The Calcutta-based organisation's relief work in the tribal areas of Kalahandi in Orissa, Bastar in Madhya Pradesh, Palamau in Bihar and Telengana in Andhra Pradesh is believed to have lured the poor people in these areas away from the Christian missionaries.

``As a result, Christian missionaries in these areas see us as a threat,'' the outfit's spokesman Swami Bhabesananda told The Indian Express in an interview here yesterday. This was the first time any Ananda Margi publicly reacted to recent controversies regarding attacks on Christians and conversions to Christianity.

The organisation, which itself had come under scrutiny over many controversies including the one regarding the December, 1996 Purulia armsdrop case, was declared a Hindu sect in a recent Supreme Court judgment.

It is said to have four millionmembers in India.