Chhattisgarh, eight villages vote: Christians out

Local councils forced about a hundred Christians to leave or renounce their faith. The police did not intervene immediately and at least 40 people were forced to take refuge in churches after their property was destroyed. According to some oraganizations, there has been an increase in violence against the Christian community in this Indian State this year.

Sukma (AsiaNews) - To leave the village or to renounce being Christian: this is the choice faced by about a hundred faithful in the Indian tribal majority state of Chhattisgarh. On 17 November, eight panchayats (local councils) in the Sukma district passed a resolution forbidding Christians to remain in their territories. Otherwise their property and fields would be looted, they were told.

The sarpanch (village headman) of Michwar, one of the eight villages involved (Dabba, Doodhiras, Gonderas, Gurli, Jagadlanar, Kundanpal, Kunna), also upheld the measure, stating that the decisions taken by the panchayats overrode the Indian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and belief under Article 25.

The next day, the Christians filed a complaint at the Gadiras police station, accompanying it with audio evidence documenting the allegations of the Michwar sarpanch. But the officers refused to register an initial information report (FIR), which was necessary to start an investigation. Instead, they asked to be escorted to the camps. By the time they reached the site, a mob of about 1,500 people had already looted Christian crops. The police left the area without offering any help, the Christians later reported.

On 19 November, the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CCF) brought the matter to the attention of the Sukma district authorities, who ordered the complaint to be registered. But as of 21 November, the request had still not been followed up. In the meantime, about 40 forced to leave their villages because their land was plundered, have found refuge in a church in Michwar.

‘These incidents are not only occurring in Sukma, but are affecting Christians in many districts,’ explained Fr Thomas Vadakumkara, of the Jagadalpur diocese, when asked by AsiaNews. ‘Fundamental rights are systematically denied: burying the dead, staying on one's own land and cultivating one's own fields. This discrimination undermines human dignity and violates the principles laid down in the Indian Constitution'.

According to the United Christian Forum (UCF), a Delhi-based organisation, there has been an increase in violence and discrimination against Christians in at least 23 of India's 28 states. Until October this year, 673 incidents of violence against the Christian community were recorded. The state of Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of hate crimes with 182 incidents, followed by Chhattisgarh with 139 cases.

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