RIGHTS-INDIA: Hindu Fundamentalists Now Target Christians

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Dev Raj

NEW DELHI, Jul 28 1998 (IPS) - Macabre as it was, the exhumation of Samuel Christian’s body and its dumping in front of a church in western India might have passed for an ordinary dispute over property.

But Gujarat state, where the incident took place this month, happens to lead the country in an unprecedented wave of Hindu fundamentalist persecution against the minority Christian community in India.

In a representation to President Kocheril Raman Narayanan, the All-India Catholic Union (AICU) which represents 1.6 million Catholics pointed to other recent attacks on Christians in Gujarat, including the burning of copies of the Bible in a church.

The provocation, imagined or otherwise, for the violence led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or World Hindu Forum is what its leaders see as attempts to convert marginalised lower-caste, Hindus.

But AICU spokesman John Dayal says there is a clear attempt to divide the minorities. “My friends in the VHP ask me why the Christians cannot join the Hindus to fight a common historical enemy the Muslims,” he said.

It was the VHP and its sister organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or National Self-help Organisation which spearheaded the destruction of the medieval Babri mosque in northern Uttar Pradesh state nearly six years ago.

An editorial in the widely-circulated ‘The Times of India’ newspaper said Monday that Mahatma Gandhi (who happened to come from Gujarat) would have been the first to “express profound repugnance at the recent burning of copies of the Bible by the Bajrang Dal and the Akhil Bharat Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).”

But attempts are being made to justify the assassination of Gandhi, who successfully led a non-violent movement against British colonial rule. Under pressure from parliamentary deputies the government has had to ban a play glorifying the assassin, Nathuram Godse this month.

Like the RSS and the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the ABVP (students group) are members of a family of fundamentalist groups which give ideological backing for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Considered a moderate, Vajpayee has time and again found it necessary to tone down the pitch of his fundamentalist colleagues. He has had to assure Parliament that a temple would not be built at the site where the Babri Masjid stood until the Supreme Court decided its ownership.

Vajpayee also found himself apologising for a move by the Delhi state government, run by his party, to derecognise churches as religious institutions on the grounds that they stock liquor (sacramental wine) on their premises.

Right-wing Hindus cite historical reasons for animosity towards Muslims who they see as descendants of Islamic hordes who conquered India in the 12th century, destroying temples and in some cases, like the Babri Masjid, building mosques over them.

Christians are not targetted as outsiders, but Hindu fundamentalists see a threat in the refuge the church has provided for low caste Hindus who are poorly regarded by their co-religionists.

President Narayanan, a member of the lowest Hindu caste, is himself a follower of Christianity, and Hindu fundamentalist groups opposed his candidature for the topmost job on the grounds of his faith though they preferred to stay silent on his caste.

Hindu fear of desertion from the fold by lower caste groups and therefore the decimation of its vote banks is best articulated in the ‘Organiser’, the BJP party weekly.

A favourite target of the Organiser is Congress President Sonia Gandhi who is often portrayed as an agent of the Vatican in India especially after the death of Mother Teresa.

A lead article in the Mar. 15 issue of the ‘Organiser’ says : “The recent death of Mother Teresa is a serious blow to the Vatican’s plans. A staunch Roman Catholic like Sonia Gandhi in control of the government — either directly or indirectly — would be an irresistible prize.”

The ‘Organiser’ article goes on to accuse Christian organisations of politically backing the opposition Congress party which has managed to preserve a secular outlook for itself and is more pan-Indian than the BJP which is confined largely to northern India.

In recent times, the VHP has busied itself with plans to ‘reconvert’ the rebellious, racially Mongoloid tribes of north- eastern states like Nagaland and Mizoram which converted to Christianity decades ago and are staunch Baptists.

According to VHP leader, Ashok Singhal northeastern tribes such as the Nagas, Mizos and Khasis were once Hindus and are now being encouraged to return to the original religion of their forefathers. In fact, the tribes were animists.

Church leaders in the north-east have reacted to the intended conversion of their congregations by warning the VHP against any attempt at forcible conversions in the already volatile insurgency-hit region.

Member of Parliament and former speaker of the Lok Sabha or lower house, Purno Sangma, a Khasi from north-eastern Meghalaya has warned: “An attempt by the ruling party (BJP) will not only retard the restoration of peace but also adversely affect the unity and integrity of the nation.”

Hindu fundamentalist violence has had better success bullying or attacking small isolated pockets of Christians as happened in Gujarat and in such states as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where missionary activity has actually bettered the lot of marginalised people.

According to Manini Chatterjee, writer for the Marxist Communist Party of India (CPI-M), the RSS leadership targets different groups to keep alive notions of superiority among its cadres. “Just now it is the turn of the Christians and later it will be other groups which stand up for a secular India.”

The openly fascist RSS which imparts military training to its cadres and whose members greet each other with a Nazi-style salute has as its avowed goal the creation of a “Hindu Rashtra” or Hindu nation in which Hindus are supreme.

Chatterjee says that although the ruling BJP has tried to disassociate themselves from this goal because it heads a coalition government, the well-planned attacks on Christians across the country show how deeply ingrained RSS ideology is among the present rulers.

In a statement, CPI-M General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet said “the efforts to spread communal poison have found a new expression in the violent attacks on the Christian community.”

Surjeet said that the RSS is now penetrating the educational system with its ideology especially in states run by the BJP including Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.