded. We need justice and those responsible for these odious crimes should be punished to prevent future violence.”
Still, there is a silver lining in all of this, namely “solidarity among Christians in such a critical time.”
None the less, ”everyone is angered by the false charges brought against Father Thomas and are determined to obtain justice,” Bishop Thottumarickal stressed.
After the priest’s arrest, Jhabua Catholics in fact submitted a memorandum to the local and district administrations demanding that” the charges against Father Thomas be dropped and that his accusers be charged with unjustly attacking Christians and their institutions, which provide a valued service to the population in the social, educational and health fields”.
The state of Madhya Pradesh is administered by the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu fundamentalist party.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3792
Falsely accused priest arrested in Gujarat
Falsely accused priest arrested in Gujarat
Hindu fundamentalists persuade a woman to press charges against a Jesuit priest. Two months ago the same woman had cleared him of the same charges.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – An Indian Jesuit was arrested and jailed in Gujarat (western India) on the basis of false accusations made by a woman who claimed he tried to convert and have sex with her.
Christian leaders have called on the Gujarat state government to immediately intervene and secure the unconditional release of the Fr Prasad Gonsalves, who was arrested “only because he is a missionary”.
Fr Gonsalves was sent to jail on March 7 by a court in Radhanpur after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) convinced Shanteben Gulabbhai from Jawaharnagar village to press charges against him.
Two months ago Ms Gulabbhai had asked Father Gonsalves for help in finding a place to live in her district, which is located some 300 km from the Banaskantha district (northern Gujarat) where the Jesuit priest is a trustee of the local Catholic Ashram, which runs a low-cost housing project for the poor and disadvantaged.
The clergyman had told the woman that he could not help given the great distance between them. After being turned down she went to the police to press charges against him only to change her mind later saying that she just wanted to get back at the Jesuit. Father Gonsalves eventually said he would try to do something to help the woman.
The case seemed closed till March 5 when a Hindu newspaper in the city of Patan picked up and ran with the story, repeating the accusations.
Pressured by Hindu groups a court summoned Father Gonsalves and placed him under judicial custody on the basis of the Atrocity Act on the basis of Ms Gulabbhai’s testimony. However, she is not a credible witness. Her own brother, Ishwarbhai Ramsinhbhai Rana, in a written statement alleged that over the years she has acquired the reputation of being an extortionist, literally terrorising her neighbours.
Local Christian leaders and groups have strongly denounced Father Gonsalves. Dolphy D’Souza, Vice-President of the All India Catholic Union, condemned the arbitrary detention of the clergyman, which in his view was only motivated by the fact that he “is a missionary doing good for the people”.
Mr D’Souza has called on the Gujarat government to secure Father Gonsalves’s immediate release and punish all those who engage in vile acts against minorities.
Gujarat’s state government is led by the Hindu nationalist Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP), well-known for its support for Hindu fundamentalism and opposition to religious minorities, especially Christians.
Fr Cedric Prakash, director of Prashant, a Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace, pointed the finger against Hindu fundamentalist groups “who resort to using criminals to slander the Church”. (LF)
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2735
Hindu fundamentalists persuade a woman to press charges against a Jesuit priest. Two months ago the same woman had cleared him of the same charges.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – An Indian Jesuit was arrested and jailed in Gujarat (western India) on the basis of false accusations made by a woman who claimed he tried to convert and have sex with her.
Christian leaders have called on the Gujarat state government to immediately intervene and secure the unconditional release of the Fr Prasad Gonsalves, who was arrested “only because he is a missionary”.
Fr Gonsalves was sent to jail on March 7 by a court in Radhanpur after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) convinced Shanteben Gulabbhai from Jawaharnagar village to press charges against him.
Two months ago Ms Gulabbhai had asked Father Gonsalves for help in finding a place to live in her district, which is located some 300 km from the Banaskantha district (northern Gujarat) where the Jesuit priest is a trustee of the local Catholic Ashram, which runs a low-cost housing project for the poor and disadvantaged.
The clergyman had told the woman that he could not help given the great distance between them. After being turned down she went to the police to press charges against him only to change her mind later saying that she just wanted to get back at the Jesuit. Father Gonsalves eventually said he would try to do something to help the woman.
