A Hindu cleric in the Catholic village of Rajura, Maharashtra state, has insisted that tribal Christians turn their church into a Hindu temple or face serious consequences.
“This morning I received news that the situation is extremely serious,” Bishop Edwin Colaço of the Amaravati Diocese told Compass today. “Fundamentalists have asked the Christians to turn the village chapel into a Hanuman Mandir (temple of a Hindu god).
“The Christians are living in fear of their lives. They are not coming to the church and are not sending their children to the school any longer. They are so scared they have even started to deny that anything has happened. They are not willing to talk about the situation,” Colaço added.
"Reconvert" or Leave
Sunil Ji Maharaj, a Munni (Hindu cleric), was assisted by Hindu villagers when he initially threatened about 40 Catholic families in the village with social ostracism and even death if they did not “reconvert” to Hinduism or leave the village, Asia News reported on February 3.
In an interview with Asia News, Colaço said the Munni held a trishul (spear) when he called an initial meeting in the village on January 17.
“He launched into a tirade against the adivasis (Indian term for tribal people) of Rajura village, alleging that missionaries had originally converted them by force and that it was his mission to reconvert them back to Hinduism.
“He urged Hindu villagers to kill the Christian adivasis with ‘swords,’” Colaço added. “The Munni has also threatened the people of neighboring villages, saying they would be ostracized and fined 10,000 rupees ($250) if they maintained any contact with the tribal Christians.”
Agitator an Outsider
The Munni comes from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, where Hindu fundamentalists demolished a mosque known as Babri Masjid in 1992. Hindus alleged that Muslims had constructed the mosque on an ancient Hindu temple site regarded as the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama.
The Rev. P.V. Joseph, the parish priest responsible for Rajura’s Catholic community, told Compass, “By using threats, fundamentalists made the Christians withdraw their police complaint. Now they have asked the Christians to tell police that the situation is peaceful.
“When the Christians migrated to Rajura more than 20 years ago, they came to me and told me they needed a priest. Since then, we have been running projects to help and support them,” Joseph added. “However, now even I have been informed that if I visit the village, I could be killed.”
The tribal Christians migrated from the central state of Madhya Pradesh to Rajura in search of agricultural work.
"There Should Be No Christians in the Village"
There were no problems until the Munni called the January meeting in the village. “The cleric not only made anti-Christian remarks, but also ... sent a jeep with his followers to bring Christians to the meeting,” added P.V. Joseph.
“The agenda is that there should be no Christians in the village.”
Meanwhile, Bishop Colaço warned that Christians who work as agricultural laborers on land belonging to Hindus face a loss of livelihood if they are ostracized or forced to leave the village.
The Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, speaking for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told Compass, “We take strong exception to this kind of development wherein people are deprived of their basic rights. This amounts to coercion for conversion.
“We demand that the government provide protection to the Christian minority and restore their confidence. We have written to the Home Ministry and the National Commission for Minorities, asking them to intervene.”
Threats a "Desperate Act"
The Rev. S.M. Michael, a sociologist at the University of Mumbai, said some Hindus in Maharashtra were desperate to reclaim political power after the defeat of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party in last year’s federal elections. Christians are unlikely to vote for BJP candidates.
“Ever since the general elections ended, this diocese has been the target of fundamentalists,” he told Asia News.
Elections for local government are scheduled for April.