These incidents are seen as part of an organised campaign to bring them back to the Hindu fold.
Chhattisgarh has seen a surge in violence against Christians of late. According to a statement issued by the United Christian Forum in June 2022, Chhattisgarh reported the highest number of attacks on churches and Christians after Uttar Pradesh. Christians are less than 2 per cent of the population in the State.
On January 2, several police personnel, including Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar, were attacked when they tried to stop a mob from vandalising a church on the premises of Viswadeepti School in Narayanpur district. According to the police, at least 2,000 people had gathered near the school to protest against a clash between two communities over alleged conversions by Christian missionaries in Ekda village. After the protest, a group of people, armed with stones and sickles, stormed the church on the school premises.
A couple of weeks earlier, on the night of December 18-19, about 1,000 Christian Adivasis converged in front of the Narayanpur Collectorate seeking protection from increasing incidents of targeted violence. They were forcibly taken by bus to the Benur police station, and later shifted to makeshift camps at Zilla Panchayat Sansadhan Kendra and the indoor stadium in Narayanpur.
Bela Bhatia, a Bastar-based researcher and human rights lawyer, told Frontline: “This is not a sudden development. In the last decade there have been scores of instances in many villages across Bastar’s seven districts where Christian Adivasis have been attacked, their prayer halls destroyed, pastors beaten, even burial grounds denied. People have lodged police complaints but no action has been taken against the miscreants.”
Although the police claimed to have arrested at least 11 persons, including two prominent BJP leaders, in connection with separate incidents of violence over alleged conversions in Narayanpur on January 4, Bhatia said the action was taken only after the police personnel were themselves attacked.
“While a few lawyers have moved the High Court, the police have registered some FIRs after initial delay,” Brijendra Tiwari, convener, All India People’s Forum, Chhattisgarh, told Frontline. “The administration is now sending people back to their villages against their will. A majority of them have left the camps and are now living with their relatives.” Tiwari said at least 50 residents of Chimdi village continued to remain in the camp.“When we visited their village, the sarpanch told us categorically that they could not return until they had abandoned Christianity,” he added.
Tiwari was part of a fact-finding team of representatives of various civil society organisations that visited Narayanpur and later Kondagaon district where too violence was reported. The team met survivors of the violence and interacted with non-Christian Adivasis, the district administration, police officials and members of political and cultural outfits.
Its report states: “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.” It stated that at least two dozen people had to be hospitalised with serious injuries. “Even persons with disabilities, pregnant women and children were not spared,” it said.
This story was originally published in frontline.thehindu.com . Read the full story here