Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New Delhi (Fides Service) - The news site of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India SAR News has expressed concern that an imminent gathering of Hindu militants in the western state of Gujarat may turn into an anti-Christian campaign. The rally, a kumbh mela , scheduled for 11, 12 and 13 February could bring with it anti-Christian attacks. According to South Asian Religious News SAR News, religious leaders in the area have already called on the civil authorities to guarantee police protection for Christian minority groups.
Fears were raised at the sight of propaganda material circulated over the past few days in Gujarat where an estimated 600,000 militants will gather most of them connected with Hindu extremist groups, supporters of a nationalist ideology which wants to expel Christians from India.
According to SAR News material published on the fundamentalists’ own website www.shabarikumbh.org., promises an “unprecedented assembly of awakened Hindus” to stop the grand design of Christians “to establish Christ’s kingdom on earth” and “the poor, illiterate, mild vanvasi Hindu is an obvious target of this nefarious scheme”. And more “For years under the garb of social service, the Church has been spreading its tentacles in far-flung, tribal regions of our country. These converted vanvasis become alienated from their customs and traditions. They get uprooted from their cultural milieu”. Fundamentalists attention is on the Dangs district in south Gujarat where they have announced a vast “reconversion programme during the kumbh mela and in the days after to return thousands of Christian vanvasi converts back to the Hindu fold”
Material in circulation includes false accusations against missionaries for being “involved in child-trafficking of orphans”, another proof that the aim of these fanatics is to spread hatred and violence.
Father Cedric Prakash sj secretary of the Social Communications Commissions of the Western Region Catholic Bishops Council and the director of PRASHANT, a centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace of the Gujarat Jesuits, says the Christian community remembers that when in 1998-99 Hindu fanatics needed a soft target and focused their attention on the Dangs district where Christian institutions were attacked, churches and prayer halls razed and Christians were intimidated and harassed and some even injured, the whole nation was dismayed and international pressure pushed the Hindu fundamentalists back. According to a 2001 Gujarat government census the total population of the Dangs is about 187,000 and of these Hindus comprise around 166,000 and Christians less than 18,000 of various different confessions and very active in providing quality education to tribals.
The Catholic Communications Commission says Christians do not contest the legitimacy of the Kumbh mela, but they do fear it may unleash more violence against Christians. In a letter to the Gujarat state governor Naval Kishore Sharma the All India Christian Forum has asked the civil authorities and the police to provide protection and prevent incidents and disorder. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 19/1/2006 righe 32 parole 328)
