Bajrang Dal riot continues as church vs church adds a twist

Activists defied curfew to protest against the attack on a Catholic chapel, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration Monastery, on Sunday. “The nuns here never mingle with the world outside. They do not meet laymen. How could they be targeted on charges of conversion,” asked a priest of the Mangalore diocese.

The other Bajrang Dal targets on Sunday included a chapel of the Church of South India in Mangalore and prayer halls run by a Bangalore-based protestant sect, New Life.

In fact, New Life has been the Hindutva outfit’s prime target. The Bajrang Dal has said that they had targeted New Life because it has been converting Hindus to Christianity.

Ironically, the Catholic Church, too, has a similar problem with New Life which it thinks is poaching its faithful belonging to the lower income group. Bishop D’Souza reiterated today at a press conference that Catholics have been against conversion.

A priest in Mangalore diocese, who preferred anonymity, said the clergy has been warning people against joining New Life. “We have told them that those who join New Life would be excommunicated. In fact, a section in the diocese feels that New Life should be blamed for the attacks. The diocese is facing a piquant situation. We are facing the music for the wrongs committed by New Life. We have decided to organise agitations considering the larger interests of the entire Christian community,” he said.

Since New Life does not have churches with religious symbols and statues and operate from inconspicuous prayer halls, Catholics have become the saffron outfit’s soft target.

Pastor Don Menezes, who heads New Life in Mangalore, justified his mission. “We have not forced anyone to join our sect. Many have joined the Protestant groups including New Life after they were attracted by the gospel. Some people accepted the gospel, while others rejected,” he said referring to conversions.

He said the evangelical mission would not be cowed down by the attacks on the prayer halls.

New Life is a Pentecostal group which targets disgruntled elements in Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. They also lure poor Hindus to their fold by offering them financial assistance. It has no clergy at its head, but only a few pastors to run the show.

Says Menezes: “We have a couple of prayer halls where the faithful meet regularly to worship. In places where we do not own halls, prayer sessions are held at auditoriums and rented premises.”

Karnataka CM vows to show ‘iron hand’

Mangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who visited coastal Karnataka on Monday, said his government was committed to maintaining peace and harmony. “Anti-social elements have been trying to foment communal tension in the state. Such attempts would be dealt with an iron hand,” he said. He added that the government would not tolerate attempts to block roads and disrupt normal life in the name of the agitation.