Urgent Press statement from Jabalpur Christian Conference

Jabalpur Christian Conference

Press Statement for Urgent Release

20th April 2006


The Christian Community of Jabalpur is horrified at the maltreatment being dished out to them in the past few days by the now apparent alliance forged by the administration and anti-social elements of the Hindutva brigade.

From January 2006 till now there have been at least 10 cases of atrocity against the Christian community by the members of the Dharma Sena, Bajrang Dal, BJP and the VHP. These elements have not only attacked Christian homes and Churches, they have also indulged in destroying Christian properties, hurting religious sentiments of the community by insulting our scriptures, tearing posters of Jesus Christ, misbehaving with women and threatening Christians in general etc. Further they appear to be more and more emboldened each day because of the now, largely perceived and apparent Police and administration support being doled out to them openly.

The recent case in this series has been the arrest of 7 innocent young men from the Barela area on the 18th April 2005 allegedly under the Madhya Pradesh Swatantrata Adhiniyam. Their names are: Avinash Lal, Vikas Lal, Nandu Chakravarty, Manish Chakravarty, Chandrabhan Chakravarty, Jai Ram Rajak and Pradeep Dube.

All of the accused except Pradeep Dube have been charged by the Barela police under sections 3 and 4 of the above act. The fact is that these boys, mostly in their early 20's were all picked up from their friend's place in Barela, where they were all gathered socially. According to the young men, on the 18th April 2006, around 7: 30 pm around 10 policemen along with some Bajrang Dal members suddenly pounced on them and started questioning them and began to search the place. The Bajrang Dal people who accompanied the police are: Yogesh Agrawal, Nitesh Ritesh Burman, Jamna Patel, and Sharda Vishwakarma. Yogesh Agrawal has been involved in targeting the Christian community for long now and has been involved in more than 2 incidents against the minority community. The police protection of him is evident as is the hand of the rich and powerful behind him.

The police and the Bajrang Dal people also indulged in violence and carried the young men to the police station. There they were detained and questioned about their involvement in forced and fraudulent conversions. Some Bajrang Dal people had also given a report that the accused young men had tried to bribe them with money to accept Christianity and had told them that they will get through their academics without studying. This claim is refuted by the young men, who say that they do not even know these people properly, then how could they approach them with such offers. Also one only has to look at the accused and the so called allegation of financial promise will fall flat on its face, for the boys are all from very poor background. Most of them are converted Christians of their own freewill with Hindu families and facing strict opposition in their own homes. Then how could they promise money and education to the complainants with their limited resources?

The young men also allege that the police, when they could not find any evidence of forced or fraudulent conversion, deliberately placed a Bible and some Gospel tracts at their meeting place. The same was later quoted by the police as evidence against these boys. Let us for one moment even assume that the boys did have Bibles and Gospel Literature in their home, does that make them criminals or proves that they have been dealing in conversions? This is an outright insult of our constitution, which promises freedom of religion for citizens of India and a deliberate targeting of the Christian community by the conspiracy of the police and the Bajrang Dal. Also one must question the involvement of the Bajrang Dal in the raid and the subsequent questioning of the Christians? Who gave the Bajrang Dal and its goons the power to conduct raids along with the police? Surely it leaves no one in doubt that the police of Jabalpur and indeed Madhya Pradesh is either sold out to or controlled by the Hindutva brigade.

The young men were detained for around 5 hours before being let out on bail. Their misery however did not end there.

On the 19th April 2006 at around 8:00 pm, the TI of the Barela Police Station, Mr. Sanjay Kumar summoned all the boys except Deepak Dube again to the police station on the pretext of questioning. His motives were different though as the boys soon learned. He along with other police officials questioned the boys in his unique way. They were all treated like criminals and were beaten mercilessly by hands and wooden clubs and rods by Mr. Sanjay Kumar and his police friends. The police fraternity even spat on the boys and threatened them of dire consequences if they did not confess to receiving money from abroad for forced conversions. The police friends of Mr. Sanjay Kumar warned them of the anger and wrath of the Bajrang Dal all the while beating them mercilessly. This is a gross violation of all law and order procedure and cannot be tolerated. It is not only inhuman but also unconstitutional. Mr. Sanjay Kumar who is only a trainee of the IPS has forgotten his duties and needs to be reminded of the same.

Throughout the week now there have been reports in the papers that Christians when they gathered at the Kotwali Police station shouted anti - National slogans. This is a serious allegation and one that is untrue. We wish to clarify that we love our country as much as anyone else and perhaps more for the Christian community has contributed so much for the cause of nation building. The systematic disinformation campaign against the Christian community will lead to bloodshed of innocent Christians if it is not stopped now. The peddlers of hate led by the Hindutva brigade and some corrupts authorities have to controlled.

The Christian community of Jabalpur demands the following actions by the authorities so that confidence can be instilled into them and they are convinced of the impartiality of the administration:

• An action against Yogesh Agrawal, Acharya Maharaj and their team of the Bajrang Dal. Mr. Agrawal's involvement against Christians has been clearly noted in more than 2 incidents and he is the main person behind all the disinformation campaigns maligning the community.
• An Action against Mr. Sanjay Kumar the TI of Barela police station for not only ignoring his duties as the protector of the innocent but also conniving with the anti social elements to target the minority Christian community in his area. His act of violence against the young men, while they had been released on bail speaks poorly of his commitment to the constitution as well. We demand that Mr. Kumar is suspended from his duties and a competent officer dedicated to social harmony be placed in his position.
• We also request the media not to carry articles against the Christian community without verifying them in the first place. We are willing to cooperate with the media so that reporting is unbiased and does not create disharmony and prejudice in the society.
• Proper action is demanded in cases already pending. We demand that Justice be given to the minority Christian community who are increasingly becoming the target of hate and abuse by the Hindutva elements.

Released to the Media by Jabalpur Christian Conference

Hindu activists ransack prayer halls

DH News Service Mangalore:

A group of about eight to 10 persons allegedly belonging to a Hindu organisation barged into a prayer hall, assaulted the priest and ransacked the property at Bantaguri in Bantwal taluk on Easter Sunday.

A group of about eight to 10 persons allegedly belonging to a Hindu organisation barged into a prayer hall, assaulted the priest and ransacked the property at Bantaguri in Bantwal taluk on Easter Sunday. In a separate incident, a group of about 20 to 25 persons allegedly belonging to a Hindu organisation barged into a prayer hall and ransacked the property at Balmatta.

In the first incident, the group barged into 'Believers Church' at Bantaguri around 11.30 am and threatened the people present there with dire consequences if they continued the prayer.

Assault

They assaulted priest John who was preaching at the time of incident, Superintendent of Police B Dayanand said. The priest has been admitted to hospital and is recuperating.

The group also damaged the prayer hall.

Later, they damaged the priest’s house as well as his car. In the second incident, a group of about 25 persons barged into a prayer hall belonging to the Student Christian Community (SJM), located next to Shanthi Nilaya in Balmatta around 3.45 pm when women and children were offering prayers.

No men were said to be present then.

According to an eyewitness, the miscreants waited till all the men left the venue and then barged into the hall. They later locked the hall from inside and threatened the women and children with dire consequences.

Ransack

It is said that the preacher too had left the venue when they barged in.

Before leaving the venue, the miscreants ransacked the hall, broke the musical instruments, including an organ, music system and speakers, amplifiers, about 30 chairs, tubelights, tables and other material.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, an aged person said that prayers were being offered in the hall for the past several years.

SP Dayanand said that two separate cases have been registered at Bantwal Town Police Station and Kadri Police Station. Further investigations are on.

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Christian women arrested in MP on conversion charges

Bhopal (ICNS)

Police arrested two Christian women in Madhaya Pradesh accusing them of attempting to convert people by distributing pamphlets on Bible.

Mariamma Mathew, 36, and B. Godwil, 65 were arrested on Friday after a person complained that the women distributed pamphlets in Jabalpur town explaining to people how they can have a peaceful life following Bible.According police an existing state law, the Madhya Pradesh Religious Freedom Act, bars anyone campaigning about a religion or organizing religious functions without permission from district officials. The women had no such permission for their action.

Christian leaders in the state said this was not an isolated incident, but only latest in a string of such arrests.

They also say Christians have been harassed for the past two-and-half in the state after the BJP government came to power.

Christians beaten up at Prayer Meeting

Times News Network

Mumbai, April 14, 2006

About 500 Christians who had gathered for a prayer meeting in Khopte Village, Uran were attacked by 50 members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday, alleged Abraham Mathai, general Secretary of the All India Christian Council. The Christians were from the Living Light Fellowship Church in Uran. They were allegedly beaten up with lathis and choppers.

Mathai added that five leaders at the prayer meeting were then forcibly dragged to the nearby Shankar mandir and forced to worship there. When they resisted, they were allegedly mercilessly beaten.

"They were then escorted by the goons to the Navi Mumbai toll naka and dumped there", said Mathai. The leaders are currently recuperating in hospital.

"We have just been informed of the incident,"said Navi Mumbai police commissioner Vijay Kamle, who has dispatched a team to look into the incident.

CBCI upset over treatment of minorities in Rajasthan

New Delhi, April 13 (UNI): The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in India, has raised concern over the continued harassment of individuals associated with the Emmanuel Mission in Kota, Rajasthan.

