By Vijayesh Lal
30th January 2006: The night of 30th January 2006 was replete with reports of incidents against Christians in Madhya Pradesh.
The state already infamous for attacks on the Christian minority with as many as 4 attacks on the community since 25th January 2006 experienced more of it, with unconfirmed reports indicating at least 18 instances of violence against Christians as India mourned the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi refered to as the apostle of peace.
The first attack was in Betul in Madhya Pradesh where in Hindutva fundamentalists attacked and attempted to burn a Pentecostal Church. The Church pastored by Senior Pastor K T Samuel was broken into by miscreants. After vandalizing the Church they attempted to set the Church on fire.
The second attack took place in Banapura, District Hoshangabad. Between 12:00 – 1:00 in the night unidentified men broke in the Friend’s Church in Banapura and after vandalizing they set the Church gates on fire.
The police station of Banapura is just opposite the Church and as soon as policemen saw flames from the Church they came to the rescue thus making the attackers flee from the scene. It was the police personnel who doused the fire and protected the Church.
The Friend’s Church is a historical Church and is about 150 years old. It belonged to the UCNI and currently the CNI is the custodian of the Church. Ena Jiwan Masih, an elder of the Church has filed an FIR with the police. We spoke to Mr. David Nathaneal, one of the elders of the Church and he has expressed his concern at the attacks but was appreciative of the police action.
The third attack was again at a Friend’s Church but this time in the town on Itarsi. Unidentified people broke the Church lock and attempted to vandalize the Church, but a major mishap was averted when the miscreants ran when someone raised an alarm.
According to reports received unidnetified people attempeted to burn a Church in Mandla district too, but the police intervened at the right time and thus prevented a major mishap.
All these instances of attacks on Churches, Pastors and Christians do make us wonder about the seriousness with which the government of Madhya Pradesh claims to protect minorities.
Christians in Madhya Pradesh have always suffered some amount of violence and social discrimination but the coming of the BJP led government in early 2004 led to a huge escalation on attacks on the community. The list of atrocities is becoming longer by the day.
Uma Bharati famous for her cow protection drive is also equally infamous for facilitating persecution of Christians. She demonstrated this openly when she gave a clean chit to the BJP and VHP workers after the violence in Jhabua. She instead came on records and appreciated the patience and tolerance of the majority community inspite of provocation (Indian Express, February 3, 2004) thus attempting to divide the society in Jhabua on communal lines.
Even today 14 innocent Christians languish in Alirajpur prison without bail. They are all accused of murder of one of the Hindutva brigades “Martyrs” Arjun Pal. Facts indicate that many of them were not even present at the scene at the time of the violence, but with BJP’s hand on the judiciary, who cares for facts anymore?
A school teacher, Ramesh Baghel, who was in a parent teacher meeting at the time of the violence was targeted and locked up. According to Patras Habil, a representative of the minority commisison in the state, the judge rejecting Ramesh’s bail petition at the High Court acknowledged that the evidence did not point to his involvemnet in the case, but the charge was so grevious and the case so “politicized” that a bail for Ramesh Baghel was not possible.
Reports coming in from Jhabua indicate how the magistrates just happen to go on leave just before the case is due for hearing and so the people continue to be in jail. This is a total disregard of the judiciary and a mockery of justice.
Arjun Pal meanwhile, has been promoted to the stature of a national hero by no less than Mr. Kailash Vijayvargiya, a cabinet minister in the BJP government. A picture collage sponsored by Mr. Vijayvargiya at Indore puts Arjun Pal in the same category as Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose and the faithful soldiers who lost their lives at Kargil.
Babulal Gaur the next chief minister of the BJP led government in the state also did little to protect the minorities. It was during his tenure that the biased “Narendra Prasad Committee report” was unveiled, which blames conversions as the reason for the violence in Jhabua. The report predictably does not speak a word against Hindutva elements responsible for the violence.
Shivraj Chauhan, the RSS karyakarta (volunteer) who keeps the RSS ideology very close to his heart, according to the BJP website, and the third chief minister of BJP in less than 3 years, offers little hope for Christians in the state. One only has to take a look at the number of incidents against Christians happened in the state in January 2006 alone to get a feel of the future.
One thing is for sure, the BJP not able to give good governance to the state of Madhya Pradesh, not being able to deliver its basic promise of Bijli, Sadak and Pani (Electricity, Road and Water) is diverting the minds of the people of the state using the only weapon that they are good at: communalism. And it is sad because in the end the only loser and the one cheated is the voter of Madhya Pradesh.
