Despite claims of conversions, data show that Hindus face no danger of losing overwhelming majority – Scroll.in

The controversy over the conversion to Hinduism of 200 slum-dwelling Muslims in Agra this week has brought a familiar Indian debate back in the limelight.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – which organised the contentious Agra conversions and has now planned a similar ceremony in Aligarh on Christmas – has often peddled the theory that Hindus in India are in danger of being outnumbered by Muslims. The fundamentalist group claims that the ancestors of members of all minority groups were Hindu, and so that if Indian Muslims and Christians are not brought back to their original faith, Hindus will become a minority.
By way of evidence for this theory, Hindutva organisations cite census data: over the past four decades, there has been a slow increase in the population of Muslims and a slow decline in that of Hindus.
Numerically, the population of Hindus grew from 336 million in 1961 to 827 million in 2001. The Muslim population, meanwhile, grew from nearly 47 million to 138 million during the same time period. (The religious data from the 2011 census has not yet been released).

The percentage of Hindus and Muslims in relation to the total population has seen a very gradual change: in four decades, the proportion of Hindus declined by three percentage points, and that of Muslims has risen by 2.7 percentage points.

It’s just natural
To proponents of Hindutva, this three percentage point slip is reason enough to blame the minority community for producing too many children, to claim that Muslim men are waging a "love jihad" to woo Hindu women in order to convert them to Islam, and to announce the need for "homecoming" rituals. Muslims (and Christians), they claim, have been making concerted attempts to convert Hindus to Islam, so a ghar wapasi is a means to restore the balance.
But demographers say that this negligible change in the composition of India's population is unconnected to the politics of conversion.
“Conversions take place in very small numbers in comparison with the huge population of this country,” said Faujdar Ram, director of the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai, and co-author of a paper on religious demographics [PDF].
“The slight increase in the Muslim population over four decades is just natural, and can perhaps be attributed to more fertility in that group,” he said.
Mortality, not fertility
The image of the fertile, lower-class Muslim woman who has too many children has become almost a stereotype, but a study by Bristol University reveals that there is another, oft-overlooked aspect that probably explains the gradual increase in Muslim population.
The study points out that even though “Muslims have, on average, lower socio-economic status, higher fertility and shorter birth intervals,” Muslim children face lower mortality risk than Hindu children.
Researchers have attributed this puzzling trend to a range of different factors: Muslim mothers are less likely to work compared with Hindu mothers, which has a positive impact on children’s health; Muslims tend to live in urban areas or large villages, where there is better access to healthcare; Muslims are less likely to practice female infanticide.
No fixed figures
Five Indian states already have anti-conversion laws to prevent forced conversions – Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. In these states, all conversions have to be reported to district authorities, except the ones that take place within "indigenous religions" such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism or Jainism.
But even in the states where conversions are supposed to be made official, faith cannot be completely regulated. As this report indicates, religious faith is fluid, and in areas caught in the politics of conversion, individuals often practice a mix of different religious traditions and rituals.
“We cannot really be sure of how many people are being converted into which religion,” said civil rights activist John Dayal.

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Don't Favour SC Quota to Christian and Muslim Dalits: Government

The Government today said it is not in favour of bringing Dalits of Christian and Muslim communities under the ambit of reservation for the Scheduled Castes.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot said this during a discussion on a Bill to include more castes under SC category in four states and exclude one from it in Sikkim which was passed by the Parliament today.

"We are not agreeable to it," Gehlot said referring to a demand by some members in the Upper House to include Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in reservation for SCs.

Citing a case in the Supreme Court in this regard, the Minister said that discussions can happen based on its outcome.

Responding to demands from several parties on extending reservation in the private sector, Gehlot said this demand has been there for the last 15 years and it would be looked into.

Gehlot was replying to matters raised by members during the discussion on the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014 which has been passed by the Lok Sabha earlier. Rajya Sabha also passed the Bill by a voice vote with most parties supporting it.

The Bill was first tabled in 2012 but lapsed after the previous Lok Sabha was dissolved and the BJP government introduced it August in Lok Sabha.

Gehlot sought to address members' concerns, saying that diversion of funds from Scheduled Castes Special Component Plan is an important issue and such a practice is not desirable.

Earlier, in the discussion over the Bill, P L Punia (Congress) supported the legislation and said that the population of those in the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) has increased and the percentage of reservation should also be increased in the same proportion.

Punia advocated extending reservations for these sections in private sector as well as the judiciary.

AIADMK member K Arjunan sought to highlight the demand to include Dalit Christians in the list of Scheduled Castes. Husain Dalwai (Congress) sought reservation benefits for Dalit-Muslims saying discrimination on the basis of caste is not confined to only one religion.

Tarun Vijay (BJP) and D Bandyopadhyay (TMC) supported the Bill. Bandyopadhyay said that the Centre should bring out a comprehensive plan for the development of weaker sections adding that at present efforts only constitute disjointed schemes. Vishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP) and Anil Kumar Sahani (JD-U) also participated in the debate.

BJP member Nanda Kumar Sai demanded strict regulations to eliminate fake community certificates and recording the names of communities in officials records in Hindi and regional languages as well to avoid spelling mistakes.

Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD), D Raja (CPI), Ambeth Rajan (BSP), Chaudhary Munavvar Saleem (SP) were among those who shared their views.

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J&K polls: Invisible native Christians, least talked about and most neglected

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar has two churches - Holy Family Catholic Church on Maulana Azad road and the Protestant's All Saints Church near Sher-E-Kashmir cricket stadium. These churches look almost invisible most part of the year and come alive during the Christmas in December.

But, this time there is no Christmas party in both the churches as the devastating flood has caused a huge damage to them. The Catholic church has been closed for the repair. The Protestant church which was also under 10 feet deep water has been reopened recently. However, there is no sign of any celebration. Both of them wear a deserted look and want to be unnoticed.

The recent conversions of local Muslims to Christianity has led to tensions between the native Kashmiri Christians and the new age missionaries.

Kashmir valley has less than half a dozen old Churches. The most important and century old churches are Srinagar's Holy Family Catholic Church, All Saints Protestant Church, St. Joseph's Church in Baramulla and St. Mary's Church in Gulmarg.

According to unofficial records, the population of Jammu and Kashmir has 67 per cent Muslims, 29.6 per cent Hindus and 0.2 per cent Christians, but the Kashmir Valley region is 97 per cent Muslim. There are just 650 native Christians living in Kashmir valley. They are almost invisible and the least talked about community. They want to stay away from trouble and maintain a very low profile. They don't even want to talk to the media on condition of anonymity.

Such a small community of a few hundred people runs schools where many state leaders and other known personalities from the state have studied. Burn Hall School for the boys on Gupkar road was founded in 1943 and the Presentation Convent for girls on the banks of Jhelum River was founded in 1936. Both are Catholic run institutions and the most sought after educational institutions in Srinagar.

Kashmir's 'who is who' send their children to these schools. Even Chief Minister Omar Abdullah went to Burn Hall School.

