The frequency of attacks on the missionaries has increased at a frightening rate in the past few months. Statistics compiled by Catholic Bishops's Conference of India and All India Catholic Union show that there have been 17 cases of killing of priests and rape of nuns during the past five years, whereas only six such incidents were reported between 1978-83. In Gujarat alone, there have been over a dozen attacks on Christians, their places of worship vandalised.
The phenomenon is more pronounced in those regions where both the missionaries as well as the organisations owing allegiance to the Sangh Parivar are active. Last year, in South Bihar - a hotbed of both the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) as well as Christian missionary activity - a Catholic priest, Father Christudas, was assaulted and paraded naked on the streets of Dumka for having sodomised a student. The case has been handed over to the CBI. In Hazaribagh, a priest, Father A.T. Thomas, was murdered.
It has not been established that any of these acts were instigated or engineered by the Hindutva forces. However, several missionaries feel that these Hindu organisations have contributed significantly in creating a climate of hostility and antagonism towards the Church, causing a spurt in such crimes ...
Father Mathew Champalin (in Patna) agrees with the view that the negative emotions whipped up in the name of cultural nationalism are a key reason behind the violent incidents. Says Champalin; "The attacks are a reflection of an aggressive brand of Hinduism being preached by the VHP and Bajrang Dal".
The attacks vary in character from place to place. In Atul, Bulsar district, Gujarat, the Christian community is complaining to harassment ... Says a community leader, 'Just around our Sunday prayer time, a nearby loudspeaker goes full blast. Attempts have been made to prevent people from reaching the prayer venue through threats, attacks and assaults. Muck and cowdung is thrown at the venue"".
A team from the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) which visited the state recently is already on record asking the state government to inquire into the alleged atrocities on minorities. The NCM has expressed serious concern on the situation in Gujarat and stated that in some cases the fundamental rights of individuals were being violated.
The panel based its findings on three incidents. Firstly, the exhuming of a body from a Christian cemetery in Kapadwanj town of Kaira district; secondly, the burning of the Bible in a Rajkot missionary school; thirdly, harassment of Muslims in Randhikpur village, Panchmahal district.
At the ground level, the most important issue leading secretary Ramphal Singh, "The VHP stands by its charge that Christian missionaries indulge in converting poor and innocent tribals to their own religion in different parts of the country. In the name of service to humanity, they are engaged in this dirty game".
Back in 1956, the Niyogi Commission appointed by the Madhya Pradesh government at the directive of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to inquire into the activities of Christian missions, stated that, "All the philanthropic acts of the missionaries are simply a mask for carrying on proselytizing activities, sometimes by intimidating and sometime by tempting the simple folks .. they are spending crores of rupees for the single purpose.
According to the World Christian Encyclopaedia, there are 4.1 lakh Christian missions all over the world, with 1800 radio and TV channels to propagate their faith. There were also 33 schemes for global conversion, each of them likely to spend Rs. 300 crores over the next ten years to achieve their objectives.
The RSS-VHP is not left behind in the propaganda war. Says a RSS pracharak, "In the tribal belt of south Bihar alone, we have more than 4,000 Vanvasi kalyan kendras, 1100 single teacher schools, hundreds of health centres and dharma jagran kendras - all engaged in virtual war with the Church.
The Sangh Parivar seeks to further its agenda under the banner of cultural nationalism. Says BJP Rajya Sabha member Dilip Singh Ju Dev. "Wherever Hindus are a minority, that part of the nation is alienated from India. The demand for a Christian state in the north-east is an outcome of conversions". Ju Dev himself conducts `reconversion' under the banner Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, the operation known as ghar vapasi (home coming). He claims to have brought 1.24 lakh people back into the fold of Hinduism. It is interesting that the Saffron Brigade always uses the word, reconversion, rather than conversion for its own proselytising activities.
.. In the north-east ... the RSS plans to construct more than 250 temples in the region to counter the growth of Churches.
In Arunachal Pradesh, where conversion was banned ... by state legislation, the Sangh Parivar has already established a firm foothold. Says a RSS pracharak, "Hinduism is facing its biggest threat in north-east.
In an interview to the Organiser (December 7, 1997), VHP supremo Ashok Singhal sounded a stern warning to the Christian missions in the north-east. "We will have to fight against their anti-national game plan. If Christians try to chase even a single Hindu out of the north-eastern region, we would not remain silent", he said.
The stage, therefore, is clearly set for confrontation between aggressive Hindutva against Christian evangelism. Unless the state takes a firm stand on the.