In a statement here, the CBCI said the Emmanuel Mission, an independent Church being run by M A Thomas and his associates for the last 30 years, had done meritorious work in the development of society through its large number of orphanages, schools and homes for the elderly and disabled.

The Government honoured Dr Thomas with the Padma Shri in 2001 in recognistion of his services.

However, in recent days, the mission has come under repeated attack from right-wing political forces. Police have declared Dr Thomas an 'offender' and detained his son, Samuel Thomas, due to pressure from right-wing Hindu organisations.

"To let some organisations to intimidate and even paralyze the entire institutional network cannot be accepted as a civilized way of dealing with people and issues."

"Such harsh and even inhuman treatment meted out to the founders of such service-oriented institutions and the beneficiaries, most of whom belong to the marginalised of society, is nothing short of sheer high-handedness and bias against the Christian community," the CBCI said, asking the BJP Government of the state to ensure the rule of law and instil a sense of confidence in the minds of minorities.

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Update on Tirupati Incident

Evangelists' case: TTD opens rule book

Special Correspondent

`Even propagation of cult of other Hindu gods is prohibited here'  

• Some had preached Christianity to pilgrims in a bus returning from temple


• TTD tightens vigil to prevent recurrence of incident


• Criminal action will be taken in future, warn officials

TIRUPATI: The TTD management, embarrassed over activities of Christian evangelists here on Sunday, went into a damage control mode.

At a hurriedly convened press conference here on Monday, the TTD's Executive Officer, A.P.V.N. Sarma listed the preventive measures the TTD had put in place to prevent the recurrence of the incident.

Mr. Sarma sought to describe the controversy as a stray incident and handiwork of some `misguided persons'.

He said those who distributed Christian literature and preached Christianity among the pilgrims on board an APSRTC to Tirumala after darshan, perhaps had no idea about its legal implications.

To clarify the rule position vis-a-vis the non-Hindu religious propagation programmes on Tirumala hills, the Executive Officer quoted two sections from the TTD Act which prevented any gospel programmes by non-hindu organisations on the hills.

He said Rule 196 declared the entire 10 and one-third sq miles area around the Tirumala temple as the exclusive property of the TTD.

He also went on the explain as how under the rule 197 of the TTD Act entire Tirumala was declared as a place of pilgrimage and how it made it mandatory for its population to adhere to Hindu norms and respect the sentiments of the Hindu religion.

No to Ganesha too

He pointed out that the rule was so sensitive that barring the spread of Venkateswara cult, it prohibited the propagation of the cult of even the other Hindu gods in Tirumala.

He recalled how even the procession of Ganesha was prevented once.

Sarma said that the TTD had decided to tighten its vigilance wing to keep an eye on the activities of the evangelists and to work in coordination with the Intelligence wing to get inputs in advance on such questionable activities.

"In future we will not hesitate to take criminal action against the violators of the rule," Sarma said. Chief Vigilance and Security Officer (CVSO), Balakrishna said that that his department had noted the names and addresses of the evangelists and were watching their movements closely.


Pastor roughed up

A pastor who was reportedly preaching gospel to the students in the SVU's E-Block was today roughed up by the ABVP cadres and chased out of the campus.

The Vice-Chancellor, S. Jayarama Reddy admitted the incident and said all possible steps would be taken against the misuse of the campus for religious propagation of any religious faith.

In UP, dalits reconvert to Hinduism

By Our Special Correspondent

Lucknow, April 10: More than 295 dalits belonging to 57 families in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh have reconverted to Hinduism.

These persons had converted to Christianity last year and their conversion had kicked up a major controversy with a section of the people claiming that they were being forced to convert.

In an elaborate ceremony on Sunday, these families were initiated back into the Hindu religion in the presence of representatives from the Hindu Jagran Manch and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The reconversion ceremony took place in Chandvak Khas village under Chandvak police station village where 108 persons belonging to 22 families had converted to Christianity last year.

Another ceremony took place in Bagerwa gram panchayat where 187 persons reverted back to the Hindu fold.

Local RSS functionary Murlipal told this newspaper on Monday that some local Christian missionaries had lured the dalits, and some tribals, into Christianity by promising them a better life and education for their children.

"We are very happy that they are returning to their parent religion and we will make sure that they do not get misled again," the RSS functionary said.

"When these people converted to Christianity last year, we did not raise any objections because we knew it would lead to a major controversy. However, a year later, these people have seen through the game and came to us with as plea that they wanted to revert to being Hindus. We asked them to go back and give it another thought but they all came back to us and so we finally arranged for their return to the Hindutva fold," he said.

Kunwar Nagina, a local tribal who had led others when he converted to Christianity last year, told this newspaper that when they found that there was no difference between the two religions, they decided to revert back to Hinduism.

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Protest against alleged missionary activity in Tirupati

Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI: The TTD's Administative Building here on Monday witnessed angry demonstrations by the BJP and the BJYM activists protesting against alleged distribution of religious literature among pilgrims by some Christian missionaries on board an APSRTC bus on Sunday evening even as they were returning to Tirupati after darshan of the Lord at Tirumala.

The incident apart, what provoked the Sangh Parivar units to resort to a sit-in was what they called the `callous and casual manner' in which the TTD's vigilance authorities reportedly let go scot-free the four persons whom the pilgrims on board the bus reportedly over-powered and handed over to vigilance guards at the Alipiri toll gate after the bus reached the foot of the hill.

Sangh Parivar demonstrators carrying placards and party flags blocked the main entrance to the TTD headquarters and sloganeering denounced the action of the missionaries.

The demonstrators did not lift the blockade until the police swooped down on them and arrested six senior party functionaries including the BJYM's state general secretary, G. Bhanu Prakash Reddy.

The BJP and the BJYM in separate statements expressed grave concern over the increasing overtures by the Christian missionaries to indulge in forcible conversions and religious propagation, especially under the present dispensation at the Centre and the State.

They also recalled in this connection a similar episode in the Government District Headquarters Hospital, Chittoor, less than a month ago wherein doctors and the staff of the hospital were reportedly caught distributing Christian literature, pictures etc among patients.

They demanded the immediate arrest of the four persons and blamed the TTD authorities and its employees for being negligent as not to check such brazen attempts by missionaries.

The party also criticised the police for using force on its activists though they were peacefully demonstrating against the incident and warned to intensify their agitation if the TTD failed to check such blatant incidents. All the arrested were later released.

Action sought

HYDERABAD: The BJP State unit has demanded that the Government take steps to arrest persons who are allegedly responsible for propagation of Christian faith in Tirumala.

K. Laxman, party general secretary, sought action against officials for adopting casual attitude and persuading the police to release some youth who were allegedly involved in preaching.

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Singhal call to watch activities of Christian missionaries

Chakapada (Orissa), Apr 10 : VHP international president Ashok Singhal today asked activists of the Sangh Parivar to maintain strict vigil on activities of Christian missionaries and work unitedly to fight against religious conversion in the country.

''India is a spiritual country. It has got its own identity. This identity should not be compromised in the name of secularism,'' Singhal said while addressing the valedictory ceremony of the three-day religious congregation organised by the Sangh Parivar here.

Urging the BJD-BJP government in Orissa to stop cow slaughter and conversion in the state, Singhal called upon the saffron activists to work together so that more reconversions could be ensured in the future.

Singhal had yesterday demanded enactment of a central law to prohibit conversion but argued that people belonging to other religions should be allowed to be reconverted to Hinduism as it was 'their mother faith'.

RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan said the organisation's activities were aimed at nation building.

Such conferences, he said, would go a long way in awakening the Hindus who were complacent about their heritage. Hinduism is a way of life and indians, irrespective of their religion, should respect the country's socio-cultural values.

Meanwhile, nine persons belonging to two families were reconverted to Hinduism today in the presence of the Sangh Parivar bigwigs and the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.

Among others, Orissa Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal and Higher Education Minister Samir Dey attended the programme.

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Rajasthan legislates law banning proselytizing

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New Delhi, April 10: An Indian state has banned proselytizing using force or inducement, a law critics fear will be used to target Christians and other minorities, newspapers reported Saturday.

The offense can be punished with up to five years in prison and a fine of rupees 50,000 ($1,136, euro946) under the new legislation passed by the Hindu nationalist government of the western Indian state of Rajasthan, a leading daily said.

Similar laws have been used to harass, imprison or run out Christian missionaries in five other Indian states, all ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, or its allies.

Hard-line Hindu groups accuse missionaries from other religions of luring poor people away from Hinduism - India's largest faith -through offers of money, education, health care or through coercion.

In these states, Hindu extremists have in the past attacked Christian churches because of allegations of forced conversions.

Churches have denied that anyone can be coerced or bribed to change his or her personal religious beliefs.

The Rajasthan government had found that some religious groups, and other institutions, were involved in unlawful conversion from one religion to another by allurement, fraudulent means or forcibly, Gulab Chand Kataria, state home minister told the assembly before the law was approved.

"In the last two years, there were attempts to convert poor and illiterate people in the state," the paper quoted Kataria as saying.