But, the recent conversions of local Muslims to Christianity by the enthusiastic foreign funded evangelists has led to tensions between the native Kashmiri Christians and the new age missionaries. In a hushed voice, the native Christians complain that these evangelists are putting them at risk. A local Christian, who spoke to IBNLive over phone, confirmed that there are over 650 native Christians in Kashmir. But, he asked us not to bother them. They are the least talked about community in Kashmir, like an almost forgotten religion. He said, "We want to lead a very quiet life. Times are not good. We don't need any attention. New age missionaries are creating tension in Kashmir."

When IBNLive visited the Holy Family Catholic Church, then except a Nepalese caretaker, there was nobody. He told that the priest was away and the church had been closed after the flood destroyed its interiors. He refused to share the details of native Kashmiri Christians with the media. He even maintained that local Christians rarely visit the Church and most of the visitors are outsiders working or living in Kashmir.

In a hushed tone, he said that local Christians want to stay away from the limelight and requested the media not to bother them.

The same story was repeated at the Protestant run All Saints Church. A Nepalese woman caretaker said that she did not know anything about the local Kashmiri Christians and almost all visitors are outsiders.

Both the Christian run schools in Srinagar have a Christian faculty and almost all of them are outsiders. They also refused to share the details of local Christians. Keeping a very low profile is not an easy job for a liberal community like Christians. But, militancy has taught them some tough lessons in life. Unlike, two other religious minorities, Hindus and Sikhs, Christians don't want any attention.

They lead a very reclusive life and interact mostly among themselves. They want to be unnoticed when they venture out. The recent floods have also destroyed the century old Christian cemeteries in Srinagar.

Churches at Baramulla and Gulmarg

St. Mary Church at Gulmarg was built during the British rule. The 110-year-old Church was given a new look in 2003 with a renovated façade and the first Christmas mass was held in 14 years. It was attended by the then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. This is a Catholic church located in the valley of shepherds in Gulmarg and known for its multi-coloured lightings.

After the rise of militancy, the church stopped functioning in 1989. However, Christian missionaries and institutions are still associated with the Church. It will be buried under snow for half of the year.

St. Joseph's Church at Baramulla is also a British era church. It also runs a full pledged hospital. Most of the local Muslims go to this hospital for treatment. When IBNLive visited this church, it was closed. The local church run hospital's staff maintained that there are no local Christians and all the people who come here for the Sunday Mass are outsiders.

A Sister who works there told IBNLive over phone that increasing missionary activities by the new age evangelists are causing a tension for the local Christians, who have nothing to do with it.

The church and hospital were attacked by Pakistani raiders in 1947 after Independence. Noted journalist and Editor, BBC World Service News at BBC News Andrew Whitehead's book 'A Mission in Kashmir' talks about it in detail.

Allegations of conversion and activities of evangelists

According to a local journalist, new age evangelists are secretly converting the local poor Muslims by baptizing them after offering money and jobs. He said, "These neo-converts don't admit in the public that they are Christians. They secretly follow Christianity at home. It is very difficult to estimate their exact numbers. We are aware of the fact that the local Kashmiri Christians have nothing to do with this."

Another Kashmiri Muslim dismisses the fear of local Christians that they won't come out fearing reprisals. He says that no Christian was ever attacked in Kashmir except only once. He said, "It is a part of the propaganda. They (referring to intelligence agencies) want to turn the Christian dominated Western countries against the Kashmir issue by creating fear psychosis among the local Christians."

"Christians are free to follow their religion and lead a good life like all others. If the Hindus and Sikhs can live openly, why can't the Christians do the same?" he says.

According to a report published in 'Christian Post' the Reverend Chander Mani Khanna, pastor of All Saints Church in Srinagar, was arrested on November 19, 2011 on charges of hurting religious sentiments of Muslims after several youths were allegedly baptized. He was released on bail on December 1, 2011. This incident led to a huge tension and even a fact finding commission was sent to Kashmir valley to ascertain the claims.

According to a report in 'The Sunday Express' journalist Tariq Mir writes that Kashmir is witnessing a discreet spurt in conversion - from Islam to Christianity. Christian groups are putting the number of neo-converts at over 10,000 and a Sunday Express investigation confirms that conversions have been taking place regularly across the Valley. At least a dozen Christian missions and churches based in the US, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have sent evengelists to the valley and are pumping in money through intermediaries based in New Delhi.

In the valley where death and trauma are a way of life, the missionaries are getting immediate attention because they reach out to the poor, needy and those affected by violence. Also, they bring in a lot of money. Though conversions have not encountered any resistance from Muslim organisations, it has led to tensions between Kashmir's native Christians - a miniscule community of 650 - and the enthusiastic evangelists, he explains in his article.

He also claims that the native Christians are increasingly getting vocal against the outsiders. "This type of conversions isn't good for local Christians who had shared a cordial relationship with Muslims here for centuries. The conversions they are doing are Bibilically wrong. There are umpteen cases in which one person has been baptised thrice within a few months. These so-called evangelists have set up businesses in the garb of Church and social work," says Pastor Leslie Richards, a native protestant living in Braen, Srinagar. "The converts here do it for monetary reasons and the people who convert them too do it for the same reasons," he adds.

Missions based in US, Germany, Switzerland and some other European countries are active across the Kashmir valley. There are more than 200 missionaries from different branches of Christianity who are active in Kashmir. Most of these missionaries blame the Roman Catholic Church and the native Kashmiri Christians for running a negative campaign against the Christians who work among the poor.

According to some researchers of religion Jesus Christ died in Kashmir at the age of over 100 years. Some link him to tourist place Pahalgam in South Kashmir. Some argue that he was buried in Srinagar.

But, these theories have been dismissed by the Vatican and other Christian organizations as a mere imagination.

Election and Christians

According to Jagmohan Singh Raina, Chairman of All Parties Sikh Coordination Committee (APSCC) in Kashmir, native Christians are in touch with the Sikhs and the Hindu Pandits over getting minorities status for them in Kashmir. "There are a few hundred Christians. But, they prefer to stay away from publicity. Since their number is too small and the new evangelists are creating trouble for them, local Christians normally don't come out," he said.

Since their number is around just 650 and they are almost invisible, nobody is talking about the Christian voters in Kashmir. "No political party is interested in us. Nobody comes to us for votes. Nobody gives us any political posting. We don't exist for them. We are nobody's children," says a local Kashmiri Christian with a tinge of sadness.

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PM urged to protect Christian minorities

Dimapur, December 3 (MExN): Churches from Nagaland have appealed to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to ‘safeguard the right to equality, and the right to freedom of all people.’

In a letter to the Prime Minister, dated November 30, leaders from various Churches in Nagaland appealed for the protection of Christian minorities in India.

