New Delhi (AsiaNews) –The village of Magalawada in Haliyal (Karnataka), diocese of Karwar, saw a small outbreak of cholera. Village elders decided to pray to the village deity on two Tuesdays and three Fridays during ‘Shravana’, an auspicious month in the Hindu calendar. During prayers, all activities were suspended, including farming and business.
Catholics initially agreed and participated in the prayers until last week. When they stopped, Hindu leaders decided to boycott them, ordering Hindus not to use vehicles owned by Christians or allowing Catholics to travel on their vehicles. All business and grocery shops owned by Catholics were off-limits—Hindus were told not to repair agricultural equipment belonging to Catholics. Even Hindu boys had to stop distributing newspapers to Christian houses. Students were banned from attending Catholic-run schools; only four out of 42 Hindu students in one school attended class on Saturday.
”I am deeply saddened by the social boycott of the Catholics in this village, but this ostracisation, only deepens our commitment to serve the poor and the downtrodden and strengthens our zeal to work towards establishing a society of justice, peace and love,” Mgr Derek Fernandes, bishop of Karwar, told AsiaNews.
The bishop is convinced that the boycott was motivated by a desire to attack Catholic activities that empowered women through various activities, especially self-help groups and educational programmes (Balawadis, i.e. nursery schools) where 70 per cent of the beneficiaries are non-Christian villagers.
“The village was peaceful until recently when some people tried to mislead residents to promote their own vested interests,” the prelate said. “There are two Muslim families, about 30 Dalit, and 108 Christian families out of a total of some 250 families in the village. Poor Dalits have a hard time in the village.”
“The outbreak of cholera killed six people. Catholics tried to raise awareness among villagers of the need for personal hygiene and coordinate efforts to get a well with clean and safe drinking water, but they also tried to dispel a few superstitions, which led to a misunderstanding that prompted the boycott.”
“In the town of Haliyal, which is six kilometres from the village, the Karwar diocese runs Kannada and English middle schools. About 90 per cent of the students are Hindus. The town also has a well-established hospital, and in a nearby village, a social service centre caters to all sections of people, especially the poor. The Church has never discriminated on the basis of caste or creed and this social boycott reinforces our mission to empower and socially uplift the poor and marginalised in the Diocese without discrimination,” the bishop said.
