A wave of violence has been unleashed on Adivasi Christians in Chhattisgarh.
On January 2, a church was vandalised in Narayanpur on suspicion of conducting “conversions”. And, between December 9 and 18, almost 1,000 Adivasi Christians were targeted and displaced from their homes, according to a fact-finding committee led by the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism.
“My father was beaten up. My mother, sister and others were lying on the ground,” said Ramlal Sori, 26, an Adivasi Christian whose family was attacked on December 3. “My father was in hospital for a week. We filed an FIR but it’s been more than a month and no action has been taken.”
At least a dozen Adivasi Christian – locally known as Vishwasis, or believers – in Kondagaon district told Newslaundry they had been attacked and assaulted for “believing in Christ”. They were allegedly thrown out of their homes and have been living in temporary accommodation since then.
But this targeting is not unusual. Some alleged that, in the past, the graves of their loved ones were desecrated and the bodies dug up because their last rites had been conducted as per Christian traditions.
Ramlal’s family lives in Rengagondi village in Kondagaon while he works as a labourer in Bandpara in the same district. At around 8 am on December 3, he said, a group of 200 people from Rengagondi and nearby Kokati village went to their house. Ramlal’s parents and sister were inside.
“They forced the three of them into an open ground nearby. They told my parents not to follow a foreign religion like Christianity,” Ramlal told Newslaundry over the phone. “My family said they hadn’t converted, they were still Adivasis, just that they now believe in Maseeh, in Jesus Christ. But they were beaten badly.”
Video footage from that day, shot at around 8.30 am, showed a crowd of people standing or sitting in a circle on open ground, green forests behind them. A man and three women – Ramlal’s father, mother, sister and one Maseeh Pota Kumari – were in the centre of this circle. Five or six men came forward and hit them with bamboo sticks. Another man kicked one of the women in the chest and she fell.
Voices shouted in Gondi, “Call up Ramlal. Where is he hiding? These people cannot live in our village. The police and administration belong to us. Who will you complain to? You people are destroying our rituals. Because of you, our tribal gods are leaving the village.”
Slogans were then chanted, “Bhagana hoga, isaiyon ko bhagan hoga.” Christians need to be chased away.
Ramlal, meanwhile, learned about these events when his mother telephoned him. He rushed home and found his family and about 15 other Vishwasis from Rengagondi and Kokati at the boundary of his village. All 18 had been told to never return to their homes.
“I arranged for an ambulance and admitted my father to the hospital. He was there for a week,” said Ramlal, adding that his father had injuries on his back from the beating. “We then went to the Bayanar police to file an FIR. But nothing happened.”
The family now lives in Ramlal’s home.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com . Read the full story here