“We are deeply concerned about the continued violence and atrocities against Christians in different parts of India. We are deeply pained to see our brothers and sisters targeted for no fault of theirs,” wrote the leaders. The letter was signed by Rev. Dr. L Anjo Keikung, General Secretary, Nagaland Baptist Church Council, Fr. Carolus Neishalhou, Vicar General, Diocese of Kohima, Catholic Church of Nagaland, Rev. Dr. N Paphino, President, Nagaland Christian Revival Church, Rev. Dr. TR Angami, Superintendent, Assembly of God Church, Nagaland, Khyomo Lotha, Vice President, Nagaland Pentecostal Mission, Kohima, and DS Namrei, Corps Sergeant Major, Salvation Army Church, Nagaland. 

In many states, they said, Christians are deprived of their fundamental right to freedom of religion and practice of faith.

“The psychological damage done to the Christian brothers and sisters from time to time is very grave. We earnestly appeal that Your Honour takes up prompt action in such a way as to create tranquillity and render maximum protection to the Christians in India,” wrote the leaders.

The PM was reminded that Christians in India have become “victims of malicious campaign by certain unruly fundamentalists who take the law into their own hands.” However, “Christians have never retaliated against the people of other faith.”

The Church is for Peace and Harmonious Living, stated the Churches in Nagaland. “We love our country, India and we aspire for a country that is strong and resilient. We believe that to this end the Christians in India have contributed not less than any other religious groups in the history of our country.”

Stating how Christians have been “in the forefront for nation building,” the Church leaders said that the service of Christians in the educational, social and health sector is “universally acknowledged” and “recognized by” all sections of Indian population.

“Christians are at the forefront in matters of patriotism and defence. We are proud of what we have built together with the rest of the people. But we feel really sorry and betrayed that we are often looked upon as a despised lot of people.”

The leaders thus appealed to the PM, and also to respective State Governments in India, to “take strong measures to curb violence caused by any group in the country.”

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In Jharkhand, tribes bear the cross of conversion politics

Every spring, just before the forests of Jharkhand become heavy with the sweet smell of sal and mahua trees, Kunu Oraon gathers the villagers for a special ritual: A few grains of rice are put on the head of a hen. If it eats the rice when it falls to the ground then a bumper crop is predicted. If it doesn’t, it is believed, disaster awaits the community.

Tribals take part in the ancient festival Sarhul in Ranchi. (Diwakar Prasad/HT Photo)

It is part of an ancient tribal festival that is neither Hindu nor Christian. Yet, Sarhul is celebrated by Christian missionaries and Hindu preachers alike, turning the ritual into a pawn in a wider contest for the hearts and minds of the indigenous, animistic tribes of the Chota Nagpur plateau.

“The pastor says come to the church to celebrate Sarhul. At the same time, the local Hindu temple throws a feast on the occasion,” says 42-year-old Oraon, a marginal farmer who has refused to become either a Christian or Hindu.

“It’s our tribal ritual, not theirs.”

In Jharkhand, where focus on religious conversions has revived over the ongoing assembly elections, such apportioning of the tribal way of life masks a deeper political strategy, one that shows the work of both Hindu and Christian groups to be more than just a religious and cultural project.

And in this unrelenting battle for influence, the state’s indigenous forest-dwellers are forced to take sides, gradually obliterating what is a distinct identity far more ancient than either faith.

“Behind the religio-cultural struggle lies a wider political battle for votes in which the Church, Hindu groups, tribal entities, all are involved,” says Harishwar dayal, director of Institute for Human Development, a Ranchi-based think tank.

To understand how that works, the headquarters of Vikas Bharti is a good place to look.

From inside its sprawling compound of cobbled roads and shady trees right in the bustle of capital city Ranchi, Ashok Bhagat runs hundreds of free schools, hospitals and community kitchens, hoping to endear the tribespeople to a Hindu way of life and, as an ancillary benefit, amplify the number of votes for his political masters.

How far he will succeed could determine if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win a strong mandate in the mineral-rich state, where indigenous forest-dwellers, or adivasis, hold the balance of power. Twenty eight of the state’s 81 seats are reserved for tribes.

In the April-May Lok Sabha elections, the BJP led in only nine assembly segments of the tribal seats, a tally Bhagat is desperate to improve.

“We are sure all the sincere hard work we have put in will pay off,” says Bhagat, whose social organisation, backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is replicating the work of Christian missionaries across the region.

A short distance from Vikas Bharti is the Cardinal House, a sprawling high-walled compound that Hindu groups say is the nerve centre of church politics in eastern India. Every election, politicians visit the office to seek the “blessings” of the influential Cardinal Telesphor Toppo.  

Traditionally, the Church has supported the Congress, and more recently the regional, tribal-focused party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

“The Cardinal does decide which candidates to support, so he does influence the politics,” says a local Christian lawmaker on condition of anonymity because officially the Church says it doesn’t back any political party.

But caught in the cleft stick of Hinduism and Christianity are tribespeople like Laldev Bhagat.

“I am Sarna and I am proud of my religion,” he says.

“Our religion gives us ample freedom to practice what we like.”

Some 26% of Jharkhand’s population today is tribal. For most part of the 19th century Christian missionaries converted many of them, both by inducement and coercion. But the region became riven by conversion politics after the RSS started its counter campaign in the 1970s.

Now, Hindu groups say all indigenous people, many of whom practice animism, are really Hindus, whether or not they realise it.

Such claims make people like Oraon angry.

“We pray to the soil, the trees, the river, the sun. Our gods are different,” says Oraon, his large brown eyes misty, voice choking.
“We have our unique identity. We will not lose it to the politics of conversion.”

(Additional reporting by B Vijay Murty)

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Press statement by Evangelical Fellowship of India on Church burning in Delhi

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION
 

Evangelical Fellowship of India
805/ 92, Deepali Building, Nehru Place, New Delhi, India

PRESS STATEMENT

EFI Condemns the burning of St. Sebastian's Church in Dilshad Garden, New Delhi

The Evangelical Fellowship of India condemns the burning of St. Sebastian's Church in Dilshad Garden, in the national Capital, New Delhi early this morning. The entire interior of the Church building, including the Altar, the Holy Bible and Cross were reduced to ashes. The church was constructed in 2001 in East Delhi.

Delhi Archbishop Most Rev. Anil Couto said "The arson in St. Sebastian's church was condemnable not just because it was an act of sacrilege and hate against the community and its faith, but that it could happen in the national Capital which is just recovering from a series of communal incidents."

The act of sacrilege and hate against the Christian community is carried with impunity with very often law agencies remaining silent spectators. This will dent the image of the present government within India and abroad and leave the minorities vulnerable and targets of hatred.