The law was adopted after noisy protests by opposition Congress and Communist party lawmakers, who then walked out of the house in protest. The house approved the new legislation in the absence of the opposition.

Congress party lawmakers said the state government created the legislation to target minority communities. Christian and Muslim groups said the law was aimed at their right to propagate their faith.

Hindus form 84 per cent of India's more than 1.2 billion population, Muslims 13 per cent, and Christians 2.4 per cent.

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Indian Catholic bishop decries harassment of Christians

4/10/2006

JABALPUR, India (UCAN) – A Catholic bishop in a central Indian state has accused police of "unnecessarily" harassing Christians.

Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur told UCA News April 8 that the Madhya Pradesh state government should provide "adequate protection" to Christians against attacks from right-wing Hindu groups. He said the attacks have increased in recent months.

On April 7, the police registered cases against seven Christians, including four women, for allegedly violating a law on conversion. It was the second such incident in a week in the Madhya Pradesh town of Jabalpur, 815 kilometers (about 505 miles) southeast of New Delhi.

Eyewitness Nidhin Sahai told UCA News that police, accompanied by members of a Hindu group, raided the house of a couple. They claimed hat a local resident had complained about conversions being carried out in the couple's house.

Sahai said the Hindu activists manhandled Christians as the police watched. The police then took seven Christians to the police station, he added.

None of the seven people were available for comment when UCA News contacted them April 8.

Madhya Pradesh and several other states in India have laws regulating religious conversion. The laws make it a punishable offense for anyone to officiate a conversion without informing district officials. They also forbid use of force or allurement aimed at conversion.

Christian leaders in Madhya Pradesh say Hindu extremists misuse provisions of the law to target Church members and institutions. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people's party) now rules the state. It is widely seen as the political arm of groups striving to make India a Hindu theocratic nation.

A delegation of Christian leaders met top police officials in Jabalpur on April 8 to seek protection for their people from what they say are planned attacks. Basant Daniel, a member of the delegation, noted that Christian houses are often raided when Christian families are having their evening prayers. Generally, every Christian family holds prayers before going to bed, he explained. However, the raiders say the prayers are conversion activities.

Bishop Almeida says Christians do not oppose actual violators of the law being punished but feel they are being "unnecessarily harassed."

A member of the state minority commission, Indira Iyengar, says Madhya Pradesh has reported 20 cases of atrocities against religious minority groups in the first quarter of this year. She accused the state government of protecting groups that target minority communities.

Two days before the raid on the couple's house, police registered cases against the manager and two teachers of the Christian Higher Secondary School in Jabalpur.

Police Superintendent D. Shreenivasa Rao, in charge of the Jabalpur area, confirmed both cases. He told UCA News that the seven who were taken to the police station from the couple's house were released the same night. He said they were charged under the bailable section of the conversion law.

Referring to the April 5 incident, Rao said the three Christians face charges of attempting to forcibly convert Ramkant Mishra, a Hindu teacher at the school. Mishra accused the three of assaulting him in the school when he refused to yield to their pressure to convert.

However, Rao added that the police have not arrested anyone so far as they are verifying the credibility of the complaint.

School principal Rakesh Barnes told UCA News Mishra was a "constant nuisance maker" who would allege that he was being targeted because of his religion whenever he was reprimanded for his misdeeds.

The principal said only five of the 16 teachers in the school are Christians, while the rest are Hindus. He counts only about 50 Christian children among the school's 400 students. He denied any conversion activity in the school.

Earlier, on March 17, Hindu extremists attacked 16 people gathered inside the house of a Christian in Jabalpur. They also burned copies of the Bible and ransacked the house.

The police registered cases against the house owner and his wife for violating the conversion law. Another case was registered against the assailants for ransacking the couple's house.

UCANews (www.ucanews.com)

On conversion, Rajnath takes on missionaries

Pradeep Kaushal

Posted online: Monday, April 10, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST

JASHPUR NAGAR, April 9

BJP president Rajnath Singh dared Christian missionaries to "try converting any Hindu" and vowed to turn tables on them today.

The BJP president, who had been speaking at a string of public meetings on his way to Jashpur Nagar from Raigad in course of his Bharat Suraksha Yatra, turned unusually aggressive after entering the domain of Dalip Singh Judeo, who spearheads the Sangh Parivar’s "Ghar Vapsi" (reconversion) programme among Adivasis.

Be it Dharamjaigarh, Pathalgaon, Kasabel, Kunkuri or Jashpur, Singh had a single theme: Those who are converting Hindus, take heed. There is no mercy for you.

Warming to his subject, Singh said Christian missionaries tried to convert people in the name of service. But "there cannot be a more cruel joke than the use of money or service to convert the poor."

Referring to Rajasthan government’s fresh law cracking down on conversions, he pointed out, "as soon as I became the BJP president, I told all my party chief ministers to enact laws to check conversion and foil the designs of Christian missionaries". The Jharkhand government is ready with a draft bill, he said, and called upon Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who was on stage with him, to follow suit.

Even Madhya Pradesh, which already has a law on the issue, needs a more stringent legislation, he told The Indian Express later.

Conversions comprise the biggest danger to society, he told his audience, and "we cannot allow the demographic profile of the country to be changed. We will not let Hindus be converted into a minority, as somebody has said they would be by 2060. As long as the BJP is on the political scene, it would fight such attempts tooth and nail".

Singh had a word of praise for Judeo too, who accompanied him on his 'rath'.

"I appreciate Judeoji from the core of my heart for carrying on the ghar vapsi programme. It is something unparalleled - a scion of a royal family washing the feet of people upon their return to the Hindu fold."

Rajnath's choice of Jashpur to take on Christian missionaries has a strategic significance.

The area has the biggest church in Chhattsigarh - at Kunkuri - and has a sizeable Christian population. Not surprisingly, the Parivar has boosted its activity here. The countryside is dotted by Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, meant to counter missionary schools. VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia conducted a "trishool diksha" programme at Kasabel last week.

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VHP reconverts 342 to Hinduism

Press Trust of India

Chakapad (Orissa), April 10: Amidst cries of 'Jai Shri Ram' and blowing of conch shells, 342 persons, said to be Christians, were reconverted to Hinduism at a huge congregation organised by the Sangh Parivar even as the VHP called for a total ban on conversion in the country.

The reconversion ceremony was conducted on the second day of the 'Hindu Mahasabha' where VHP bigwigs made fiery speeches The reconverted persons, who belonged to 74 families, were blessed by the Sankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.

Speaking on the occasion, VHP International President Ashok Singhal demanded that the centre should enact a law to completely ban conversions from Hinduism. However, there should not be any restriction on Christians if they wanted to return to their 'mother faith of Hinduism', he said while refusing to acknowledge as conversion the return of the people to Hinduism from Christianity.

Preachers of the Christian faith should be thrown out of the country, the VHP leader demanded. "There is no need for anyone to teach religion to the people of this country as Indians are religious anyway," he said.

As per the provisions of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), anyone desiring to change his religious faith would have to inform the administration beforehand.

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To check conversions, Rajasthan arms itself with tough new law

Express news service
Posted online: Saturday, April 08, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST
JAIPUR, APRIL 7

The Rajasthan Assembly today passed an anti-conversion Bill that not only gives the state sweeping powers to put behind bars, even before trial, any person accused of forcing or alluring a person to change his religion, but also applies it specifically to conversions from the "original religion".

This has given rise to speculation that the legislation is meant only to stop conversion from Hinduism.

It was passed on the last day of the Budget session, amid strong protests by the Opposition. Many of them point out that the Rajasthan Dharma Swatantrya Act (2006) will boost the Hindutva brigade, which has long accused Christian preachers of running a conversion campaign in the tribal belt of Rajasthan. Now the Hindutva campaigners might go on a reconversion drive, without attracting action under provisions of the new Act.

Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, considered a hardliner, admitted that the Act was necessitated by the rising cases of forcible conversions in the state, though he denied it was directed against minorities.

"This is not against any religion. As the name itself suggests, the Act allows people the freedom to practise their religion by protecting them from conversion by force or allurement," he said.

Under the Act, conversion by force or through allurement is a non-bailable offence that could lead to imprisonment for at least two years. A DSP-rank officer can arrest any person who has "converted or attempted to convert a person through force, allurement or fraudulent means".

The Opposition blasted the Act as "a draconian attempt to curb the fundamental right to religion" because of the powers it gives the police and government. Congress MLA Hari Mohan Sharma pointed out that the Act was even more stringent than a similar law framed by the Gujarat government.

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IET workers in Rajasthan under threat

Barmer, Rajasthan.

IET has a small but good work in Barmer area. Roy Daniel with his family and Bhawani Singh with his wife are working here.

They were conducting discipleship training for the new believers from 27th March to 29th March. On the third day one VHP person came into the meeting place, Christ Church that is a union meeting place. He started to ask questions and looked at every literature of the people. Sitting there he made a few telephone calls on his mobile. Sensing trouble the leader Roy Daniel closed the meeting but the fanatics arrived in front of the church. About 60 people reached the colloctorate and demanded that every one must be arrested.