The case seemed closed till March 5 when a Hindu newspaper in the city of Patan picked up and ran with the story, repeating the accusations.
Pressured by Hindu groups a court summoned Father Gonsalves and placed him under judicial custody on the basis of the Atrocity Act on the basis of Ms Gulabbhai’s testimony. However, she is not a credible witness. Her own brother, Ishwarbhai Ramsinhbhai Rana, in a written statement alleged that over the years she has acquired the reputation of being an extortionist, literally terrorising her neighbours.
Local Christian leaders and groups have strongly denounced Father Gonsalves. Dolphy D’Souza, Vice-President of the All India Catholic Union, condemned the arbitrary detention of the clergyman, which in his view was only motivated by the fact that he “is a missionary doing good for the people”.
Mr D’Souza has called on the Gujarat government to secure Father Gonsalves’s immediate release and punish all those who engage in vile acts against minorities.
Gujarat’s state government is led by the Hindu nationalist Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP), well-known for its support for Hindu fundamentalism and opposition to religious minorities, especially Christians.
Fr Cedric Prakash, director of Prashant, a Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace, pointed the finger against Hindu fundamentalist groups “who resort to using criminals to slander the Church”. (LF)
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2735
Hindu fundamentalists attack Christian preachers in Rajasthan
Hindu fundamentalists attack Christian preachers in Rajasthan
Christian minority opposes anti-conversion bill planned by the BJP-dominated state government. Rajasthan Home Minister says bill would “curtail” missionaries’ attempts to convert people.
Jaipur (AsiaNews/UCAN) – More anti-Christian violence in Rajasthan, where the state government wants to adopt an anti-conversion law over the objections of the local Christian community.
A Christian meeting in the village of Koida, in Alwar district, was interrupted on Sunday when a group of Hindu militants threatened those in attendance.
The attackers beat up the eight Protestant clergymen who had gathered to pray; they also desecrated their copies of the Bible. The men suffered injuries serious enough to require hospital treatment.
Sajan K. George, chairman of the Global Council of Indian Christians, a Christian rights group, said that the militants were from the Bajarang Dal, a Hindu nationalist group, and were wielding lethal weapons.
Mr George sent a letter to Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam calling his attention to the continuous violence Christians experience throughout India.
“Christians,” Mr George wrote, “are also part of India [. . .]. But the climate of discrimination has suffocated their day-to-day life”.
The law might also bring its weight to bear upon the anti-Christian trend. In effect, the state legislature is scheduled to vote on an anti-conversion bill on March 24, a bill that was tabled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist and supremacist party.
Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria told the state assembly that such a bill would “curtail” missionaries' attempts to convert people. This is important because as he told his fellow lawmakers, “[w]e cannot allow conversions to take place in our state”.
Should it be adopted, the bill would punish those who induce or force others to convert, but religious minority rights activists have pointed out that Hindu fundamentalists use such notions in an abusive way. For example, under the terms of the proposed law, Christian charity works could be accused of proselytising and thus be stopped and punished.
Rajasthan Christian Churches have strongly condemned the bill. According to Mgr Ignatius Menezes, Bishop of Ajmer-Jaipur, Mgr Jospeh Pathalil, Bishop of Udaipur, and Collin C. Theodore, a Bishop with the (Protestant) Church of North India, the bill would worsen an already bad situation for minorities. All three believe that the bill would give Christians and other religious minorities “a feeling of insecurity and fear”.
The Church leaders want the Chief Minister to explain why her government should become party to “the continued harassment” of Christians, pointing out that existing laws are sufficient to tackle questionable practices related to conversion.
For J C Biswas, a Christian activist, the law “will be a blunt instrument in the hands of fundamentalists to attack minorities and minority institutions”.
Rajasthan has a population of 56 million people, 89.2 per cent are Hindu. Muslims are around 4.7 million (8.3 per cent); Christians are a mere 72,000 (0.07 per cent). (LF)
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2785
Christian minority opposes anti-conversion bill planned by the BJP-dominated state government. Rajasthan Home Minister says bill would “curtail” missionaries’ attempts to convert people.
