Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) President and Archbishop of Delhi, Alan de Lastic told journalists that the attacks were perpetrated by "small groups of fundamentalist Hindus" and that the vast majority of Hindus did not share the anti-minority sentiments of these fringe groups.

Christians of all denominations have called for a National day of prayer on February 21 to pressurise the government to take speedy steps to stem the tide of violence.

Prayers for the country's unity and communal harmony would be held in churches all across the country. Church leaders would also submit a memorandum to President K R Narayanan.

While there has been a comparative lull in the incidents of violence, the church leaders said by no means could it be assumed that the intimidation of the Christiancommunity was over. They spoke of the unspoken pressures of violence unleashed against the Christian community. Though physical violence may have subsided, it was by no means over and "oral violence" and intimidation continued apace, they said.

"We are disturbed and disappointed by the slow pace of justice and the failure of the Centre and state governments to stem the tide of violence. Governments have promised a lot but failed to fulfill any of their promises", de Lastic said.

Decrying the attempts by the Gujarat government to hold a "census" of the Christians in the state, United Christian Forum for Human Rights convenor, John Dayal said the census was a clandestine, motivated move designed to terrorise the minorities.

Meanwhile, also resorting to the "international conspiracy" theory, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh claimed the attacks on Christians were aimed at destabilising the Vajpayee government.

"The stray incidents are the handiwork of forces inimical to the interest of the nation, pursuingtheir agenda to destabilise the present government. The RSS has never been against any religious minority," RSS regional coordinator, Satyanarain Bansal said.

The RSS is launching a janasampark campaign on February 21, when its workers would fan out in the capital and explain the "true facts" to the people in order to counter this "vilification campaign".

"The Sangh allies have been projected as anti-Christian because of the recent attacks on this minority community. These incidents are in fact handiwork of anti-national forces trying to destabilise the BJP-led Government at the Centre," Bansal said.