There is a sustained and organised campaign to forcibly convert Christian Adivasis to a Hindu way of life, found a fact-finding team who visited Chhattisgarh districts Narayanpur and Kondagaon where Adivasi Christian communities have been attacked by Hindutva groups.
The fact-finding team who visited numerous relief camps and villages and interacted with the victims, as well as the non-Christian Adivasis including Village Sarpanch and residents, said the right to freedom of choice and religion is enshrined in the Constitution of India and such barbarous acts are a slap on the face of the nation.
Adivasis have their own indigenous way of life and it is their legal right to choose their faith without fear as guaranteed by the Constitution of India, they said.
The team said they had also interacted with district administration officials of Narayanpur including the District Collector, Deputy Superintendent of Police, and Additional Superintendent of Police apart from members of political and cultural outfits.
The report of the fact-finding mission found that from December 9, 2022, until December 18, 2022, there were a series of attacks in about 18 villages in Narayanpur and 15 villages in Kondagaon displacing about 1,000 Christian Adivasis from their own villages. Those displaced were threatened to denounce their Christian faith and convert to Hindu religion failing which they would have to leave their village or face dire consequences, even death. Many Christian Adivasis were gravely assaulted and beaten with bamboo canes, tyres, rods, etc. At least two dozen people had to be hospitalised with injuries like fracture of collar bone etc.
The press conference started with a documentary made by the fact-finding team of the United Christian Forum. The documentary presented accounts of violence suffered by the members of the tribal communities residing in the Kundagan and Narayanpur districts of Chhattisgarh.
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