They took some people to their office and questioned them. They were all fearful of physical attack - that did not happen. Thereafter the RSS, VHP leaders came to the church and with the help of the police broke opened the church and took away the literature what ever they could find. They took 5 IET songbooks, notebooks of the 20 people who were doing the discipleship training and their 20 new testaments. From got their names from their note books and immediately they went to their homes and took all of them into police custody in Barmer Police station. At 5.30 PM police arrested 15 of them. But after the questioning they were released at 12.30 am.

The police wanted to get Bhavani Singh, who is a Rajput convert and IET preacher. We remember the trouble they gave him on his wedding day. They saw the marriage invitation and they chased the Bhavani Singh's marriage party asking how come a Rajput is marrying a Christian girl.

The VHP leader informed this matter to the Rajasthan government home minister and there was heavy pressure form the minister's office on the police.

Bro Roy Daniel was asked to report to the police every day. Later he was told to be available when ever they will call him. Roy Daniel is afraid to go out of his house as he could easily be attacked.

Bhavani Singh was immediately asked to leave the area and be else where with his wife. Their motorcycles are also kept elsewhere fearing attack on their vehicles.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Roy Daniel who is Barmer and cannot leave the place as he is asked by the police to be available there any time they will call him and Bhavani Singh/his wife who is moved to another place.

Rajasthan passes Anti-conversion Bill

Special Correspondent

Opposition stays away in protest, furore in Assembly during discussion

Bill was to check activities of Christian missionaries in certain parts of the State, says Minister

"An attack on the freedom of speech and expression, and freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion"

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Assembly on Friday passed an Anti-conversion Bill, even as the entire Opposition stayed away. There were uproarious scenes throughout the two-and-a-half hour-long discussion on the legislation.

The "Rajasthan Dharma Swatantraya Bill, 2006" (Religious Freedom Bill) has a provision for re-conversion to Hinduism.

Chief Minister absent

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was not present when her party (ruling BJP) members battled with the Opposition over the Bill. It was taken up on the concluding day of the Budget session and passed with a voice-vote.

The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) continued their boycott of the proceedings for the rest of the day, though the BJP made attempts to bring them back after the Bill was passed.

The Opposition members also kept away from a function organised to felicitate N.S. Gujjar for being chosen the Best Legislator for 2005-06. They also stayed away from a film show and dinner, arranged by Ms. Raje for them to mark the end of the session.

Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who piloted the Bill, said the Bill was necessary to check the activities of Christian missionaries in some parts of the State, especially in Kota. He, however, pointed out that the Bill was not against any religion.

"All religions will be treated equally when it comes to conversions. If anyone wants to change his religion on his own he can still do it," he said. Similar Bills, introduced in States such as Madhya Pradesh and Orissa had the Supreme Court's approval, he noted.

The Congress members and Amra Ram (CPI-M) termed the Bill an attack on the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of conscience and freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion, enshrined in the Constitution. The Opposition attempts to get the Bill referred to a Select Committee were in vain.

`Will suppress minorities'

"The Bill is an attempt to suppress the minorities. It can be used against Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and others," Zuber Khan, Chief Whip of the Congress, said. He challenged the Government to give a single instance of forcible conversion in Rajasthan during its rule. "Congress members Sanyam Lodha and Mohammed Mahir Azad said there were ample chances of misuse of the legislation. Mr. Lodha pointed out that the Bill had kept the same kind of punishment for converting as well as attempt to convert.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party members, vying among themselves, tried to take maximum political advantage of the enactment of the Bill, trying to project the main Opposition party, the Congress, as "anti-Hindu."

Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari said at least on two occasions: "The Congress party is acting against the interests of Hindus under the leadership of B.D. Kalla."

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Indian Christians angered by law to ban conversions

JAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Indian Christian leaders said on Wednesday that a bill proposed by a local government to ban what Hindu activists call forced religious conversions would be used to harass the tiny community further.
Officials and activists in Rajasthan say that hundreds of tribals and low-caste Hindus are being converted to Christianity by missionaries each month, some by force and others by the lure of money.

The state government which is led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party plans to adopt legislation in the current session of the state assembly to ban such conversions.

The proposed law calls for jail terms up to five years for those found guilty of forcing or encouraging others to convert.

Anand Chaudhary, president of the Rajasthan Bible Institute, said the proposed measure was "foolish. "There was no need to bring in any bill. How can a miniscule population of 0.07 percent convert a majority?" he said.
Christians constitute less than 40,000 people out of Rajasthan's population of 56 million and make up less than three percent of India's total population of 1.1 billion.

"It is not just mischievous but downright unconstitutional," said Abraham Mathai, general secretary of the All-India Christian Council. "The right to follow or change to a particular faith can never be unlawful in a civilised society.

"Should the bill be passed, one fears that it will be the stick used to harass minorities in a state where they already feel insecure," Mathai added.

Religious conflicts in India commonly pit Hindus, who make up 80 percent of the population, against Muslims who constitute about 13 percent. But in recent years there have been attacks on Christian chapels and missionaries, blamed on Hindu hardliners.

Rajendra Singh Rathore, Rajasthan's parliamentary affairs minister, said the bill was prompted by the discovery of an increasing number of forced conversions. "Such conversations always remain a threat to the law and order situation in the state," he said.

Similar laws are already on the books in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

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Three-day Hindu Summit Planned in Orissa

Three-day Hindu Summit Planned in Orissa
From our correspondent

It is an itch the Sangh Parivar cannot overcome. If not in Dangs district of Gujarat (where the dream plans of the Parivar failed to take off), it has to be somewhere else. The hate campaign has to go on. Otherwise how could one explain the three-day meeting planned in Orissa, another state known for anti-Christian drive!

A grand Hindu summit is scheduled to be organised at Chakapad in Phulbani district in Orissa from 8-10 April 2006 as part of Shri Guruji's birth centenary year celebrations. About 20 lakh people are expected to participate in the event titled as Sapta Mahajagnya.

The programme, being organised at by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), intends to bring about unification of all Hindus in Orissa and to protect them from conversion and other internal, external attacks.

Part of the programme includes re-conversion of 10,000 people. Later a second Jagannatha temple will be built at Brahmapur in Ganjam district, Orissa. (The first Jagannatha temple, one of the oldest temples of Orissa, is in Puri.)

The preparations of the event are in full swing. Village-to-village campaigns are going on to unite people against all anti-national forces responsible for degradation of

Hindu society, according to Prant Pracharak Ajit Prasad Mohapatra. RSS Sarsanghachalak KS Sudarshan, Sarkaryavah Mohan Bhagwat and other stalwarts of the Sangh Parivar will attend the function.

The government in Orissa is at present a coalition government formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal. According to sources, the BJP is trying to work towards a single party government in the next election. This will require creating major unrest in the land.

The All India Christian Council (aicc) has already alerted ANHAD and other secular agencies to conduct an independent enquiry into the programme. "We will move the Central Government for immediate action," the aicc leadership says.

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Christians attacked in Jabalpur

17th March 2006: The YWAM centre at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh was ransacked and vandalized by Bajrang Dal activist late night on Friday the 17th March 2006. The attackers beat up resident students of the centre and misbehaved with the girl students. As the police arrived at the scene the attackers fled but the police managed to get hold of one of them.

Mukesh Jacob, the central India director for the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) spoke to us, "I first got a call around 9:00 pm from the centre and the students there called me up to say that 4 people from the CBI had come for an enquiry. As I spoke to the alleged CBI personnel over the phone, they clearly told me that they were Bajrang Dal people and wanted to know what we did at our centre. They also wanted to interview our students at the centre and all this at 9:00 in the night."

"I told them to come the next morning as I was not there. Hearing this, the Bajrang Dal activists cut off the phone." Mukesh Jacob further told us, "When I called after this I could hear noises of the attackers forcing our staff not to pick up the phone. This time too the attackers cut off the phone forcibly. I realized what was happening and called the police to intervene in the matter."

Meanwhile around 15 more people from the Bajrang Dal barged in the centre and started to ransack the place and beat the students. They also misbehaved with the ladies students hitting them in private places. The attackers also broke almost the entire furniture, damaged the computer and UPS beyond repair, broke the TV and shattered the window panes. They also involve in using abusive language with the students and allegedly burned Bibles thus injuring the religious feelings of Christians.

While they were still vandalizing the place the police arrived and though most of the attackers managed to escape, the police was able to catch one attacker, who was fully drunk.

Mukesh Jacob told us, "Even after the police arrived the attackers were roaming in the vicinity and around the centre and the police was not arresting them. It was only when we questioned the police and their involvement that they caught some of the attackers and brought them and us to the police station."

"Once in the police station, the police kept evading the possibility of filing an FIR (First Information Report). They even rejected the application I gave saying that I was not personally present at the time of the attack, which is unlawful for the FIR can be filed by anybody even on the basis of mere hearsay. Finally a girl, Ruth Mangalam, from the center filed an FIR but not before the police diluted a lot of facts." Jacob informed us further.

According to information the attackers were led by one Yogesh Agarwal. The police have arrested him and four others so far on the charge of ransacking the Mission office and attacking the couple. Their names are: Inder Bhan, Pushpendra Singh, Arun Pillai and Kedar Namdeo.

The police also made out a case against Mukesh Jacob and his wife Sarah under the Section 4 of Freedom of Religion Act and collected some Christian literature from the center in order to prove that they are involved in religious conversions.