Rev. Dr. Richard Howell,
General Secretary,
Evangelical Fellowship of India,
New Delhi, India

Evangelical Fellowship of India (established 1951) is a charter member of World Evangelical Alliance, an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations

Press statement by Archbishop of Delhi on the Church burning in Delhi

PRESS STATEMENT
 

ARCHBISHOP OF DELHI ASKS PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI T0 ORDER JUDICIAL ENQUIRY INTO BURNING OF CATHOLIC CHURCH IN EAST DELHI, PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN CENTRAL INDIAN STATES
 

St. Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden gutted in arson; Community plans demonstration at Police Commissioner’s Office on Tuesday morning
 

NEW DELHI, 1 December 2014
 

Delhi Archbishop Most Rev. Anil Couto, has in a memorandum to Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh, called on them to urgently order a judicial enquiry into the burning of the St. Sebastian’s Church in Dilshad Garden in the national Capital, New Delhi early this morning. The entire interior, including the Altar, the Holy Bible and Cross were reduced to ashes.
On the complaint of Church priest Fr. Anthony Francis, the police have registered an FIR against unknown outsiders for causing the fire with malicious intent. Senior officers of Delhi police, the Special Branch and the Forensic Crime unit came to the spot after many hours, and once the agitated members of the Catholic community blocked the roads in the area. Samples were retrieved from the inside of the church, which was still smelling of fuel oil.
Till late in the evening, police could not say they had made any progress in their investigations.
Addressing the media, Archbishop Couto said apart from the judicial enquiry, the government must repair the building before Christmas, ensure that policemen guilty of dereliction of duty are punished, and special police investigation teams are set up to trace the guilty.
Te Christian community cutting across denominations, and civil society have decided to protest at the offices of the Police Commissioner of Delhi on Tuesday morning to focus attention on the attempts to polarise the people in Delhi state which goes to the polls soon, and the continued persecution of Christians in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatishgarh and other tribal and rural areas.
On Sunday, 30th November 21014, two house churches in Annupur district of Madhya Pradesh were attacked. Earlier in November, catholic priests in the Bastar region in Chhatisgarh were told all their schools were to install statues of Goddess Saraswati and they would not be allowed to be called “Father”, the usual honorific, by the students, but would be called “Acharya”. In other districts of Chhartisgarh, village panchayats under political influence have passed regulations banning non-Hindu religious persons from organising prayers or opening places of worship in their territory.
Archbishop Couto said the arson in St. Sebastian’s church was condemnable not just because it was an act of sacrilege and hate against the community and its faith, but that it could happen in the national Capital which is just recovering from a series of communal incidents. Also distressing is the sense of police impunity. Long hours were lost, and possible evidence destroyed, before the police finally came.
St. Sebastian’s church was constructed in 2001 and is among the biggest churches in East Delhi. The church was active till Sunday night because of religious ceremonies for catholic children receiving their first Holy Communion.
The night watchman had handed over charge to the day watchman at 5 am. The Parish Priest, Fr. Francis, was informed by the day watchman of the fire. The fire was still raging when Fr. Francis informed the Fire brigade and the police.
The community soon collected at the police station to impress on the officers to call in forensic experts. When the police failed to come, roads were blocked for some time. Those who visited the church included archbishops Anil Couto, Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas , several Members of Parliament, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and former MLAs of the area.
--------------------
Released to the media for publication, telecast and broadcast by Fr. Savarimuthu on behalf of the Archdiocese of Delhi. For further details, please contact Fr. Savarimuthu, 09968006616, frsankar@gmail.com, Dr. John Dayal, 09811021072, john.dayal@gmail.com and Fr. Stanley 09910504011, frstanley@gmail.com

Church Burnt in East Delhi

A Catholic church in East Delhi's Dilshad Garden area, St Sebastian's Church, was completely gutted in a fire this morning. Preliminary investigations pointed to a deliberate attack, police sources confirmed to NDTV.

 

The forensic team found traces of kerosene inside the church premises, which led the police to conclude that the attack was pre-meditated.

A case of "mischief by fire" has been lodged and the police are questioning several persons, among them the watchman of the church.

The police will come out with a final report after the forensic team finalises its findings.

The authorities found out about the fire around 6.30 am after the watchman, who came in for work around that time, informed them. There was no security guard at the church between 5 and 6 am, which was when the authorities thought the fire started.

There was no casualty since the church was empty at the time.

The locals, who held a candlelight vigil today, plan to march to the police headquarters tomorrow. They demand compensation and an independent inquiry.

"It seems to be a deliberate act as we could smell kerosene on the spot. It has been a very emotional day for us," Father Stanley Kozhichira, of the Delhi archdiocese told NDTV.

"We are not blaming any particular group for the act. It has been done by anti-social elements. We want swift action by police", Chancellor of Delhi Catholic Church archdiocese, Father Mathew, told NDTV.

The church was built in 2001. Almost 3000 people attend the Sunday mass. 

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Christians in India Beaten Nearly Unconscious in Latest of Several Attacks

Family in Odisha state driven from village after Hindu extremists burn down their home.

Irma Markami and his sons with bloodied and torn clothing.

(Morning Star News).NEW DELHI,

November 30, 2014 (Morning Star News) – Hindu extremists in Odisha state on Oct. 25 summoned a Christian family to a public meeting for a “compromise” on religious conflict but instead beat them nearly unconscious, sources said.

Irma Markami and four members of his family received hospital treatment for eight days after the attack, which came 10 days after nearly all the villagers from Gumkaguda, Malkangiri beat them for refusing to renounce Christ.

The Hindu extremists who summoned the Christian family to the “compromise” meeting told them that they were “not to talk and to promise to do whatever they were asked to do.” Soon after the meeting started at noon, with Christian leaders and village officials present, the Hindu extremists attacked Markami, his wife and three sons, said area pastor Vijay Purusu, who attended the meeting.

“In front of our eyes, they mercilessly beat up the Christians – kicking them, they pushed them down to the ground, stomped on them and beat them up with clubs and their hands,” Purusu told Morning Star News.

As they assaulted the family, which belongs to the Calvary Gospel Mission Moment Church, the Hindu villagers shouted that there was no place for Christians in the village and that they were going to wipe them out.

“The attack lasted for about one and a half hours, and by the time they were rushed to the hospital, the Christians were barely conscious,” another area church leader, Narendra Gachha, told Morning Star News.

About 10 area Christian leaders at the meeting managed to escape and ran to the Potteru police station. Officers arrived at the site followed by two ambulances. The five severely injured Christians were rushed to the district hospital.

They sustained injuries on their heads, faces and hands and abrasions and bruises all over their bodies, church leaders said.

The meeting in which the ambush took place had been called after a previous attack drove the Christian family and other relatives out of the village in Odisha, formerly called Orissa state. At about midnight on Oct. 15, a large mob of Hindu extremists beat Markami and his family, told them to renounce Christ and later burned their house when the Christian refused to deny Christ, Gachha said.

“Almost all the villagers, including women, turned up, verbally abused them for their faith in Christ, pushed, kicked, beat them with their hands and clubs, and hurled stones at them and then burned up their house” he said.

That night, Markami, his wife, three sons, their wives and six grandchildren fled the area and took shelter with relatives in another village. Their house, along with household goods, were destroyed, Gaccha said.

Markami and his family began following Christ in 2004. Since then, the extremists have socially boycotted them, threatened to harm them if they do not renounce Christ and beat them occasionally, reported the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Police registered a First Information Report against the attackers, but at press time no arrests had been made.

“The whole family at present is staying in one small room,” Gaccha said. “It is a difficult time for them, but their faith in Jesus remains still strong.”

In 2008, Gachha also was beaten and chased out from Gumkaguda village as he was conducting a prayer meeting at Markami’s house.

