Vikram Verma, a Class XII student of a convent school in
Bastar, Chhattisgarh, is worried about a 'whip' that has been issued
instructing students to stop addressing the school principal as
"father". Instead, they are supposed to call the Christian priest
"sir", "pracharya" (Hindi for principal) or "up-pracharya".
"I have always addressed the principal as 'father', how can I suddenly
start calling him pracharya?" asks Verma (name changed). The
instruction came after a written agreement between the Jagdalpur Catholic
Diocese and theVishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Following the agreement,
believed to be the first of its kind in the country, the over two dozen Catholic
schools that the diocese manages in the region will also have to put up
photographs of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge.
Barely a week after this news, which was received by the Christian community with
concern, St Sebastian's Church in East Delhi's Dilshad Garden
was gutted in a fire. A special investigation team is now probing what the
church alleges was arson. Already apprehensive, the community has been further
alarmed by recent reports that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, plans
to convert at least 4,000 Christian families, on Christmas no less, as part of
what it terms as the ghar wapsi (returning home) programme to be held
in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Yogi Adityanath will
reportedly participate in the event that will be followed by similar events in
Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Mathura, Ferozabad, Etah, Meerut, Mainpuri and
Uttarakhand.
"After the attack on the church in Delhi
particularly, people feel very alarmed," says P K Samantaroy, moderator of
the Church of North India and bishop of the church's
Diocese of Amritsar. The Church of North India is the biggest Protestant organisation
with churches across India
except in the southern states. "If this can happen in Delhi, it can happen anywhere."
Incidents of attacks and coercion, the community believes, have been on the
increase. Praveen Davar, a member of the National Commission for Minorities,
says while he would not like to comment on the politics of it all, "We are
equally concerned. A lot of incidents have come to our notice in the last few
months." The commission has sought a "factual report" from the
Uttar Pradesh government about the conversions that took place in Agra recently. "If
we are not convinced with the report, we will send our fact-finding team,"
says Davar. He adds that more incidents are being reported from western Uttar
Pradesh, "but that is also because western Uttar Pradesh borders Delhi and hence, the
incidents come to our notice. Cases happening in remote areas of the country
often go unreported." Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat
and Chhattisgarh have been other vulnerable areas. In September, for example, a
church was set ablaze by some unidentified people in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla
district.
Denying that VHP or any Hindu organisation had a role in this,
Surendra Singh, VHP's man in charge of Madhya Bharat, says, "We do not buy
the idea of damaging even an unattended property, let alone a religious place.
VHP believes in 'rashtra', that is 'country first'." He alleges that
certain forces are trying to stonewall a "rashtrawadi" (nationalist)
government through such propaganda. "I can firmly say that VHP and Bajrang
Dal cannot undertake any task that will tarnish their image."
Intimidation tactics
Christians, meanwhile, say they are also being harassed with false cases.
"In my own diocese, cases have been fabricated against church
officials," says Samantaroy. Adds Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh: "In the
last 100 days, as many as 500 cases have been registered against members of the
Christian community for one reason or the other, particularly in the tribal
belt of Barwani and Sendhwa in western Madhya Pradesh."
Such cases, says Makarand Deuskar, deputy inspector general of police, Jabalpur, are
investigated under Section 295 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to
hurting religious sentiments, and Section 153 (A), which deals with creating
tension between communities. "We always try to allay the fears in the
minority communities," he claims.
In Gujarat, there is anxiety that 'intelligence groups' are on the prowl
gathering information about the activities of Christian organisations, some of
which have also been directly asked to furnish details about their activities.
"This is a well thought-out strategy to intimidate us," says Cedric
Prakash, Ahmedabad-based Jesuit priest and human rights activist. "It is no coincidence that the
incidents (in Uttar Pradesh) are taking place in December, close to
Christmas," adds Samson Christian, national executive member and general
secretary of the All India Christian Council. "We are being vigilant in Gujarat too."
If the need arises, the community will appeal to the state or the central
government or even file a petition in the Supreme Court against actions that
violate its right to practise and profess its beliefs. "We have faith that
the judiciary will ensure miscreants do not disrupt law and order," says
Christian.
A society polarised
In Uttar Pradesh, after the Delhi
church was burnt, Christians held a silent protest march under the banner of UP
Masihi Association (UPMA). The association has also sought appointments with
the governor and the chief minister to seek security, says Rakesh Chattree,
UPMA secretary and principal of Christ
Church College,
Lucknow.
"Sporadic incidents of vandalism have also been occurring in the churches
of some backward districts of Gonda, Basti and Bahraich," he says, adding
that they are being targeted for alleged induced conversions. "We are
against forced conversions," he says. As another member of the community
wonders, if churches in India
have been engaging in forced conversions, how is it that the Christian
population has remained a low 2 per cent for so many years? (According to the
2011 Census of India, Christians account for 2.3 per cent of India's
population). Chattree says while he is confident that the BJP leadership and RSS believed in peaceful coexistence, the local
small-time leaders needed to be reined in.
The 4,000 Christian families identified for conversion in Aligarh belong to the Valmiki samaj, a Dalit
sect of Hinduism. "The Valmiki samaj is the feet of the Hindu society. We
are incomplete without them," said RSS regional pracharak Rajeshwar
Singh in an interview to The Economic Times. And that is where the
Hindu bodies intend to bring these poor people - back to the lowest strata of
society, fumes P L Punia, chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled
Castes. "Through these conversions, they will once again be reduced to a
life of indignity where they won't even be allowed to enter the temples of the
higher castes," he says.
By raising such hate issues, an attempt is being made to divide people, create
an identity crisis and get every Hindu to start thinking like the Hindutva
brigade, says Roop Rekha Verma, former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University
who runs Saajhi Duniya that works for communal harmony in Uttar Pradesh.
Back in Bastar, a section of the Christian community feels that the agreement
between the Catholic schools and VHP was made under duress. Arun Pannalal,
general secretary of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, fears the agreement will set
a precedent and VHP will raise the same demands elsewhere. But, says VHP leader
Suresh Yadav, "We raised some issues and the Christian community agreed
without any reservation." The state authorities have decided not to
interfere. "It is between VHP and the diocese. We have no role to play in
it," says Brajesh Vajpayee, an education department official.
Meanwhile, there is a sense of insecurity in Odisha too. Conversion is a sticky
issue in the state, says the pastor of a church in Bhubaneswar, requesting anonymity. The Odisha
Freedom of Religion Act, which has existed for decades, lays down rules and
procedures for a person to change his or her faith. "So no one can be
converted forcibly or through allurement," reasons the pastor. But this
argument is strongly contested. Says Ramakant Rath, state coordinator, Bajrang
Dal, "While few have been officially converted under the Act, lakhs have
been lured illegally into Christianity, particularly in the tribals areas
through the offer of money, education or health services." He says in many
cases, they have stopped such "conversion programmes, but in remote areas,
where our organisation cannot reach, people sometimes take the law into their
own hands, leading to violence, to vent their anger against conversion".
The Christians are looking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send out a strong
message that will allay their fears. "Look at how the administrative
machinery swung into action when the Prime Minister launched the Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan," says Samantaroy. "The administration is bound to act on the
Prime Minister's directive. But so far there has been no strong statement from
him."
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