Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New Delhi (Fides Service) - More attacks on India’s Christians have been condemned by many leading members of the local Catholic Church. On 29 January Hindu extremists threw stones at the Catholic Bishop of Vasai, Bishop Thomas Dabre and three priests during a ceremony to open a new School for poor children. Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Bombay, said the attack was a “barbaric and unwarranted outburst of violence”.
“We were deeply shocked to learn of the violent attack by certain unruly elements on Bishop Dabre and the priests accompanying him on a very praiseworthy humanitarian mission, the inauguration of a boarding school for tribal youth at Ghosali in Mikhada Taluka in Thane”, the Cardinal said. “Such a barbaric and unwarranted outburst of violence is indeed a disgrace to our Indian culture of respect and tolerance and it sadly reveals a serious lack of sense of civilised democracy in the political-religious groups which instigated it”. Cardinal Dias recalled that the incident occurred on the eve of the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi who worked for a secular and tolerant India. As Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province to which the diocese of Vasai belongs, the Cardinal expressed his fraternal solidarity with Bishop Dabre and the priests and said: “I am confident the authorities concerned will take prompt action against the perpetrators of the criminal deed and adopt corrective measures so as to dissuade the repetition of similar episodes which seriously endanger communal harmony and wreck the secular fabric of our dear motherland ”.
Jesuit Fr Cedric Prakash, director of Prashant a centre for human rights, justice and peace said he is convinced these recent attacks on Christians and their institutions are part of a “well orchestrated campaign to create intimidation” and “fear among Christians” in the run up to the Kumbh Mela Hindu rally planned for 11 to 13 February”. In the meantime local authorities have called an investigation into the attack to find and publish the perpetrators .
Police investigation led to the arrest of six people suspected of being involved in an attack on a group of Protestant Christians a prayer on 28 January in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh state. Also in Bhopal two days ago activists of the Hindu extremist organisation Bajrang Dal burned Christian images in public. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 2/2/2006 righe 28 parole 287)