Jaipur (AsiaNews/UCAN) – More anti-Christian violence in Rajasthan, where the state government wants to adopt an anti-conversion law over the objections of the local Christian community.
A Christian meeting in the village of Koida, in Alwar district, was interrupted on Sunday when a group of Hindu militants threatened those in attendance.
The attackers beat up the eight Protestant clergymen who had gathered to pray; they also desecrated their copies of the Bible. The men suffered injuries serious enough to require hospital treatment.
Sajan K. George, chairman of the Global Council of Indian Christians, a Christian rights group, said that the militants were from the Bajarang Dal, a Hindu nationalist group, and were wielding lethal weapons.
Mr George sent a letter to Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam calling his attention to the continuous violence Christians experience throughout India.
“Christians,” Mr George wrote, “are also part of India [. . .]. But the climate of discrimination has suffocated their day-to-day life”.
The law might also bring its weight to bear upon the anti-Christian trend. In effect, the state legislature is scheduled to vote on an anti-conversion bill on March 24, a bill that was tabled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist and supremacist party.
Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria told the state assembly that such a bill would “curtail” missionaries' attempts to convert people. This is important because as he told his fellow lawmakers, “[w]e cannot allow conversions to take place in our state”.
Should it be adopted, the bill would punish those who induce or force others to convert, but religious minority rights activists have pointed out that Hindu fundamentalists use such notions in an abusive way. For example, under the terms of the proposed law, Christian charity works could be accused of proselytising and thus be stopped and punished.
Rajasthan Christian Churches have strongly condemned the bill. According to Mgr Ignatius Menezes, Bishop of Ajmer-Jaipur, Mgr Jospeh Pathalil, Bishop of Udaipur, and Collin C. Theodore, a Bishop with the (Protestant) Church of North India, the bill would worsen an already bad situation for minorities. All three believe that the bill would give Christians and other religious minorities “a feeling of insecurity and fear”.
The Church leaders want the Chief Minister to explain why her government should become party to “the continued harassment” of Christians, pointing out that existing laws are sufficient to tackle questionable practices related to conversion.
For J C Biswas, a Christian activist, the law “will be a blunt instrument in the hands of fundamentalists to attack minorities and minority institutions”.
Rajasthan has a population of 56 million people, 89.2 per cent are Hindu. Muslims are around 4.7 million (8.3 per cent); Christians are a mere 72,000 (0.07 per cent). (LF)
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=2785
Indian Christians are victims of a 'concerted campaign'
Indian Christians are victims of a 'concerted campaign'
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Christians have become a political scapegoat in the run-up to India's national elections and a major US human rights group says violence against Christians is being orchestrated by right-wing Hindu organizations linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says attacks against Christians have risen sharply since the BJP took power in New Delhi in March 1998 and has escalated even more during campaigning for the elections, which the BJP is favored to win.
Attacks have included killing priests, raping nuns, and vandalizing Christian churches, schools, and cemeteries, according to HRW's new report "Politics by Other Means: Attacks Against Christians in India", released on Thursday.
Thousands of Christians have been forced to convert to Hinduism, the report says. ''Christians are the new scapegoat in India's political battles,'' says the report's author, Smita Narula. ''Without immediate and decisive action by the government, communal tensions will continue to be exploited for political and economic ends.''
The anti-Christian campaign is the latest in a series of attacks on minority groups by a number of militant Hindu organizations - collectively known as ''sangh parivar'' - to promote and exploit tensions to gain or retain power, according to the report. It alleges that the same groups spearheaded anti-Sikh violence in northern India in 1984 after the assassination of then prime mjinister Indira Gandhi and anti-Muslim violence in 1992 and 1993.
The groups, which operate with impunity at the local level, include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Congress, or VHP), the Bajrang Dal (the militant youth wing of the VHP), and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps, RSS).
All of these organizations are linked to the BJP and the 37-page report quotes one former RSS member as saying: ''There is no difference between the BJP and the RSS. ''BJP is the body. RSS is the soul, and the Bajrang Dal is the hand for beating.''
Christians make up only about 2.3 percent of India's one billion people. The religion took root almost 2,000 years ago in India's south, where most of India's 23 million Christians live today. In recent years, missionaries also have converted large numbers of people in the northeastern part of the country.