The next day the press gave a report of the incident which was clearly biased against the Christians. Nai Dunia, a prominent Hindi newspaper, even went to the extent of quoting the Superintendent of Police, Mr. Srinivas Rao, "according to the investigation so far it appears that the couple is involved in conversion activities.", thus condemning the Christians already.

Jabalpur situated almost in the centre of India has seen a lot of attacks against the Christian community in the city in the recent past.

Early this year on 26th January, three Christian priests from the Church of Nazarene were arrested from a hotel in Jabalpur on the allegation by Hindu activists that they were involved in the conversion of tribals.

In the past the Hindu activists have also been involved in desecration of Christian shrines in the city and in attacking and physically injuring many Christian pastors including Pastor Munnu Kujur and Pastor Rao.

As Submitted by Vijayesh Lal, Coordinator of the National Forum for Reconciliation, Religious Liberty and Social Justice, over email.

Catholic Priest Murdered in Goa State, India

Eusebio Ferrao recently had spoken out against religious rioting.

MUMBAI, March 20 (Compass) - The murder of priest Eusebio Ferrao in Goa state early Saturday morning (March 18) has sent shockwaves through the Catholic communities of India.

Fr. Ferrao, 61, was parish priest of St. Francis Xavier Church in Macazana, a village in the western coastal state. Police said assailants evidently stabbed and hit the elderly priest repeatedly before strangling and smothering him.

Fr. Ferrao's body was discovered at around 6:30 a.m. when parishioners arrived for morning mass.

Police said the suspects in the murder are two young men from Uttar Pradesh state, identified only as Amit and Manish, aged between 25 and 30 years, who had shared a meal with Fr. Ferrao the night before he was killed.

The police have ruled out theft as a motive, since nothing was missing from the church premises.

While police are baffled, local Christians believe Fr. Ferrao was targeted because of his recently published comments on religious riots in the south of Goa.

Riots in Goa

Ferrao wrote regularly for two local newspapers, Roti (Bread) and Vauradeacho Ixt (The Worker's Friend). In early March, he expressed his concern about rioting between Hindus and Muslims in Sanvordem, southern Goa.

During the riots on March 2, mobs severely injured two policemen and two civilians, looted 18 shops and a gas station and damaged 24 vehicles owned by Muslims.

Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao believed the riots were deliberately engineered to inflame an already tense situation between Hindus and Muslims in the region, local media reported.

While Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane blamed Hindu extremists in general for the violence, Muslims singled out the extremist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), accusing it of crusading for an all-Hindu state.

"After the riots, I demanded a thorough investigation, but the government had no time to carry out this exercise," Churchill Alemao, member of Parliament for South Goa, told Compass. "Now that this gruesome murder has occurred, I hope the authorities will wake up."

Dangerous Signs

Hindu extremists have been increasingly active in Goa over the past year.

Since February 2005, extremists have carried out a host of burglaries and acts of vandalism against churches. In spite of repeated appeals to the police and state authorities, however, no arrests have been made.

Two incidents last week led some local Christians to believe they were given advance warning of the murder. On Thursday (March 16) a church cross was destroyed, and in a nearby park, a priest's robe was hung from a tree and draped with a mosquito net – perhaps signaling that something more serious was about to take place.

Two weeks earlier, on January 30, a cross was vandalized in north Goa, with the words Shri Pardesi (Mr. Foreigner) boldly written on its broken pieces - implying that the vandals saw Christianity as an unwanted, foreign religion.

"Strategies to stir up communal violence in Goa began during the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)," John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union and National Integration Council member, told Compass. "There is a larger conspiracy at work here."

Dayal has asked Chief Minister Rane to thoroughly investigate the crime.

The Rev. Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, said the multiple desecrations of Christian religious symbols in Goa in recent weeks signaled a new attempt by Hindu extremists to create tension between religious groups.

Father Cedric Prakash, director of the Center for Human Rights, Justice and Peace in Ahmedabad, said the RSS was targeting Kerala, Goa and Northeast India because of their relatively high Christian populations.

Elections are due next year in Goa, and Hindu extremists may be stirring up communal tensions in an effort to win votes, he said.

Source: www.compassdirect.org

Protest against attacks on Christians in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: Terming the deregistration of the Emmanuel Mission and the freezing of its accounts by the Rajasthan government as "illegal", cine actor and expelled Samajwadi Party leader Raj Babbar on Tuesday criticised the state government for its "treatment" of Christians.

Addressing a protest by over 50 organisations here against "attacks" on the Christian community in the state, Babbar said "Christians are peace loving and dedicated towards service, so they should not be treated in this manner by the BJP government."

He alleged that state Cooperative Minister Madan Dilawar was acting like a "villain".

"In movies Dilawars are the villains and in real life as well this minister is doing all that villains do," Babbar said.

The protestors demanded Dilawar's resignation and the revoking of the de-registration of the Mission.

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JAIPUR: Hundreds of Christians joined a rally in the Rajasthan capital on Tuesday to protest alleged atrocities against the community.

The rally, held outside the state assembly, was backed by the opposition Congress and Left parties.

The protesters condemned the arrest of Bishop Samuel Thomas at Kota and the closure of educational and charitable institutions run by the Emmanuel Mission International in that town.

They also shouted slogans against Social Welfare Minister Madan Dilawar for spearheading an agitation against Christians and institutions run by the community in Kota.

The rally was addressed by MP Raj Babbar, Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the All India Christian Council, Congress leader Mohan Prakash, and leaders of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist.

"Ever since the BJP came to power in the state, it has Madan Dilawar to trouble the Christians by attacking the institutions run by them in Kota," Babbar said.

He claimed Hindu fundamentalists had attacked Christians at Kota, Banswara and Dungarpur after alleging they were involved in converting Hindus.

Babbar said these allegations were not true and no forced conversions had taken place.

Rajasthan Police arrested Bishop Samuel Thomas, the chairperson of the Emmanuel Mission International, near Delhi, on March 16. Police had been looking for Thomas and his father M.A. Thomas in connection with for inciting communal passions by publishing a controversial book titled "Hakikat".

The book, written by M.G. Mathew, was distributed through the mission's outlets. Hindu groups said it contained derogatory references to Hindu gods and some Hindu preachers and holy rivers.

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Christians in Rajasthan protest atrocities

March 21, 2006

By Indo Asian News Service

Jaipur, March 21 (IANS) Hundreds of Christians joined a rally in the Rajasthan capital Tuesday to protest alleged atrocities against the community.

The rally, held outside the state assembly, was backed by the opposition Congress and Left parties.

The protesters condemned the arrest of Bishop Samuel Thomas at Kota and the closure of educational and charitable institutions run by the Emmanuel

Mission International in that town.

They also shouted slogans against Social Welfare Minister Madan Dilawar for spearheading an agitation against Christians and institutions run by the community in Kota.

The rally was addressed by MP Raj Babbar, Abraham Mathai, vice chairman of the All India Christian Council, Congress leader Mohan Prakash, and leaders of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist.

'Ever since the BJP came to power in the state, it has Madan Dilawar to trouble the Christians by attacking the institutions run by them in Kota,' Babbar said.

He claimed Hindu fundamentalists had attacked Christians at Kota, Banswara and Dungarpur after alleging they were involved in converting Hindus.

Babbar said these allegations were not true and no forced conversions had taken place.

Rajasthan Police arrested Bishop Samuel Thomas, the chairperson of the Emmanuel

Mission International, near Delhi, March 16. Police had been looking for Thomas and his father M.A. Thomas in connection with for inciting communal passions by publishing a controversial book titled 'Hakikat'.

The book, written by M.G. Mathew, was distributed through the mission's outlets.

Hindu groups said it contained derogatory references to Hindu gods and some Hindu preachers and holy rivers.

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BJP Govt. In Chhattisgarh Following Secret Hindu Agenda, Says Daily

Raipur, Chhattisgarh, March 21, 2006 (SAR NEWS):

The nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government in Chhattisgarh is embracing Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), Dainik Bhaskar, a popular local Hindi daily has charged.

"The Raman Singh government is following a secret Hindutva agenda," the March 7 edition of the newspaper said. "The government is doing this in consultation with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu sages.

In keeping with its religious policy, the government will provide training to temple priests and their attendants, for which fund has been allotted from the budget, Religious and Cultural Minister Brijmohan Agrawal informed the State Assembly, March 6. He also disclosed the various religious programmes of his ministry.

The state government would also provide financial aid every year to those who go on pilgrimage to Mansarovar, one of the most sacred places of Hindus, the minister said. However, he did not disclose the amount.

According to Dainik Bhaskar estimates, it would cost each pilgrim about Rs. 55,000 for a trip to Mansarovar. Last year, 26 groups had visited the pilgrim centre, each group led by a senior government official.

The state government has also decided to make legislation to organise Kumbh Mela (assembly of Hindu sadhus) in the Hindu pilgrim city of Rajim every year, instead of the current once in four years, the minister announced. And every 12 years, the 'Maha Kumbh' will be organised, he added.

"The BJP government spent Rs 2 crore (20 million) to organise the Kumbh Mela here recently, in which thousands of Hindu sadhus and three sankaracharyas participated," the newspaper claimed.