Markami and his family worshipped at their own house in the village, where other residents began to join them.

Source: Morning Star

Video on minorities under attack

Bastar Christians attacked by right-wing activists

RAIPUR: After the controversial gram sabha resolutions banning non-Hindu religious activity in villages in tribal Bastar, there was fresh tension in Madota village after local Christians were assaulted allegedly by right-wing activists, leaving 12 people injured late on Saturday.

Eleven of the injured are still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jagdalpur, where they were brought in a truck. While the police recorded their statement, senior civil and police officials are tight-lipped about the clash.

Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF) president Arun Pannalal told TOI that the manner in which the attack was orchestrated raises suspicion that local officials were hand in glove with attackers.

"An announcement was made through drum beats that residents of Kotwar village should assemble at 9am on Saturday to meet the sub-divisional magistrate, deputy superintendent of police and town inspector to discuss ways to douse tension between the two communities. They waited till evening, but nobody turned up. By evening, right-wing activists came in a truck and attacked Christians, accusing them of promoting religious conversion," he said.

Quoting local Christians, Pannalal said, a week ago BJP MP Dinesh Kashyap had visited Bhanpuri village and me gram sabha t local Christians. The MP washed their feet and then made a public announcement that they had completed the process of "ghar wapsi" or home-coming to the Hindu fold. Since then tension has been brewing between Hindus and Christians over prayer meetings at the local church.

Pannalal said that Christian organisations have already moved high court challenging the resolutions adopted by the gram sabhas.

"Now our writ is pending in the high court. We see this latest attack as a pressure tactic," he said.

Tribal Bastar was in focus in May this year after a number of gram sabhas, powerful bodies under the provisions of Panchayati Raj Act, adopted resolutions under section 129 (G) of State Panchayati Raj Act, banning "non-Hindu religious propaganda, prayers and speeches in villages". 

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12 Christians injured in Bastar assault

The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF) has alleged that 12 persons belonging to the community were seriously wounded in an assault by members of the Bajrang Dal in Bastar district’s Madota village on Saturday. District officials have registered an FIR.

“Christians had gathered in Madota village under Bhanpuri block of Bastar district on Saturday morning. The purpose was to discuss the district administration’s response to the petition filed by Christian bodies in the Bilaspur High Court over the ban on Christian missionaries in Bastar villages. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Deputy Superintendent of Police were also expected to be present. But no official turned up. Instead, around 30 to 40 Bajrang Dal members wearing saffron bands came armed with sticks and swords and attacked the Christians,” charged Arun Pannalal, president of the CCF.

Mr. Pannalal said those injured in the attack were admitted to a hospital in Jagdalpur.

However, the Bajrang Dal has denied it was involved in the attack.

“The allegations levelled against the Bajrang Dal are absolutely baseless. Some Hindus were invited by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate for a meeting in the village. Some pastors were also present without any invitation. The Hindus protested their presence which led to a scuffle,” Bastar region in-charge of Bajrang Dal, Mahesh Kashyap, told The Hindu.

The CCF has accused the district authorities of being “hand in glove” with the “right-wing elements.”

“No FIR has been registered in the case and our people have been forced to go into hiding due to the threat of the Bajrang Dal. The district authorities along with some right-wing elements are also pressuring us to withdraw the petition filed in the High Court against the ban on the entry of non-Hindu missionaries in Bastar,” claimed the CCF president.

 

Collector refutes charges

However, Bastar district collector Ankit Anand refuted the CCF’s allegations. “There was a clash between two groups in the village on Saturday and we have registered an FIR against the accused persons. The situation is under control. Medical assistance was provided to the injured people,” Mr. Anand said.

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Reconversions in Uttar Pradesh

There have been reconversion reports from Uttar Pradesh on Hindi media but not on English. Below is a news story that came this week from Jaunpur where allegedly 310 Christians were converted into Hinduism. 

ईसाई बने 310 ने पुन: हिंदू धर्म किया अंगीकार

जौनपुर : भूत-प्रेत व अंध विश्वास में भटककर ईसाई बने 30 परिवार के 310 लोगों ने रविवार को पुन: हिंदू धर्म अंगीकार किया। नगर के तूतीपुर मोहल्ले में आदि गंगा गोमती के तट पर स्थित राधा कृष्ण मंदिर पर हवन-पूजन के बाद हनुमान चालीसा व मां दुर्गा जी का लॉकेट वितरित किया गया।
नगर समेत विभिन्न गांवों के कई परिवार के लोगों ने ईसाई धर्म स्वीकार कर लिया। वह बाइबिल, क्रास प्राप्त कर चर्चो में जाते थे। हिंदू नाम धारण किए छद्म पादरी लोगों को बीमारियों, भूत-प्रेत से मुक्ति दिलाने के नाम पर बहला-फुसलाकर धर्म परिवर्तन कराता था। सामूहिक स्थान के अलावा कई घरों में भी प्रार्थना सभा का आयोजन होता था।
इस बात की भनक लगते ही हिंदूवादी संगठन सक्रिय हो गए। कई माह के अथक प्रयास के बाद धर्म से भटके तीस परिवारों ने पुन: घर वापसी पर सहमति जताई। ग्राम देवता पूजन समिति डीह के संयोजन में सुनील कुमार बिंद, सलोग यादव ने घर वापसी कार्यक्रम का आयोजन किया।
कार्यक्रम में उपस्थित लोगों ने सामूहिक रूप से हवन में भाग लिया। प्रांत धर्म जागरण प्रमुख रमापति जी की मौजदूगी में पुजारी फजीहत महराज ने तुलसी, गंगा जल पिलाकर शुद्धीकरण किया। इसके बाद क्षत्रिय परियोजना के विभाग प्रमुख विमल सिंह ने हिंदू धर्म को अंगीकार करने वाले परिवारों से बाइबिल व क्रास लेकर उन्हें हनुमान चालीसा व दुर्गा लॉकेट का वितरण किया। समारोह में उपस्थित लोगों को संबोधित करते हुए विमल सिंह ने कहा कि हिंदुओं को छद्म पादरी बहला-फुसलाकर धर्म परिवर्तन करा रहा है। ऐसा नहीं होने दिया जाएगा।
नट-भाट परियोजना प्रमुख संतोष कुमार सेठ ने कहा कि अंग्रेजों को किसी तरह से हमारे पूर्वजों ने बाहर करके देश को आजादी दिलाई। आज फिर भाई-भाई को लड़ाने का कार्य किया जा रहा है। राष्ट्र को सामाजिक व भौगोलिक रूप से तोड़ने का प्रयास चल रहा है। जनमानस को सजग रहना होगा।
जाति-बिरादरी प्रमुख चंद्रबली बिंद ने कहा कि कथित पादरियों ने क्षेत्र के दो सौ हिंदू परिवारों का अंध विश्वास व छूआछूत का झूठा आडंबर फैलाकर धर्म परिवर्तन करा दिया। सरकार इन पादरियों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई करे।
हिंदू धर्म अंगीकार करने वाले प्रमुख लोगों में शंकर बिंद, कुसुमलता, मीना, जवाहर, सिकंदर बिंद, मनोज बिंद, राम दुलार, सुरेश, सतीश, शारदा देवी, कन्हैया लाल के अलावा कांशी राम आवास सिद्दीकपुर के दो, भंडारी, खुरचनपुर के दो परिवार, गोधना गांव के तीन, शिकारपुर के तीन परिवार के लोगों समेत 310 लोग हैं।
कार्यक्रम में प्रमुख रूप से बेचू बिंद, वीरू बिंद, छोटक बिंद, रमेश बिंद, महेश सोनी, सुरेंद्र यादव, राहुल कुमार सेठ, सुनील सोनकर, बलजीत सिंह, भूपेंद्र प्रताप सिंह, ठाकुर मनोज कुमार सिंह, मानचल सोनी, आशीष, राम प्रसाद, बृजेश कुमार आदि थे।