The church's emphasis on social service and equality has attracted thousands of tribal people and Dalits, or ''untouchables''. In Christianity, members of these groups have found a means to escape poverty and abusive treatment under the Hindu caste system, according to HRW. Those aspirations lie behind much of the violence directed against them, says the report. Many local Hindu militants have a vested interest in keeping those communities in a state of economic dependency.
Most of the attacks on Christians have taken place in the country's 'tribal belt'' which stretches from the Pakistani border in the west to Burma and Bangladesh in the east. That area is home to some 81 million indigenous people whose forbears lived in India before the Aryan invasions some 4,000 years ago.
Dalits, who also live outside the Hindu mainstream, number some 150 million people nationwide and suffer severe discrimination - particularly in rural areas - as a result of being ranked at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. Until recently, Christians lived relatively peacefully alongside their majority Hindu neighbors, but, as ever-more lower-caste and tribal voters converted to Christianity, they have become targets for Hindu militants.
In 1996, two Catholic priests were killed in Bihar, and a third was decapitated the following year, apparently for his support of Dalits in the area. Yet another priest was forced to parade naked through one town in Bihar after being accused of sexual assault.
Between January 1998 and February 1999, the Indian Parliament reported a total of 116 attacks on Christians, including the gang-rape of four nuns in Madhya Pradesh in September 1998. The vast majority of attacks, however, have taken place in BJP-ruled Gujarat state.
The HRW report is based in part on a visit by researchers to the Dangs district in Gujarat. The area was the site of a ten-day spate of violent and premeditated attacks on Christian communities between Christmas Day, 1998, and January 3, 1999, which HRW says was typical of a pattern of attacks which have taken place elsewhere in India.
Both the sangh parivar organizations and the local media helped stir up anti-Christian sentiment in the area before the attacks. Then, on December 25, between 100 and 200 people converged on one Christian community and began to dismantle the local church and threatened to set it on fire.
Christians were then forcibly taken to a nearby hot springs where they were formally converted to Hinduism. Senior BJP officials have referred to this as a ''homecoming'' process.
The report charges local police with failing to provide adequate protection for Christian communities, despite early warnings of violence. Police also have refused to register complaints by Christians and, in some cases, have been identified as taking part in the attacks.
One notorious attack was carried out in January 1999 against an Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two sons. They were killed in Orissa state when they were trapped in a car which was set on fire. The mob responsible for their deaths was led by Bajrang Dal activist and BJP member Dara Singh, according to a government-appointed commission.
Despite a number television interviews given by Singh after the attack, local police insisted that they could not find him, and he remained at large. In August, he struck again, chopping off the arms of a local Muslim trader before setting him on fire before a crowd of 400 supporters. One week later, in the same area, another Christian clergyman was shot in the chest with an arrow and beaten to death by as-yet unidentified assailants.
For its part, the VHP has denied any involvement in attacks on Christians but has repeatedly claimed that Christian missionaries forcibly convert the poor, a charge echoed by senior BJP leaders. The BJP general secretary has says there is an ''international conspiracy'' to convert Asian populations to Christianity. Similarly, while Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee publicly dissassociated himself from the VHP and condemned the Staines's killing, he also used the occasion to call for a ''national debate on conversions''.
(Inter Press Service)
http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/AI30Df01.html
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Christians have become a political scapegoat in the run-up to India's national elections and a major US human rights group says violence against Christians is being orchestrated by right-wing Hindu organizations linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says attacks against Christians have risen sharply since the BJP took power in New Delhi in March 1998 and has escalated even more during campaigning for the elections, which the BJP is favored to win.
Attacks have included killing priests, raping nuns, and vandalizing Christian churches, schools, and cemeteries, according to HRW's new report "Politics by Other Means: Attacks Against Christians in India", released on Thursday.
Thousands of Christians have been forced to convert to Hinduism, the report says. ''Christians are the new scapegoat in India's political battles,'' says the report's author, Smita Narula. ''Without immediate and decisive action by the government, communal tensions will continue to be exploited for political and economic ends.''