Declaring Rajim as a religious city, the minister told the Assembly that the aim of organising kumbh in Rajim was "to give an identity to the state at the national level".

The BJP government may have made no bones about its agenda, but this no meaty matter for the opposition - apparently because most of the Congress members are also Hindus.

EMI President Arrested at Gunpoint in India

Rajasthan welfare minister had vowed to "take action" against head of besieged ministry.

NEW DELHI, March 16 (Compass) - Rajasthan state police officers today arrested the Rev. Dr. Samuel Thomas, president of Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) and son of Archbishop M.A. Thomas, EMI's founder.

The arrest took place in Noida, Uttar Pradesh state. Both Thomas and his father had gone underground after Hindu extremists accused them of distributing a controversial book that they alleged denigrated their religion and deities.

Archbishop Thomas is still in hiding. Projects run by the ministry he founded – including orphanages, schools, and a hospital - have been targeted for closure by a wide array of Hindu extremists the past few months, including some who have offered a reward of $26,000 for the heads of the archbishop and his son.

State Welfare Minister Madan Dilawar said earlier this week that he should be stoned if he did not "take action" against Thomas and his father.

The arrest took place at noon when Thomas arrived in the driveway of the home of attorney R.K. Jain, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, to arrange anticipatory bail for himself and his father. Jain lives in Noida township, Uttar Pradesh state.

Thomas was accompanied by two lawyers, C.J. Babu and Brahum Datt, and Sajan George, the national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

Several policemen in civil dress stopped the car in which Thomas' party was traveling and forced him into their own vehicle. The officers neglected to follow proper procedure – showing neither their identity cards nor an arrest warrant, according to George.

"Five or six people, one of whom claimed to be the station house officer of the Bhimgunj Mandi police station in Kota, [Rajasthan], tried to push Thomas into a car parked close to the gate of Jain's house," George said in a written complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). "Then one of them put a firearm to my face and warned us not to resist the arrest."

George also argued that the Rajasthan police were shadowing him. "I made an appointment with Jain for 12 noon today, and that shows that they were aware of the appointment – perhaps by tapping my telephone," he said.

Expressing apprehensions about Thomas' well-being, George urged the NHRC to take "appropriate action."

Following the arrest, the NHRC was supposed to request the Rajasthan state government to report back within 24 hours on the status of Thomas, according to George.

'Hurting Religious Sentiments'
Mohammad Akram, Thomas' attorney in Rajasthan, said the Kota district court had earlier rejected an anticipatory bail application for Thomas and his father. A bail petition for Archbishop Thomas will come up for hearing in the Rajasthan High Court on March 24, he said.

Mansingh Chaudhary, station house officer of the Bhimgunj Mandi police station, registered an official complaint against Thomas, his father the archbishop, and a few other EMI staff members on February 14, under Section 153(a) and 295(a) of the Indian Penal Code.

Section 153(a) deals with hurting religious sentiments, while Section 295(a) is for deliberately outraging religious feelings or insulting the religious beliefs of a community. Both offenses are punishable with up to three years imprisonment. Moreover, according to a Supreme Court ruling, truth is not a defense under Section 153(a).

EMI senior staff members said the mission was not a major distributor of Haqeeqat (The Truth or Reality), and that they merely kept a few copies of the book at their head office at Kota district. Apparently few staff members had even read the book.

EMI operates under five registered societies: Emmanuel Bible Institute Samiti, Emmanuel Anath Ashram (Orphanage), Emmanuel School Society, Emmanuel Chikitsalaya (Hospital) Samiti, and Emmanuel Believers Fellowship. EMI leads a native church movement receiving aid from Columbus, Georgia-based Hopegivers International for humanitarian and educational work with over 10,000 children.

Tensions began on January 25, when Archbishop Thomas and his son received anonymous death threats warning them not to hold the annual graduation ceremony for hundreds of orphans and Dalit Christian students scheduled for February 25. The ceremony was postponed in the wake of the threats and attacks.

On February 2, a mob of Hindu extremists attacked an EMI orphanage in Tindole, resulting in the death of one child and the stoning and beatings of children, staff and local clergy. On February 10 in Ramganjmandi, a Hindu mob burned to the ground an EMI school and orphanage.

On February 20, V.S. Thomas, officer in charge of the Hope Center Orphanage in Raipura, and R.S. Nair, mission chief operating officer, were detained without charges. During the arrests, police stood by as an accuser beat one of the men, according to Hopegivers International.

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Tensions Mount over Attacks on EMI Work in India

Hindu extremists offer bounty for the heads of Emmanuel Mission officials.

NEW DELHI, March 15 (Compass) - A concerted attack on Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) orphanages, schools and other ministries in Rajasthan intensified this week when the state welfare minister, Madan Dilawar, said he should be stoned to death if his government effort to take over EMI's properties failed.

The statement came less than a month after the state unduly revoked the licenses of an EMI Bible institute, orphanage, school, hospital and church in the northern state. According to the Hindi daily Rajasthan Patrika, Dilawar on Monday (March 13) said also that he should be stoned if he is unable to "take action" against EMI's founder, Archbishop M.A. Thomas, and his son, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Thomas.

Hindu extremists on March 3 offered a reward of $26,000 each for the heads of Archbishop Thomas and his son. The same day, M.S. Kala, additional director of the Department of Social Welfare of Rajasthan, ordered district collectors to take over EMI institutions and froze their banks accounts, according to Rajasthan Patrika.

The next day, however, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje stepped in to halt the attempted takeover.

A representative of EMI in Delhi who requested anonymity told Compass that the Registrar of Societies gave a three-day notice before revoking the registrations of their institutions on February 20 "on the pretext of violation of procedures required by the laws related to societies."

After EMI officials responded to the allegations, they were told that their reply was unsatisfactory and all their licenses were revoked.

EMI operates under five registered societies: Emmanuel Bible Institute Samiti, Emmanuel Anath Ashram (Orphanage), Emmanuel School Society, Emmanuel Chikitsalaya (Hospital) Samiti, and Emmanuel Believers Fellowship. EMI leads a native church movement receiving aid from Columbus, Georgia-based Hopegivers International for humanitarian and educational work with over 10,000 children.

One Child Dead

Authorities have taken some measures to protect EMI institutions.

"The state administration has now deployed police at all the institutes of the mission to ensure the protection of their workers," Jacob Matthew, administrator of the Emmanuel hospital, told Compass.

Matthew also said that Kota District Collector Niranjan Arya today (March 15) gave him assurances that he would not allow the patients in the hospital, and the 2,500 children at the Kota orphanage, to suffer due to the tensions. The Emmanuel Hope Home in Kota is funded by Hopegivers International.

On February 2, a mob of Hindu extremists attacked an EMI orphanage in Tindole, resulting in the death of one child and the stoning and beatings of children, staff and local clergy. On February 10 in Ramganjmandi, a Hindu mob burned to the ground an EMI school and orphanage. According to mission officials, local police warned the head of the EMI school and orphanage in advance that they would not stop the violence.

Also on February 10, police in Kota notified Emmanuel Seminary that they would not provide security for the graduation ceremony of 10,250 students and advised Archbishop Thomas to cancel or postpone it. More than 8,100 students relocated their graduation ceremonies to cities in southern India.

After the license of EMI's Kota orphanage was revoked, a gas agency had stopped providing fuel at subsidized rates. Emmanuel Hospital administrator Matthew said Arya, the Kota district collector, assured him that the supply of gas for the orphanage would be provided at the lower price as before.

Hindu extremists on February 25 called for a boycott of the orphanage, ending legal aid from lawyers and food from merchants for the children. EMI officials said that on Febrary 27, building inspectors were being recruited to find fault with the orphanages, schools and church buildings in order to have them condemned and torn down and replaced with yoga centers and Hindu temples.

Tensions began on January 25, when Archbishop Thomas and his son received anonymous death threats warning them not to hold the annual graduation ceremony for hundreds of orphans and Dalit Christian students scheduled for February 25. The ceremony was postponed in the wake of the threats and attacks.

On February 20, V.S. Thomas, officer in charge of the Hope Center Orphanage in Raipura, and R.S. Nair, mission chief operating officer, were detained without charges. During the arrests, police stood by as an accuser beat one of the men, according to Hope International.

In Sanganer on Febraury 22, extremists vandalized a mission school, closing it as elementary school children tearfully ran home, according to Hope International. Two days later in Jaipur, Hindu extremists desecrated and vandalized the Jhotwara Emmanuel Secondary School and Church building, the organization said.

Systematic Campaign

A visit from a fact-finding delegation of parliamentary members from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) may result in the return of EMI bank accounts. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Monday (March 13) gave assurances to the delegation that he would take steps to revive the bank accounts of EMI frozen by the Rajasthan government.

Archbishop Thomas and his son, meantime, have gone underground after non-bailable warrants were issued against them for being the alleged distributors of a book called Haqeeqat (The Truth, or Reality), which the Hindu outfits alleged denigrates their religion and deities.

Under Indian law, hurting religious sentiments of any religious community is punishable offense. Moreover, according to a Supreme Court ruling, truth is not a defense under this law, Section 153(a) of the Indian Penal Code.