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310 लोगों ने की घर वापसी, ईसाई छोड़ दोबारा बने हिंदू

जौनपुर में चार साल पहले धर्म परिवर्तन कर ईसाई धर्म अपनाने वाले 30 परिवारों के 310 सदस्यों ने दोबारा हिंदु धर्म को अपना लिया है। उनका धर्म परिवर्तन ग्राम सेवा पूजन समिति की ओर से कराया गया। ब्राह्मणों ने हिंदू धर्म अपनाने वाले लोगों से बाइबिल का त्याग कराकर हवन पूजन करवाया। इसके बाद उन्हें गीता और हनुमान चालीसा दी गई।
कोतवाली थानाक्षेत्र के तुतीपुर मोहल्ले में रहने वाले करीब 30 परिवारों ने चार साल पहले हिंदू धर्म त्यागकर ईसाई धर्म को अपना लिया था। इसके बाद हिंदू संगठनों में हलचल पैदा हो गई थी। तभी से हिंदु संगठन उन्हें दोबारा घर वापसी कराने में जुट गए थे। इसका परिणाम यह रहा कि चार साल बाद इन लोगों ने दोबार हिंदू धर्म अपनाने का फैसला किया।
रविवार को तुतीपुर घाट पर बने मंदिर पर सभी ईसाइयों को बुलाया गया और इन्हें हिंदू धर्म में शामिल कराया गया।
नट/भाट परियोजना के प्रमुख संतोष सेठ का कहना है कि आज हमारी प्राचीन परम्पराएं पश्चिमी सभ्यता के कारण खतरे में है।
चार साल पहले ईसाई धर्म अपनाने वाले मनोज बिंद ने बताया कि अपने परिवार के आठ सदस्यों के साथ उन्होंने भी धर्म परिवर्तन कर ईसाई धर्म को अपना लिया था। लेकिन बाद में ग्राम सेवा पूजन समिति की तरफ से चलाए जा रहे घर वापसी पूजन कार्यक्रम की वजह से हमने दोबारा हिंदु धर्म अपना लिया।

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State’s caste census will be inquisitive about conversions

The proposed caste census has already made the dominant vote-banks of Lingayats and Vokkaligas restless, apprehensive as they are that it will lead to their fragmentation and thereby weakening them as a political force. Now, the census by the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission (KBCC), aggressively backed by chief minister Siddaramaiah, is set to rub the minorities too in the wrong way.

First, they will be asked whether they have ever been converted from one religion to the another at any point in time. Every citizen - whether Muslim, Christian, Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist or any other minority community - will also be asked what the 'traditional occupation' of their ancestors was before the conversion. There will be multiple questions on these two issues to ensure the answer is elicited, one way or the other.
The census questions on conversion could turn into a weapon for the right-wingers of all religions, as proselytising and traditional occupations - like that of the barbers - are highly sensitive issues. So does a 'secular' government need these answers? The official stand is that the commission and the state government have taken a calculated risk to get actual numbers of each sub-caste and profession, so that sufficient funds in budgets and allocations can be given to each community. It does have a fatal flaw: Individuals can claim to have belonged to any caste retrospectively, but there will be no way of verifying it.
This survey will also not certify that an individual belongs to a certain caste or community.
The Lingayats and Vokkaligas fear that the real intent is to undermine their hegemony and instead catapult the Kurubas, which is the community Siddaramaiah belongs to, as the No.1 caste. This is because the census will ask the question: Is your caste known by any other name?"This is likely to fragment both the major communities, leaving the more people under the Kuruba name tag.
The Kurubas, as also many other OBCs, are evidently gung-ho, as they feel a re-enumeration would show their "actual" strength and garner more benefits for them. This is true of other backward castes also. For example, former CM, the late S Bangarappa, was of the opinion that if the hunter community, known under different names like Beda, Jeda or Valmiki, could be put together, they would form the single largest community in the state.
There is a column asking the sub-caste. So non-homogenous castes where different sub-castes occupy different traditional professions will show up, like the Kaadu Kurubas and Jenu Kurubas, who are forest gatherers rather than shepherds, the traditional profession of Kurubas. Sources say that a total of 1,077 castes will come under the census.
KBCC chairman H Kantharaj told Bangalore Mirror: "Muslims as a religious group are categorised in 2B. But some of them are also classified under 2A based on their traditional occupation. For example, Pinjaras and Chapparbands are caste groups based on professions. We are trying to get these numbers right."
Siddaramaiah had set aside a sum of Rs 21 crore as deputy CM in 2004-05 budget for the census, but it never took off. Now, his government has released Rs 117 crore for the purpose and nearly 1.25 lakh enumerators will do the survey across the state in November and December, a far cry from the simple day-long survey conducted by Telangana recently to identify inhabitants of their state.
Kantharaj said this would be the most exhaustive census ever. "It will also have columns for inter-caste marriages, for people who say they have no caste and also for those who identify themselves as the third gender," he said. Further, he added: "A single caste is known by several different names (like the hunter community cited above). So the question after asking the caste name is, whether it is known by another name."
The chairman said the CM has made it clear that the census should follow the Supreme Court guidelines. "This census will cover the social and educational data that shows the economic condition. Plus it will collect information of political backwardness of the people as well. Land ownership and even ownership of animals will be counted. Even data on why there are school dropouts and why there is a difference between rural and urban education will be collected."
He contended that this census was not just a job, but a noble mission. "The CM has said that it should be very meticulous. Every department of the government will benefit from this census."
Digitised data from this census should be available by April 2015, mid-way through the term of the present Congress government. Data collected would include occupation, income, expenditure, immovable assets, availability of drinking water facilities and so on.
S Japhet, director, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, National Law School of India University, who was part of the expert committee which framed the questions, said, "The common perception is that castes and religions are homogenous. But it is not the case. Take the Jains for example. We tend to think all of them are rich people from Rajasthan or Gujarat. But in reality, the economic status of a Jain from Tumkur or Belgaum is no different from his neighbours from other castes." Japhet added that the enumerators need to be sensitive in asking questions.