The anti-Christian campaign is the latest in a series of attacks on minority groups by a number of militant Hindu organizations - collectively known as ''sangh parivar'' - to promote and exploit tensions to gain or retain power, according to the report. It alleges that the same groups spearheaded anti-Sikh violence in northern India in 1984 after the assassination of then prime mjinister Indira Gandhi and anti-Muslim violence in 1992 and 1993.
The groups, which operate with impunity at the local level, include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Congress, or VHP), the Bajrang Dal (the militant youth wing of the VHP), and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps, RSS).
All of these organizations are linked to the BJP and the 37-page report quotes one former RSS member as saying: ''There is no difference between the BJP and the RSS. ''BJP is the body. RSS is the soul, and the Bajrang Dal is the hand for beating.''
Christians make up only about 2.3 percent of India's one billion people. The religion took root almost 2,000 years ago in India's south, where most of India's 23 million Christians live today. In recent years, missionaries also have converted large numbers of people in the northeastern part of the country.
The church's emphasis on social service and equality has attracted thousands of tribal people and Dalits, or ''untouchables''. In Christianity, members of these groups have found a means to escape poverty and abusive treatment under the Hindu caste system, according to HRW. Those aspirations lie behind much of the violence directed against them, says the report. Many local Hindu militants have a vested interest in keeping those communities in a state of economic dependency.
Most of the attacks on Christians have taken place in the country's 'tribal belt'' which stretches from the Pakistani border in the west to Burma and Bangladesh in the east. That area is home to some 81 million indigenous people whose forbears lived in India before the Aryan invasions some 4,000 years ago.
Dalits, who also live outside the Hindu mainstream, number some 150 million people nationwide and suffer severe discrimination - particularly in rural areas - as a result of being ranked at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. Until recently, Christians lived relatively peacefully alongside their majority Hindu neighbors, but, as ever-more lower-caste and tribal voters converted to Christianity, they have become targets for Hindu militants.
In 1996, two Catholic priests were killed in Bihar, and a third was decapitated the following year, apparently for his support of Dalits in the area. Yet another priest was forced to parade naked through one town in Bihar after being accused of sexual assault.
Between January 1998 and February 1999, the Indian Parliament reported a total of 116 attacks on Christians, including the gang-rape of four nuns in Madhya Pradesh in September 1998. The vast majority of attacks, however, have taken place in BJP-ruled Gujarat state.
The HRW report is based in part on a visit by researchers to the Dangs district in Gujarat. The area was the site of a ten-day spate of violent and premeditated attacks on Christian communities between Christmas Day, 1998, and January 3, 1999, which HRW says was typical of a pattern of attacks which have taken place elsewhere in India.
Both the sangh parivar organizations and the local media helped stir up anti-Christian sentiment in the area before the attacks. Then, on December 25, between 100 and 200 people converged on one Christian community and began to dismantle the local church and threatened to set it on fire.
Christians were then forcibly taken to a nearby hot springs where they were formally converted to Hinduism. Senior BJP officials have referred to this as a ''homecoming'' process.
The report charges local police with failing to provide adequate protection for Christian communities, despite early warnings of violence. Police also have refused to register complaints by Christians and, in some cases, have been identified as taking part in the attacks.
One notorious attack was carried out in January 1999 against an Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two sons. They were killed in Orissa state when they were trapped in a car which was set on fire. The mob responsible for their deaths was led by Bajrang Dal activist and BJP member Dara Singh, according to a government-appointed commission.
Despite a number television interviews given by Singh after the attack, local police insisted that they could not find him, and he remained at large. In August, he struck again, chopping off the arms of a local Muslim trader before setting him on fire before a crowd of 400 supporters. One week later, in the same area, another Christian clergyman was shot in the chest with an arrow and beaten to death by as-yet unidentified assailants.
For its part, the VHP has denied any involvement in attacks on Christians but has repeatedly claimed that Christian missionaries forcibly convert the poor, a charge echoed by senior BJP leaders. The BJP general secretary has says there is an ''international conspiracy'' to convert Asian populations to Christianity. Similarly, while Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee publicly dissassociated himself from the VHP and condemned the Staines's killing, he also used the occasion to call for a ''national debate on conversions''.
(Inter Press Service)
http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/AI30Df01.html
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