Archbishop Thomas' attorney, Mohammad Akram, told Compass that EMI had nothing to do with the controversial book, written by attorney M.J. Matthew in the southern state of Kerala. "A few books were kept at the Emmanuel Mission center at Kota for sale, and no one had read the book - otherwise they wouldn't have kept it at their center," Akram said.

The Sangh Parivar, a family of organizations affiliated with the extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is using the controversial book as a pretext for carrying out a systematic campaign against minority groups, Suresh Kurup, head of the parliamentary delegation told Indian Catholic News Service.

Kurup told the news service that the attacks seemed to be "a planned operation," as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar aimed to close EMI institutions permanently.

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Hopegivers President Samuel Thomas Arrested In New Delhi

Columbus, Georgia (March 16, 2006) - President Samuel Thomas, humanitarian leader of the Hopegivers International children's charity, was arrested in New Delhi today by a dozen men claiming to be police officers from the provincial capital of Kota, Rajasthan. The arrest was made at about 12 noon (10:30 pm EST) outside the office of the Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court where Dr. Thomas was meeting with his attorney to discuss anticipatory bail before surrendering himself to authorities.

Other reports from Kota say that the officers, led by Police Superintendent Bhim Ganj Mandi, delivered the leader to the Kota jail at about 9:00 am EST.

Dr. Sajan George of the Global Council of Indian Christians based in Bangalore called on the National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi to take "appropriate action" to ensure the safety and well being of Dr. Thomas whose life has been threatened by Hindutva extremists. The radicals want to end India’s secular government and make it a Hindu state.

Michael Glenn, Executive Director of Hopegivers International, called upon Christians around the world to pray and work for Dr. Thomas'; safety. He also said that letters of protest to Indian government leaders are very effective and that contributions are also needed. Click here to give to the emergency Legal Defense Fund.

"We need to pray and work for the release of Dr. Thomas, the other Indian staff and the children in Kota," he said.

Meanwhile local anti-Christian hate groups continued the 25th day of the siege against the 2,500 orphans and abandoned children protected at the Emmanuel Hope Home in Kota, Rajasthan. The orphanage is supported by Hopegivers International based in Columbus, Georgia, as well as from donations from the Indian churches and the general public.

Thousands of Christians around the world are praying for the persecuted Christians in Rajasthan and sending letters and faxes to the Indian government in New Delhi asking for emergency protection of the children and staff of the Hopegivers schools and orphanages in Rajasthan.

Local government bureaucracies in Kota, which have been politicized by Hindu extremist groups, have taken a series of illegal actions in the last month to prevent Hopegivers and Rajasthani Christian leaders from offering protection to abandoned children, educational and medical services.

"Of course," said Dr. Samuel Thomas in a recent e-mail, "none of these actions are legal. The terrorists and hate groups have taken the law into their own hands and sadly, we have lost confidence in the local government to control them."

Lawyers for Dr. Thomas and Founder Bishop M. A. Thomas are appealing to the High Court in Rajasthan's capital of Jaipur to set bond for the staff being held without charge in Kota jails. Bishop Thomas began a church in Kota in 1960.

"The Thomas' need to remain free so that they can lead a defense of the social welfare work in Rajasthan which includes 65 schools and 13 orphanages," said Hopegivers spokesman Dr. Bill Bray in a recent news interview.

"There is real physical danger if the Thomas' remain in Kota at this time," said Dr. Bray. "Terrorists are threatening their lives daily."

Rajasthan newspapers have repeatedly quoted terrorist leaders offering a reward of $26,000 to paramilitary groups who will capture and behead either of the Christian leaders. "Saffron gangs" invaded the homes of family and friends of the Thomas’ on Monday, searching for the two Christian leaders.

To counter the well-organized campaign of terror, slander, frivolous lawsuits and intimidation, Hopegivers has started the Legal Defense Fund in an effort to cope with the illegal actions of the local government and the onslaught of civil and human rights violations that are occurring in the state of Rajasthan. Hopegivers is also working with the National Human Rights Commission in New Delhi to speed up an investigation from the central government and asking the prime minister and president of India to intervene for the sake of the children and to protect the lives of non-Hindus all over India.

"We are asking friends of human rights to fax and write letters today asking for investigators to begin checking into what is going on in Kota," said Executive Director Mike Glenn.

Emmanuel Ministries has been based in Kota since 1960 and has operated social services there without regard to caste or creed since 1973, especially to Dalits, the so-called untouchable caste of Hinduism.

Last week, with the open encouragement of Madan Dilawar, Rajasthan’s minister of social welfare, representatives from Hindu extremist organizations Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal extended their month-long campaign of terror against Emmanuel and Hopegivers International who care for more than 20,000 orphaned or abandoned children throughout India and Africa.

On February 20, the police revoked without due process or hearing, all the operating licenses of Hopegivers-supported bookstores, churches, the hospital and leprosy or HIV-AIDS outreaches, orphanages, printing presses, schools and other institutions.

Threats were also made to cut off electricity and water to the facilities. Although the orphanage in Kota has a well for drinking water, sanitation would become a problem if the terrorists make good on their threats. Meanwhile, there are adequate food and water supplies.

All bank accounts were frozen and the business administrators of the mission and orphanage were arrested and held without bail when police investigations began February 20. As a result, the hospital, orphanages and schools here and throughout the state are operating on a cash basis and are relying efforts to collect emergency funds from India and overseas.

Mr. Dilawar is reported in local newspapers to have issued an order to remove all pastors from Emmanuel Churches and take over all of Hopegivers' schools and orphanages throughout Rajasthan. He has suggested that the private properties be seized and sold by the state.

When asked about what should happen to the 2,500 children of the orphanage, Rajasthan's government along with other militant groups have taken the position to simply let them go back to the streets they were rescued from. Hopegivers has offered to bus the orphans to some of their other 86 orphanages throughout India, but local government and police have refused to provide security.

www.hopegivers.org

Lok Sabha furore over attack on Christian Outfit

LS furore over attack on Christian outfit
New Delhi, PTI:

The Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed a furore over an attack on Emanuel Mission, a Christian organisation working in Rajasthan, allegedly by Sangh Parivar activists with CPI (M) and BJP members trading charges, forcing adjournment of the House for 40 minutes.

The issue came up during Zero Hour as CPM member Suresh Kurup alleged that the Sangh Parivar outfits had unleashed a "systematic hate campaign" against the Mission which was carrying out philanthropic work and running schools in the state.

Mr Kurup alleged that the BJP Government in Rajasthan had failed to take action to check Sangh Parivar groups.

Provoked by the charges, BJP members, including their Deputy Leader V K Malhotra and Srichand Kripalani, hit back and accused the Mission of denigrating Hindu Gods in a book published by it. Despite warnings by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee against waving the book and appeals to the two sides to maintain calm, the furore continued forcing him to adjourn the House.

The Left members also sought a statement on the issue from Home Minister Shivraj Patil who was present in the House.

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Attacks on Christians echo in Lok Sabha
From our correspondent

15 March 2006

JAIPUR - Attacks on a Christian organisation in Rajasthan allegedly by radical Hindu activists reverberated in Lok Sabha, forcing adjournment of the House for 40 minutes as Communist Party of India (Marxist) and BJP members traded charges.

The issue came up on Monday during Zero Hour as CPM member Suresh Kurup alleged that the Hindu outfits like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal had unleashed a 'systematic hate campaign' against the Emanuel Mission International which was carrying out social work and running schools in the state.

Kurup alleged that the BJP government in Rajasthan had failed to take appropriate action to check radical Hindu groups.

Provoked by the charges, BJP members, including their deputy leader V.K. Malhotra and Srichand Kripalani, hit back and accused the Mission of denigrating Hindu deities in a book published by it.

Despite warnings by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee against waiving the book and appeals to the two sides to maintain calm, the furore continued forcing him to adjourn the House.

A five-member delegation of members of parliament from CPM had recently toured Kota on a fact-finding mission and said that attacks on Christian institutions in Rajasthan by the radical Hindu organisations were 'unprovoked'.

The Communist MPs in New Delhi called on Home (Interior) Minister Shivraj Patil, who assured them that the Central government would take appropriate steps to protect Christian institutions.

Patil said the central government would take steps to revive the bank accounts of Emanuel Mission International that were frozen by the Rajasthan government.

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Lok Sabha adjourned over Christian attacks

Monday, March 13, 2006 03:52:05 pm

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha was on Monday abruptly adjourned after protests over alleged attacks on a Christian mission in Rajasthan.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the house after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members protested when Left MPs raised the issue during zero hour. The BJP is in power in Rajasthan.

Suresh Kurup of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said five of his colleagues had visited Kota in Rajasthan and found there has been a systematic campaign against the Emanuel Mission Institution there for the last three weeks.

According to Kurup, the state government had frozen the mission's bank accounts, resulting in a shortage of food for the children lodged there.

But the BJP MPs protested against the remark, and Chatterjee adjourned the house after his repeated pleas to restore order were ignored.

The mission runs orphanages all across Rajasthan.

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The Sardar's lies

Tarlochan was BJP's pet. He misused his powers against the Christian interests widely during the BJP regime. He perpetually echoed the Hindutva version about the absence of persecution of minorities in India. Further more he navigated the NMC to Hindutva shores.