POLITICAL CASTES UPSET The inclusion of the sub-caste has already upset many political castes who see it as an attempt to divide their unity. When the per cent of each sub-caste is revealed, it may lead to more fragmented caste politics, they feel. But Japhet said: "You cannot wish away these things in India. Even if you want to annihilate caste, you first need to recognise them as realities and deal with them with sincerity." Japhet said that the caste census will be a "major breakthrough in understanding the social structure," of Karnataka's society. Earlier, the state government had appointed commissions which did sample surveys and came up with percentage estimates for castes. However each of them from the Venkataswamy Commission, Havanur Commission and the Chinnappa Reddy commission were challenged by various caste groups. "These sample surveys have been challenged so many times and no one is ready to agree that any of them is proper," said Japhet.

 

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Karnataka govt rejects commission report on church attacks

The Congress government in Karnataka has rejected a final report of the Justice B K Somashekhara inquiry commission into a series of attacks on churches and Christian institutions in coastal Karnataka in September 2008 shortly after the BJP came to power in the state.
The decision to reject the final report of the Justice B K Somashekhara commission was taken by the Siddaramaiah government at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday evening.  Law minister T B Jayachandra stated after the meeting that the inquiry commission’s report was rejected on account of a disparity between an interim report of the commission and the final report.
In its final report, the Justice B K Somashekhara commission had exonerated right wing groups like the Bajrang Dal of involvement in the attacks. In its interim report the commission had stated that there was evidence to indicate involvement of the right wing groups in the attacks.
The law minister stated that the state government had decided to accept a report on the church attacks made by the National Human Rights Commission following an inquiry where it found right wing groups to be involved.  The government would order prosecution of those involved in the attacks on the basis of the NHRC report the cabinet had decided, Jayachandra said.
The church attacks in coastal Karnataka occurred shortly after the BJP came to power in Karnataka in May 2008. The BJP government lead by B S Yeddyurappa had set up the Justice B K Somashekhara commission to investigate the attacks.
In an interim report placed before the government in September 2009 the commission found involvement of right wing groups like the Bajrang Dal in the attacks since Bajrang Dal leaders had held a press conference to claim responsibility for vandalizing churches in the Mangalore region.
In its 2011 final report the Justice Somashekhar commission changed its stance and stated that an impression of Sangh Parivar involvement in the church attacks was falsely created to tarnish the image of the BJP government.
While accepting the NHRC report on the church attacks the state cabinet has also accepted nine recommendations in the NHRC report including payment of compensation to those injured in the attacks and protection for places of worship of minority communities.

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Love Jihad and targetting of religious minorities - John Dayal

The recent outpouring of support for the “development” agenda of the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, by several leaders of the Catholic and Protestant churches may possibly stave off the immediate attention of the dreaded Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Home affairs, but it is not likely to reduce the deep and seemingly abiding distrust the Indian political and social system has of what is popularly called the “Missionaries”. Nor will it mitigate the hate that is now erupting in India against religious minorities.

Missionaries was a term once used in the Indian subcontinent to describe clergy, religious and social workers who came in various periods over three centuries from Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and later from the United States. They set up schools and hospitals, and mission stations, in the hills, plains and deep forests of much of the Indian land mass.

The coming of foreign, and almost entirely White, religious personnel stopped soon after World War II, but there was still a sizable number in the country at Independence. In 1993 there were just 1,923, and by 2001, it had come to just a little more than half of that, at 1100 registered foreign missionaries in India. We have no official data for 2013-14, but estimates vary from 200 to 500, some of them Indian nationals. Most of them have lived in India for periods ranging from 20 years to 60 years.

This is far removed from the image that the Sangh Parivar, and the government, paints of a land teeming with western missionaries. But since the 1960s, it is impossible for any priest or Nun to get a “Religious Visa” to India, and many who come here on tourist visas have to sign papers at Indian consulates that they will not indulge in any religious activity in India. Only rarely is a visa given to Tele Evangelists for “Crusades” or mass prayers.

But it will not be entirely correct to suggest that it is just the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its political face the Bharatiya Janata Party that oppose mission work on grounds of ideology and relgion. The larger Indian political leadership, both in the Congress and in other parties including those emerging from the socialist movement of Mr. Ram Manohar Lohia of North India have seen the community as an appendage of the British Raj. The leader of the Freedom struggle, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, already called a Mahatma and later formally named the Father of the Nation, had serious doubts about missionaries. E. Stanley Jones, Stanley Jones in is book The Christ of the Indian Road, records an encounter with Gandhi who he asked “though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?” Gandhi’s reply was clear: “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ”.Gandhi’s statement moulded the political discourse in Independent India.

The Constitution of India promulgated in 1950 nonetheless gave Christians the right not just to profess and practice their faith, but also to propagate it, with some law givers stressing that propagation of faith was integral to the religion. But among the first acts of the government was to withdraw affirmative action from untouchable groups other than those professing the Hindu faith. The issue has agitated the community ever since.

The absolute ban on freedom of faith of this 16 to 20 per cent of the population was ostensibly to prevent their walking into Christianity, or rarely, into Islam. 

The bane of the Christian community has been the anti-conversion laws, ironically called Freedom of Religion Acts which brought the State firmly into a process that was otherwise between a person and his conscience. Six states have these laws on board, another has enacted but not yet implemented it. The BJP has said in its election campaign it intends to make this a national law. Governmental permissions and severe penalties are the cutting edge of these laws. Political parties, barring perhaps the Marxists, and even the Supreme Court of India tend to agree to the need to the anti conversion laws. The United Nations Human Rights Council, European Union and international freedom of faith organisations have called them a grave violation of the UN Charter on fundamental human rights.

The premise that no one converts unless he is being lured, cheated or coerced into Christianity – or Islam – is now a major political slogan in the Bharatiya Janata party’s mission to control every regional government after coming to power in New Delhi in May 2014. And it is targetted as much against Muslims and it is against the Christian community.

The Muslim community has been the object of suspicion after the Partition of India in 1947, which saw unprecedented violence, that has left an unspoken but virulent Islamophobia in Indian society. The recent acts of terror in India have deepened this chasm between the communities.

This officially sanctioned suspicion, and from it the political hate, underpins the current campaigns by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its subsidiaries which target both the Christian and the Muslim communities, specially in north and Central India.

A new dimension has been added this year in the electoral rhetoric of the BJP in its very successful run up to the General elections earlier this year, and elections to the legislative assemblies of several states in north and west India. This is a campaign to evoke fears in the highly patriarchal feudal societies in rural India that the security and sexual purity of their women is being threatened by young Muslim and Christian men.

It began innocently enough in Kerala with the state High court asking the police of there was a design in several cases of inter-community marriages, in which the men were almost always Muslim. The police could not find any design and the matter seemed to have ended, till now when it erupted in far away north India. But now, the police are on the side of local political thugs, and both seem acting under the patronage and protection of powerful leaders in New Delhi.

Love Jihad, as it is called, has been presented as a grand design in which Hindu young women are seduced by Muslim in Christian men, lured into marriage, and the converted in a conspiracy to alter the demographic profile of “Hindu” India.