30th January 2006: The night of 30th January 2006 was replete with reports of incidents against Christians in Madhya Pradesh.
The state already infamous for attacks on the Christian minority with as many as 4 attacks on the community since 25th January 2006 experienced more of it, with unconfirmed reports indicating at least 18 instances of violence against Christians as India mourned the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi refered to as the apostle of peace.
The first attack was in Betul in Madhya Pradesh where in Hindutva fundamentalists attacked and attempted to burn a Pentecostal Church. The Church pastored by Senior Pastor K T Samuel was broken into by miscreants. After vandalizing the Church they attempted to set the Church on fire.
The second attack took place in Banapura, District Hoshangabad. Between 12:00 – 1:00 in the night unidentified men broke in the Friend’s Church in Banapura and after vandalizing they set the Church gates on fire.
The police station of Banapura is just opposite the Church and as soon as policemen saw flames from the Church they came to the rescue thus making the attackers flee from the scene. It was the police personnel who doused the fire and protected the Church.
The Friend’s Church is a historical Church and is about 150 years old. It belonged to the UCNI and currently the CNI is the custodian of the Church. Ena Jiwan Masih, an elder of the Church has filed an FIR with the police. We spoke to Mr. David Nathaneal, one of the elders of the Church and he has expressed his concern at the attacks but was appreciative of the police action.
The third attack was again at a Friend’s Church but this time in the town on Itarsi. Unidentified people broke the Church lock and attempted to vandalize the Church, but a major mishap was averted when the miscreants ran when someone raised an alarm.
According to reports received unidnetified people attempeted to burn a Church in Mandla district too, but the police intervened at the right time and thus prevented a major mishap.
All these instances of attacks on Churches, Pastors and Christians do make us wonder about the seriousness with which the government of Madhya Pradesh claims to protect minorities.
Christians in Madhya Pradesh have always suffered some amount of violence and social discrimination but the coming of the BJP led government in early 2004 led to a huge escalation on attacks on the community. The list of atrocities is becoming longer by the day.
Uma Bharati famous for her cow protection drive is also equally infamous for facilitating persecution of Christians. She demonstrated this openly when she gave a clean chit to the BJP and VHP workers after the violence in Jhabua. She instead came on records and appreciated the patience and tolerance of the majority community inspite of provocation (Indian Express, February 3, 2004) thus attempting to divide the society in Jhabua on communal lines.
Even today 14 innocent Christians languish in Alirajpur prison without bail. They are all accused of murder of one of the Hindutva brigades “Martyrs” Arjun Pal. Facts indicate that many of them were not even present at the scene at the time of the violence, but with BJP’s hand on the judiciary, who cares for facts anymore?
A school teacher, Ramesh Baghel, who was in a parent teacher meeting at the time of the violence was targeted and locked up. According to Patras Habil, a representative of the minority commisison in the state, the judge rejecting Ramesh’s bail petition at the High Court acknowledged that the evidence did not point to his involvemnet in the case, but the charge was so grevious and the case so “politicized” that a bail for Ramesh Baghel was not possible.
Reports coming in from Jhabua indicate how the magistrates just happen to go on leave just before the case is due for hearing and so the people continue to be in jail. This is a total disregard of the judiciary and a mockery of justice.
Arjun Pal meanwhile, has been promoted to the stature of a national hero by no less than Mr. Kailash Vijayvargiya, a cabinet minister in the BJP government. A picture collage sponsored by Mr. Vijayvargiya at Indore puts Arjun Pal in the same category as Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose and the faithful soldiers who lost their lives at Kargil.Babulal Gaur the next chief minister of the BJP led government in the state also did little to protect the minorities. It was during his tenure that the biased “Narendra Prasad Committee report” was unveiled, which blames conversions as the reason for the violence in Jhabua. The report predictably does not speak a word against Hindutva elements responsible for the violence.
Shivraj Chauhan, the RSS karyakarta (volunteer) who keeps the RSS ideology very close to his heart, according to the BJP website, and the third chief minister of BJP in less than 3 years, offers little hope for Christians in the state. One only has to take a look at the number of incidents against Christians happened in the state in January 2006 alone to get a feel of the future.
One thing is for sure, the BJP not able to give good governance to the state of Madhya Pradesh, not being able to deliver its basic promise of Bijli, Sadak and Pani (Electricity, Road and Water) is diverting the minds of the people of the state using the only weapon that they are good at: communalism. And it is sad because in the end the only loser and the one cheated is the voter of Madhya Pradesh.
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