He has lied once more, without any shame, while telling the visiting American President that the minorities are not persecuted in some parts of India.

The question remains as to who invited Tarlochan to the meeting. He is not a religious leader as far any Indian knows .He is neither a representative of the Sikh religion nor an inter-faith personality. He is nothing more than a person with political clout having managed to bag a plump post.

It seems that the American President has been taken for a ride by the person planted to provide misinformation. It is upon the sane voices in India and abroad to expose the falsity in his statement.

The lies which have been propagated by Tarlochan will only encourage the persecutors for whom he has literally given a clean chit. Sad that the so called high profile religious leaders just stood as mute spectators.

From the Persecuted Church of India Yahoo Group


Tarlochan Lies to Bush about Persecution in India

NEW DELHI: US President George W. Bush will carry home memories of an inter-faith meeting with nine spiritual leaders that revealed to him the religious diversity of this "amazing" country.

"The world can have peace only if people of different religions live together in peace, and India is a good example of that," Bush told religious leaders at a closed-door meeting at the Maurya Sheraton's Sky Lounge on Thursday afternoon.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Ambassador David C. Mulford looked on as Bush charmed his audience by declaring that that he is a firm believer and a Methodist and "I believe in the Almighty God".

"One of the things that struck me during the conversation is, India is a country that recognises the importance of religion and welcomes interfaith dialogue," Bush was quoted as saying in a White House press release.

"(India) understands the importance of faith, and understands the importance of people of faith, discussing thoughts and views that are deep in their hearts," Bush added.

Present at the meeting were Tarlochan Singh, former chairperson of the National Commission on Minorities, Rajya Sabha MP L.M. Singhvi, Shia leader Mohammad Rizvi, Zafar Mahmood (member of the committee examining the socio-economic status of Muslims), James Massey of the Church of North India, Dominic Emmanuel of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Acharya Srivatsa Goswami of the Sri Chaitanya Sansthan, Swami Agnivesh, and Tibetan scholar Doboom Tulku.

Describing the meeting as a unique experience, Tarlochan Singh said: "This was the first-ever inter-faith meeting with a visiting foreign head of state in India.

"It showed the unity of all religions in India to Bush. It also helped clear the misconception in some parts of India that minorities are persecuted in this country."

Singh recalled Bush as saying: "I was aware of this (multi-religious society of India), but my views have been strengthened."

Guru and activist Swami Agnivesh told Bush, perhaps in an oblique reference to American troops in Iraq: "It is now for you to apply godliness in governance." He alluded to Emperor Asoka's spiritual conversion to the Buddhist faith after the massacre in the Kalinga war.

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Lok Sabha adjourned over book maligning Hindu gods

Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, March 9, 2006

The Lok Sabha was once again adjourned on Thursday. This time it was over a book published by a Christian missionary group that contained "insulting remarks" against Hindu gods.

Raising the issue in the House during Zero Hour, Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Kota Srichand Kriplani said a book named 'Haqeeqat', written by MJ Mathew and published by the Emmanuel Mission, maligned Lord Krishna, Goddess Saraswati and other Hindu gods.

He said the mission, which has been functioning in Kota in Rajasthan for 21 years, was "working against the national interests".

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked the MP not to make allegations against any community.

Some Rashtriya Janata Dal and Kerala MPs also protested Kriplani's remarks saying he was misleading the House and that the Emmanuel Mission had nothing to do with the book.

Kriplani then sought permission to table the book, but it was denied by the Speaker. This provoked protests from the BJP members who disrupted the proceedings, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House from 12:30 pm to 2:15 pm.

The Emmanuel Mission has in the past been accused of trying to convert people to Christianity. There was tension in Kota last month after Hindu activists tried to attack a gathering at the mission.

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Christian Women Assaulted in West Bengal, India

Young Hindu attackers berate family for attending prayer meeting.

NEW DELHI, March 8 (Compass) - Young men in the eastern state of West Bengal assaulted Christian women from two different families on Thursday (March 2) and on February 16. Fearing for their lives, the mother and daughter of one of the families have temporarily moved away from home.

In last week's assault, six young men forced their way into the home of Kanai Kamelia in East Medinipur district, manhandling and trying to sexually assault his wife, Renuka
Kamelia, according to a local Christian who requested anonymity. During the assault, the youths reviled the Kamelia family for attending a Christian prayer meeting.

"Not only this, they went to the extent of taking his 20-year-old daughter to another house and locked her up for about an hour," the Christian source said. He added that he suspected they molested her before setting her free.

Renuka Kamelia, who bled profusely after the assault, was treated at a local hospital. She later went to the Bhupathinagar police station, where police were said to have reluctantly registered her complaint.

When Compass spoke to B.C. Kundu, officer in charge of the Bhupathinagar police station, however, he denied having any knowledge of the attack. "We have not lodged any such complaint, and nor have we been informed of anything of this sort," he said.

The local Christian source said that Bharat Maiti, zonal committee member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), was seemingly shielding the attackers. He also said the reason for the attack was the increasing influence of Biman Bandhu Patra, in whose house the Kamelias attended prayer meetings in the neighboring village of South Patharberia. A growing number of villagers were coming for prayer meetings there and in Laudigi, where the 45-year-old Patra is also influential.

Seekers who attend prayer meetings at Patra's house, the Kamelias live in Laudigi in Kontai Taluka, East Medinipur (also known as Midnapore East).

The names of the six attackers are Madhab Bag, Biren Bag, Rinku Dey, Bidyut Mondal, Surajit Kamelia and Chandan Mondal. They range in age from 18 to 20.

"Kamelia's wife and daughter have temporarily moved away from their house, as they are still feeling insecure," the local Christian said.

Brother Against Brother

Patra's own brother, Bidyut Patra, led the February 16 attack by a group of 13 local residents against the influential Christian leader's wife. Bidyut Patra had long been upset about his brother's decision to become a Christian.

From a committed Hindu family, Patra accepted Christ in 1991. Opposition intensified in 2000, when his mother passed away and he refused to shave his head as required by Hindu custom.

"At 7:30 a.m. on February 16, a group of 13 people came to my house and inquired about me," Patra said. "When my wife Sushma told them that I had gone to Kolkata, they manhandled her and demolished the boundary wall of our house."

The attackers pulled her hair and pushed her several times. They also allegedly threatened to kill her family if they did not move out of the village.

The house in which Patra lives is built on land that his father bought for him. But his brother has tried to force Patra to move out of the village by claiming that the house is built on land encroaching on his own property.

When Patra'a wife went to the Bhupathinagar police station, police refused to lodge her complaint. Instead, they allegedly threatened to arrest her if she insisted on lodging the complaint.

When Patra returned from Kolkata, he contacted a lawyer to file a complaint against the 13 local Hindus.

Attorney Masud Mullick has filed a criminal case in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kontai. The names of the 13 accused are Shyamapada Das, Binod Pradhan, Badal Bankura, Bibuthi Pradhan, Gitgobindo Das, Dev Kumar Barik, Amit Kumar Barik, Utpal Barik, Aurbindo Barik, Amit Kumar Giri, Shikanto Maiti, Kushadhaj Karan, Phanibhushan Karan, and Bidyut Patra.

"At the next hearing on April 3, the court is expected to take cognizance of the offence and issue summons to the accused," Mullick said.

Police Officer In-Charge Kundu claimed that the boundary wall of Patra's house was built on government land, and that therefore villagers decided to demolish it.

Maiti, the CPI-M leader, told Compass that the attack resulted from a dispute between Patra and his brother and that it was not because he is a Christian.

But the local Christian source said, "The attackers are trying to use the land dispute as a cover-up for their opposition to the prayer meetings held by Patra." He added that Patra was earlier attacked by a group of women carrying sickles and other sharp weapons last year.

West Bengal is ruled by the CPI-M, an ally of the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress Party.

Courtesy: Compass Direct

BJP chief slams missionaries for conversions

March 06, 2006 20:54 IST

Raising Hindutva concerns ahead of the assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Monday charged Christian missionaries with indulging in conversions and demanded a blanket ban on them.

Terming religious conversions as the "greatest threat" facing Scheduled Tribes, apart from uenmployment, poverty and illiteracy, he said, "Have you ever seen the rich converting? It is only the poor who do it. The tribals are a simple and emotional people who would be grateful for even a little service and convert.

"The activities of the Christian missionaries is a major challenge as conversions change not only the country's demographic profile but also its unique identity." "Collective conversions are a cruel joke on the poverty of the poor. The missionaries are taking undue advantage of their financial weakness. There should be a blanket ban of conversions," Singh told the valedictory function of the party's Scheduled Tribe Morcha Executive meeting in New Delhi.

He, however, said conversions in "special situations" could be considered. He did not explain such "situations."

The BJP chief said while the party did not believe in discrimination on the grounds of caste, creed, religion and language, "we will not indulge in appeasement to expand the party's base.

We will pursue the path of justice." Expressing serious concern over the policy of "minorityism" being pursued by the United Progressive Alliance government, he likened the Muslim headcount with the separate electoral constituencies for Muslims proposed by the 1916 Lucknow All India Congress Committee session "…which led to the country's partition".

PTI