The result has been the hounding of young men, and the humiliation of young Hindu women in areas as distant from each as Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. In Madhya Pradesh, the district police chief “annulled” the marriage of a Christian man and a Hindu woman under pressure of a Hindutva mob. 

 The governments of the states, and more than that, the federal government in New Delhi headed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, have maintained an intriguing silence, with no official condemnation of this criminal intimidation of young couples in love. This has led civil society groups to believe that the hate campaign has the blessings of the ruling dispensation in the country. The inaction of the superior courts and the national Human Rights commissions in failing to take cognisance of these extra-judicial intrusions into the personal life of citizens compounds the crisis.

MP Christians’ meet: Police notice to organiser asks if involved in terror, criminal activities

After refusing permission for an annual Christian gathering in Jobat, Alirajpur, the Madhya Police have served a notice on the organiser asking whether his organisation was involved in terror, criminal or anti-social activities among other things.

Jhabua-based Moksha Foundation had organised a gathering in Jobat from October 6-9, but the Alirajpur administration refused permission because a marriage between a Christian man and a Hindu woman had caused communal tension.

On Tuesday, foundation president Kapil Sharma was asked by the police to fill up personal information like name, address, passport number and political association among 20 points listed in a one-page document.

The second document sought information about the organisation: like the source of funding; whether involved in terror or criminal activities; details of members, including foreigners; and a clear note on the actual inclination of the organization (religious, political, social or communal).

A similar exercise had caused a furore in 2011 when the police in some districts sought to collect details of Christian organisations in a similar format. In the wake of protests by the minority community which dubbed the exercise as community profiling, the state police headquarters had claimed that the circular was issued by a mistake.

Jhabua SP Krishnaveni Desavatu told The Indian Express that it was a routine exercise. “Maybe the local police did not have information about the organization. They normally collect such information from active and inactive organisation. There is nothing to worry,” she said.

Sharma said never in the past had he been asked to provide information about himself and the organisation. He said he would reply in a couple of days but took offence to the type of questions.

Spokesperson of Catholic Bishops Conference, Madhya Pradesh, Fr Johny P J said the Catholic community would challenge the exercise if it was ordered by the administration. “Normally the police resort to such steps under pressure from right-wing organisations,” he said.

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Letter denying permission in Alirajpur

Letter to organizers of the Christian meeting in Jobat

Now, MP town denies permission for Christian convention under pressure from Hindutva brigade

After declaring a marriage between a Christian man and a Hindu girl invalid, the local administration in Jobat, Alirajpur, has refused permission to the minority community to hold an annual gathering on the ground that it was likely to “disturb peace”.

The four-day gathering organized by All India United Christian Front (AIUF) and Moksha Foundation (MF) was supposed to start from Monday at an agricultural field which is two kilometers away from Jobat town. 

The town earlier saw protests by right-wing organizations after a Christian man married a Hindu girl.

The police administration had declared as invalid the marriage between Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani, both major, who tied the knot at an Arya Samaj temple in Bhopal.

The 5th Massihi Atmik Jagruti Sabha had been planned in advance but the administration first cancelled the permission on September 30 after Hindu organizations threatened to begin an indefinite protest from October 1 till the couple was not traced and the woman restored to her parents.

While denying the permission, SDM (Jobat) Sharda Chouhan in a letter to Kapil Sharma, who is founder of MF and state head of AIUF said if the meet was held “Wani Samaj and Hindu Sangathan(s) could commit some cognizable offence.” The SDM quoted an input by the in-charge of the Jobat Police Station behind the refusal.

The couple was traced and brought to Jobat on October 1, the day Hindu organizations enforced a complete bandh but withdrew the call for indefinite protest. Ayushi told the administration that she loved Joseph and refused to go back to her parents. While she was sent to Nari Niketan in Ujjain, Joseph was escorted to Indore.

Thinking that the matter had been resolved, Sharma again wrote to the SDM seeking fresh permission for the meet. He said invites had been sent to followers weeks in advance and it would be difficult to stop them from coming to Jobat.

Sharma told The Indian Express that on Sunday he got a call from the SDM to convey the administration’s decision that the permission for the meet remained cancelled because the atmosphere was still charged.

Chouhan informed that the ‘mahaul’ was not conducive for the gathering of Christians and that the permission had been denied because it could have become a law and order issue. “What if something goes wrong? Then we will be blamed for having allowed the meet to take place” she said adding tempers were still running high. She said the venue (agriculture field) suggested the meet was planned at a larger scale.

Sharma said that he would challenge the denial of permission in a court of law because the minority community’s constitutional right was being violated.

Fr Anand Muttungal of Isai Mahasangh slammed the Alirajpur administration saying security concern was an excuse. “How could permission be refused for a peaceful meet that could have taken place inside a church,” he asked dubbing the cancellation as “deliberate”.

Refusing the allegation by right-wing organizations that people are converted during the annual meet, Sharma’s letter to the SDM said “no one has been converted in the last four meets and no one will be converted in future.”

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Police annuls marriage of a Christian boy and Hindu girl under pressure from Hindutva brigade

The campaign against alleged `love jihad’ conspiracy has taken its toll on a marriage involving a Christian boy and a Hindu girl in Jobat town of tribal-dominated Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh.
Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani who eloped and married in an Arya Samaj temple in Bhopal four days ago were traced by the police to Pawagarh in Gujarat after Hindu Jagaran Manch (HJM) and other right-wing organizations threatened to launch a massive agitation.
The town observed a complete bandh on Wednesday the day the superintendent of police met the two families separately in his office as hundreds of right-wing activists assembled in the premises.

Ayushi, 19, told Alirajpur SP Akhilesh Jha that she loved Josesh, a nursing college student and that she went with him on her own. She refused to return to her parents and was later sent to Nari Niketan in Ujjain.
The activists wanted Joseph booked for luring Ayushi into marriage but the police said no case could be made against him because she was a major and gave a statement that she loved him. Joseph was escorted to Indore under police protection after the police told him that he would not be safe given that tempers were running high.
The police declared the marriage invalid saying Joseph is not a Hindu and that he will have to convert to Hinduism by following the procedure laid in the Freedom of Religion Act, which says the potential convert and those presiding over the ceremony should notify the district magistrate a month in advance.
Jha told The Indian Express that he did what appeared best in the circumstances given that 300-400 activists had gheraoed his office and the threat of arson and damage to government property was looming large. “There are some plus and minus points when an administrator takes a decision in such matters.’’
Joseph tried to argue that the marriage in Arya Samaj temple was done following Hindu rituals.
Ayushi’s family had filed a complaint on September 26 when she did not return home from college. Hindu activists threatened to take to the streets when it was revealed that she had eloped with a Christian boy and gave the police time till September 30 to trace and bring the couple back to Jobat.
The police claimed they used their network to find that after the marriage on September 28 the couple went to Pavagarh from where the two were brought to Jobat on October 1.
The SP said situation had returned to normal on Thursday but that it was not safe for Joseph to return. “It’s possible that he could apply for converting his faith,’’ he said.

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