Anti-Christian violence in India
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Anti-Christian violence in India refers to religiously-motivated violence against Christians in India, usually perpetrated by Hindu nationalists.The acts of violence include arson of churches, re-conversion of Christians to Hinduism by force and threats of physical violence, distribution of threatening literature, burning of Bibles, raping of nuns, murder of Christian priests and destruction of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.[2][3] According to some, the number of incidents of anti-Christian violence has multiplied since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began its rule in March 1998.[3]
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[edit] Background
From 1964 to 1996, at least 38 incidents of violence against Christians were reported. In 1997, 24 such incidents were reported. Since 1998, Christians in India have faced a wave of violence.[4] In 1998 alone, 90 incidents were reported.[2]
The Sangh Parivar and related organisations have stated that the violence is an expression of "spontaneous anger" of "vanvasis" against "forcible conversion" activities undertaken by missionaries,[2][5][6] a claim described as "absurd" and rejected by scholars.[2]
[edit] Overview
Incidents of violence against Christians have occurred in nearly all parts of India, it has largely been confined to north, central, and western India, in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and the capital area of New Delhi
In June 2000, four churches around India were bombed. In Andhra Pradesh, church graves were desecrated. A church in Maharashtra was ransacked.[2] In September 2008, two churches were partly damaged in Kerala.[7][8] Christian leaders described the events of September 2008 as deliberate acts by anti-socials and denied any religious motive in the attacks.[9]
[edit] Karnataka
The 2008 wave of attacks against Christians in Karnataka includes attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls in Karnataka by the Bajrang Dal, with the ruling BJP government accused of involvement. The violence started from 14 September 2008 when about 20 churches were vandalized in Mangalore, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, and in other districts of Karnataka. Minor violence was later reported from the border state of Kerala.
Incidents of mob attacks against Jehovah’s Witnesses have been reported with increasing frequency in Karnataka. The attackers gather in gangs of 20 to 50 individuals to intimidate small groups of Witnesses engaging in the peaceful Christian ministry that they are well known for. Some of the mobs threaten to murder and rape the Witnesses.
[edit] Orissa
In a well-publicised case, Graham Staines, an Australian Christian missionary was burnt to death along with his two sons Timothy (aged 9) and Philip (aged 7), while they were sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa in January 1999. He was running the Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj, an Australian missionary society.[3] His "distribution of beef & desecrating Hindu Deities" was the root cause of this attack. In [2003, Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang responsible.[10]
After Staines' murder, outbreak of violence started on 24 December 2007 at Bamunigam village of Kandhamal District. Some Hindu activists forcefully removed a Christmas decoration, put up on a site traditionally used by Hindus during Durga Puja.
In August 2008, Swami Lakshmanananda, a Hindu monk and spiritual leader, was attacked and killed. The violence that followed resulted in the death of one Christian and two Hindus. The violence later spread to 300 villages in 14 of the 30 districts in the state, resulting in 4,400 burnt houses and 50,000 homeless. Fifty-nine people were killed, while 18,000 were injured.
In 2011, the supreme court upheld a life sentence for Dara singh, court comments for the murder of Graham Staines and his two young children, stating that "the intention was to give a Graham Staines a less for his religious activities, and not to kill them, Many Christian leader concern about supreme courts comment and view it as ambiguous and dangerous because they seem to justify anti-Christian violence.
[edit] Gujarat
In 1997 in Gujarat, 22 churches were burnt or destroyed, and another 16 damaged.[2] Recently, there has been a sharp increase in violent attacks on Christians. A Hindu group claims to have converted 2,000 tribal Christians to Hinduism. The attackers had vandalized places of worship and thus caused strike terror among the tribals. On 18 September, the Central Government issued an advisory under Article 355 of the constitution to the Orissa government along with Karnataka.[11][12]
[edit] Politics
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are the most accused Hindu organizations for violence against Christians in India.[3] Sangh Parivar and local media were involved in promoting anti-Christian propaganda in Gujrat.[3] It is evident from the ruling BJP governments in Gujarat, Orissa and Karnataka that serious lapses in handling the violence against minorities as the police failed to solve the issue effectively and the BJP was found directly responsible for allowing bloodshed to spread.[13][14]
[edit] Response
[edit] US State Department
In its annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of State criticised India for "increasing societal violence against Christians."[15] The report on anti-Christian violence listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property to violence against Christians pilgrims. The incidents listed in the report were attributed to local media reports and information gathered by Christian groups in India, and was not independently verified.[15]
[edit] National Commission for Minorities
In light of recent Anti-Christian violence in Karnataka by the Bajrang Dal activists, the National Commission for Minorities have said that the Karnataka government of serious lapses in handling the situation and they found directly responsible for allowing violence to spread, and said the police failed to solve the issue effectively as the violence continues. They also clarified that there were no reported complaints of forced conversion registered in the state.[13][14]
[edit] National Integration Council of India
On 13 October 2008, the National Integration Council of India called a special meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and raised the voice against spreading anti-Christian violence in India. The Prime minister strongly condemned the violence supported by the hands of Hindu militant Hindu organizations such as Bajrang Dal, VHP etc.[16] The prime minister had earlier publicly admitted that the ongoing violence against the Christian communities was a matter of great "national shame". [17]
[edit] Pope Benedict XVI
On 12 October 2008, Pope Benedict XVI criticized the continuing Anti-Christian violence in India.
