Compiled by a three-member team of Nishant Natya Manch and Progressive Organisation of Women (PoW) which visited several areas of Gujarat from August 23 to 30, the report says that a concerted campaign appears to be under way, starting from Gujarat, to turn the country into a ``Hindu rashtra''.

Releasing the report here today, the team members Shams-ul-Islam, Neelima and Shireen said this allegation was borne out by the fact that at the entry to several villages in Gujarat, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had put up signboards saying ``welcome to a village in the Hindu rashtra''.

While Muslims were being attacked in south and central Gujarat, Christians were being targeted all over the state, the report alleged.

While it wasdifficult to give an exact number, the team members said the report compiled certain major incidents which had taken place recently. These included an attack on local and foreign priests in Padra village in Baroda district on March two, disruption of a Christian function in Vadodara on March four, attack on St Mary's school in Ahmedabad on May 28, exhumation of a Christian boy's body in Kapadwanj on July six, attack on a Christian school in Zankhav in Surat district, a bonfire of Bibles in Rajkot on June 20, the destruction of a church stall in a fair in Rajkot a few days later, the demolition of a church in Naroda on April 16 and an attack on Muslims in Sanjeli village on August 15 this year.

While the police had watched as ``silent spectators'', several newspapers in Gujarat had added to the problem by biased and inflammatory writing, the team said. Several inflammatory pamphlets printed by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal were being openly distributed in Gujarat in clear violation of penal laws, theyadded.

Also, more than 5,000 people, mostly belonging to the minority communities, had been detained under the Prevention of Anti-social Activities (PASA) Act, which was the equivalent to TADA.

The Natya Nishant Manch, the oldest street theatre group which has for several years been working against fundamentalist trends in the sub-continent, did 25 performances of street plays in different places in Gujarat. The common people are against such incidents of communal violence, which is slowly destroying the composite Gujarati culture.