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RSS temples for tribals spell trouble for Digvijay
YOGESH
VAJPEYI
BHOPAL, JANUARY 6: THE tribal belt of Jhabua and Dhar
districts in Madhya Pradesh, which had been rocked by the
rape of four nuns four years ago, is back in the news. What
has become a major headache for Digvijay Singh’s government
is the RSS plan to build devalayas (Hindu places of worship)
in 3.5 lakh tribal homes in these two districts.
What is quite apparently an orchestrated anti-Christian campaign
will culminate in a Hindu Sangam in Jhabua on January 16.
RSS chief of Indore region Anila Daga claims that such devalayas
have already been set up in 60 per cent of the homes. ‘‘Our
activists have stepped up their propaganda war to expose the
real nature of Christian missionaries,’’ he asserts.
Madhya Pradesh home minister Mahendra Baudh had visited Jhabua
a month back and threatened to ban the Hindu Sangam but it
had little effect. The situation is so volatile that the Chief
Minister himself went to Jhabua on December 30 to take stock
of the situation. He made it clear that while his government
was not opposed to any religious congregation, ‘‘we will act
strongly if anyone tries to vitiate the atmosphere by attacking
followers of other faiths.’’
The
RSS is undaunted. Apart from circulating pamphlets explaining
how ‘‘foreign missionaries coming from thousands of kilometres
away are converting people through fraud’’, it has also started
a quiz programme for school children. The purpose, according
to Daga, is ‘‘to test their awareness about the threats to
Hindu society’’. Sample the questions: What is the reason
for the fall in Hindu population in certain areas?; Why do
Hindus and not Muslims embrace other faiths?; and do the foreign
missionaries commit a crime when they force conversion on
tribals?
The campaign is worrying the administration because of recent
attacks on churches and missionaries in Jhabua, Dhar, Indore
and Ujjain districts of the Malwa-Nimar region. ‘‘The rape
of four nuns in Jhabua four years back may not have been the
handiwork of any RSS outfit but investigations into these
recent attacks show that there is a pattern behind them,’’
says a senior MP police official. The area has witnessed several
clashes and attacks during the past six months, he points
out. In Jhabua there have been half-a-dozen attacks on churches
and Christian institutions since last August and the virus
seems to be spreading to other districts.
A group of hooligans assaulted four Christian youths near
Himmatgarh village in the neighbouring Dhar district last
September. Unidentified persons intercepted the victims at
night when they were returning from a village where they had
screened a film on Christ. In August, a 30-year-old nun of
Aradhana Sadan — a school-cum-hospital run by the Sisters
of the Adoration of Blessed Sacrament — was shot at and injured
in Ujjain.
Last December, five armed men had raided a church in Dultaria
village in Rajgarh district and assaulted Catholic priests
and nuns before looting Rs 358,000, ornaments and other valuables.
The next month armed hooligans forced their way into the home
of 60-year-old priest C Alphonse in Gwalior and attacked him
with sticks and rods. In yet another recent incident, miscreants
demolished a small chapel belonging to Pentecostal Christian
mission in Gopalpura village of Jhabua.
During a visit by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to Indore
last year, activists of the Sanskritik Jagaran Manch had attacked
three churches a few hours before she was to open an orphanage
run by missionaries.
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