On 28 October, the Vatican called upon the memory of Mahatma Gandhi for an end to the religious violence in Orissa. In a written address to Hindus, the Vatican office said Christian and Hindu leaders needed to foster a belief in non-violence among followers.[18] Although the Mahatma had been very strong in his opposition to conversion, he had always denounced violence as an appropriate response.[19]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Violence in Orissa (slide 8 of 30 – A Christian girl whose face was burnt during the recent religious violence, sits in a shelter at Raikia village in Orissa August 31, 2008.)". Reuters. http://in.reuters.com/news/pictures/cslideshow?sj=200809011203145.js&sn=Violence. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
- ^ a b c d e f Vinay Lal. "Anti-Christian Violence in India". Manas: India and Its Neighbors. UCLA College of Letters and Science. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Current_Affairs/Current_affairs.html.
- ^ a b c d e "Anti-Christian Violence on the Rise in India". Human Rights Watch. 29 September 1999. http://hrw.org/english/docs/1999/09/30/india1626.htm.
- ^ Stanley, Alessandra (6 November 1999). "Pope Lands in India Amid Rise in Anti-Christian Violence". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E4DA163AF935A35752C1A96F958260. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
- ^ Low, Alaine M.; Brown, Judith M.; Frykenberg, Robert Eric (eds.) (2002). Christians, Cultural Interactions, and India's Religious Traditions. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans. p. 134. ISBN 0-7007-1601-7.
- ^ Subba, Tanka Bahadur; Som, Sujit; Baral, K. C (eds.) (2005). Between Ethnography and Fiction: Verrier Elwin and the Tribal Question in India. New Delhi: Orient Longman. ISBN 8125028129.
- ^ "Xian, Hindu priests chant for peace at historic Kerala summit". Gulf-times.com. 2008-10-01. http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/printArticle.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=244991&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
- ^ "Police recover bike used during church attacks". http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?artid=G9loQcFJQe0=&Title=Police+recover+bike+used+during+church+attacks&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=X7s7i%7CxOZ5Y=&SEO=.
- ^ "Attacks on churches decried". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 2008-09-30. http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/30/stories/2008093054120400.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
- ^ The Staines case verdict V. Venkatesan, Frontline Magazine, Oct 11–23, 2003
- ^ "Gujarat : More anti-Christian violence". http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis/gujarat-more-anti-ch-7245.html.
- ^ "Hindu extremists convert 2,000 Christians in India". http://www.christiantoday.com/article/hindu.extremists.convert.2000.christians.in.india/15965.htm.
- ^ a b NCM blames Bajrang Dal for Karnataka, Orissa violence Press Trust of India – 21 September 2008
- ^ a b Udupi: No case of forcible conversion- Qureshi, Mangalorean.Com, Sept. 17, 2008
- ^ a b "US rights report slams India for anti-Christian violence". 1999-02-27. http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19990227/ige27064.html. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
- ^ "National Integration Council Debated on Hindutva Terror Christian Members". Newsblaze.com. 2008-10-13. http://newsblaze.com/story/20081013160550zzzz.nb/topstory.html. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
- ^ "India under siege". Economictimes.indiatimes.com. 2008-10-18. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Editorial/India_under_siege_/articleshow/3610403.cms. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
- ^ "Vatican invokes Gandhi in plea to end Orissa violence". In.reuters.com. 2008-10-28. http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-36186520081028. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
- ^ "His faith, our faith". Hindustan Times. 2008-01-29. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=fbf5c6e5-48ea-48c5-9949-7e95d318eacf&&Headline=His+faith%2C+our+faith. Retrieved 2010-04-29.
