In the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, 36 tribal villagers were beaten and driven away from their homes for embracing Christianity, this according Mgr Simon Stock Palathra, Bishop of Jagdalpur, a diocese in Chhattisgarh. Speaking to AsiaNews, Bishop Palathra said that on Wednesday, December 1, “there was a Pentecostal convention in the village of Markabeda and the entire village was invited. But this enraged a local rebel group, the Naxalites”. According to the Bishop, the Naxalites are suspicious of missionary activity and make no distinction between Catholics, Protestants or Pentecostals.
At the Pentecostal convention, 36, largely poor and illiterate Dalit and Adivasi men and women from 15 different families embraced Christianity. “Conversion,” Bishop Palathra said, “was met with beatings and torture by Naxalite rebels, including Naxalite women”. Naxalite women beat up the newly converted women whilst Naxalite men tortured male converts. It is a disturbing situation because women were both victim and victimiser.
Worse still, “the villagers who converted to Christianity,” the Bishop stressed, “were driven out of their homes and expelled from the community. They are now helpless and frightened having taken refuge with their relatives in the town and two of them are staying with their pastor. It is unclear whether they will ever be able to return to their own homes.”
For Bishop Palathra, the recent incident of violence is increasingly worrying the Catholic community in Jagdalpur. “Once persecution begins Naxalites target Christians and make no any distinction between Catholics and other groups,” he said.
So far no accusation of forced conversion has been leveled at the Catholic Church in Chattisgarh state, but “these acts of violence do tend to gain momentum and popularity among the villagers,” the Bishop added. “Many Naxalites are nothing but hoodlums claiming that they are fighting for the rights of the landless farmers to recruit unsuspecting illiterate Adivasi villagers. This worries me.”