Modi inaugurates temple, Hindu extremists raise flag on churches
In Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, the celebrations for the new Ram Mandir in Ayodhya provided an opportunity for further intimidation of Christians. The police refused to accept complaints, citing "pressure from above". The local diocese asks for protection.
Jhabua (AsiaNews) – A saffron-coloured flag was planted on the roof of a church to "celebrate" the inauguration of the Ram Mandir, the great temple symbol of Hindu nationalism.
Last Sunday, eve of the lavish celebration in Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hundreds of kilometres away, in Jhabua, a district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a large group of Hindu extremists targeted some Christian churches, with praises for Ram, the Hindu deity to whom the new temple is dedicated.
Images of a man climbing onto the roof of the Evangelical church in Matasula, a village with a tribal majority, to plant the Hindu nationalist flag above the cross have gone viral.
"It happened at around 4 pm,” said Pastor Kidar Singh, who leads a community affiliated with the Church of South India. “More than 50 of them gathered and wanted to install saffron flags on my house and on the top of the church. They threatened to have the church demolished on the false charge of illegal conversion."
Similar scenes were repeated in three other villages in the area, all this even though non-Hindu religious leaders in Madhya Pradesh issued messages of congratulations for the inauguration of the Temple.
Catholic Bishop Peter Kharadi of Jhabua expressed his best wishes "on behalf of the entire Catholic Christian community".
The three village prayer halls where flags were hoisted belong to the Shalom Pentecostal Church. Pentecostal Bishop Paul Muniya told AsiaNews that the police tried to convince them not to press charges.
“They advised us to handle the situation with love, as taught in our religion,” he explained. “They assured us that they will file a FIR[*] if such an incident takes place again, but for now they won’t do anything because there is a lot of pressure from above.”
Fr Rockey Shah, of the Catholic diocese of Jhabua, spoke to AsiaNews. "We met with the superintendent of police and he talked about keeping the peace.
“The Church has two important events scheduled for the weekend and we have asked them to beef up our security. On 26 January, all our Christian educational institutions will mark India’s Republic Day in style, and on 27 January there will be the ordination of the bishop of Jhabua.”
[*] First Information Report.
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05/05/2016 10:05
20/11/2017 14:25
