Mumbai (AsiaNews) - In the early hours of this morning, unidentified persons damaged four statues of the Virgin Mary in St. Mary’s church in Agra. The vandals removed the sculptures from the display cases and tied a dog chain around the neck of the bust depicting Mary holding baby Jesus. The church is located in the district of Pratabpura, the city known around the world for the Taj Mahal.
According to the pastor Fr. Moon Lazarus "in putting the dog chain around the neck of the Mother Mary intruders have wanted to hurt our religious feelings." The priest made a complaint to the local police. Later in the day today, the Christian community will organize a protest march.
Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), spoke to AsiaNews of the "deep shame of the act of vandalism on four statues of Mother Mary. It is even more vulgar, that one of the Holy and Sacred Statues were wrapped a dog chain. Recently Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, said there is 'evidence that most of the attacks on churches have no religious reasons'. Will the media tell the truth now? ".
"Such hostility against the Christian minority - said the activist – is only increasing, while the government does nothing to stop them and the radical right-wing Hindus continue with their diatribes, such as the recent request of forced sterilizations for Christians. The goal of the Hindutva brigade is still to create a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu nation where minorities are second-class citizens". (NC)