INDIA Christians, Others Demand Ban On Hindu Extremist Groups As Anti-Christian Violence Spreads

NEW DELHI (UCAN) — Christian and other groups in India have demanded a ban on some Hindu radical organizations as anti-Christian violence spread to more states.

Catholic nuns form a human chain on Sept. 7 in Mangalore, southern India, to protest anti-Christian violence in Orissa.

Anti-Christian violence prompted communist groups, the Lok Janashakti Party (people’s power party), the All India Christian Council, Christian Social Forum and others to issue separate calls for a ban on Bajrang Dal (party of the strong and stout) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, world Hindu council).

The BJP is considered the political arm of these and other groups that want to turn India into a Hindu theocratic nation. A ban could abolish parties or prohibit them from functioning.

Hindu extremists reportedly attacked Sunday worshippers at a Protestant church in Karnataka on Sept. 7. Two days later the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people’s party) marked its first 100 days in power in the southern Indian state.

On that same day, fire destroyed a Protestant church in Madhya Pradesh, a central state the BJP has ruled since December 2003. The British had built the church in 1922 in Ratlam, some 700 kilometers south of New Delhi.

David Samuel told UCA News he and other parishioners had decorated the church to celebrate 86 years when fire gutted it. Police blamed a short circuit for the fire, but Samuel said he suspects Hindu radicals.

Attacks on Christians and their institutions were also reported in September from Chhattisgarh in central India and Gujarat and Rajasthan along the western coast, all BJP-ruled states. Currently, the BJP also rules Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal state in northern India. It is also a ruling coalition partner in Bihar and Orissa in the east, and Punjab in the north.

The most recent incidents occurred against the backdrop of violence against Christians in Orissa state following the Aug. 23 killings of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, an 85-year-old Hindu religious leader, and four associates. Maoists have claimed responsibility for this, but Hindu radicals blame Christians nonetheless.

Since Aug. 24, the violence in Orissa has killed at least 27 people, most of them Christians. Mobs of Hindu extremists also destroyed some 4,000 Christian homes and several churches, presbyteries and convents. Tens of thousands of Christians hid in forests for safety amid the violence.

On Sept. 6, the Orissa unit of the VHP defied a prohibition against holding a memorial program for Swami Saraswati, who had campaigned against Christian missioners for decades in Orissa’s Kandhamal district.

Sources and media reports said several Hindu monks at that memorial meeting for the slain Hindu leader took a special vow to eradicate Christians from Kandhamal district.

Swami Satchidananda Maharaj, the Hindu monk who presided over the meeting, announced the decision to form vigilance committees in all Orissa villages to oppose Hindu conversion to Christianity.

Swami Bhagwan Das, another speaker, accused Christians of killing Swami Saraswati and said the act challenged the entire Hindu society.

Another monk, Swami Arupananda Maharaj, also described the murder as an attack on Hinduism and called for Hindus to counter the move to make India a Christian nation.

Christian groups dismiss the allegations as baseless and aimed at inciting sectarian violence that could polarize voters ahead of the country’s next general election, due in early 2009.

Father John Fernandes, professor of Christian Studies at Mangalore University in Karnataka, says the anti-Christian incidents are part of “planned strategies” to garner votes. “In terms of votes Christians are insignificant, but for uniting Hindus, the hate campaign is significant for them,” the priest told UCA News on Sept. 10.

Father Fernandes regretted that “success” in one place motivates the Hindu radicals to test the strategy in other areas. He also expressed anguish over “destructive elements creeping into Hindu organizations,” saying these people promote violence against religious minorities as a model.

Maria David, who works for Indo Global Social Service Society, also says Hindu groups in Karnataka have launched a hate campaign against Christians after the state came under BJP rule.

Meanwhile, Christians held rallies across Karnataka on Sept. 7 to protest anti-Christian violence. In Mangalore, 2,290 kilometers south of New Delhi, Christians, Hindus and Muslims organized a hunger strike and formed a human chain.

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