NEW DELHI, April 25 (Compass Direct News)
– Hindu extremists in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh have raised
the incidence of attacks on believers to an
unprecedented high, including a slander campaign
against the state's chief minister, Dr. Y.S.
Rajasekhara Reddy, a Christian.
Sam Paul, public affairs secretary said at
least one anti-Christian incident occurs per
day.
The leader of the AICC, which has its headquarters
in Andhra Pradesh, believes that the rising
number of attacks on Christians is linked to
a campaign against Chief Minister Reddy by Hindu
extremist groups linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (National Volunteers' Corps, or RSS),
whose political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), is an ally of the Opposition Telugu Desam
Party.
"Hindu extremists are accusing the chief
minister and the state government ruled by the
Congress Party of having a 'Christian' agenda,"
Paul told Compass.
He said the extremists have an "agenda
to disturb the peace of the Christian community
and the general atmosphere in Andhra Pradesh,"
in order to "ensure that the state does
not progress and the chief minister is branded
as a supporter of Christian missionaries trying
to convert Hindus by the use of force and allurement."
*U.S. Hindu Protest*
Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the
Global Council of Indian Christians, told Compass
that supporters of Hindu extremist organizations
in the United States were planning to protest
Chief Minister Reddy's May 6 visit to the Donald
Stephens Convention Center in Chicago.
Endorsed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World
Hindu Council, or VHP) of America, the Bangalore
Initiative for Religious Dialogue, and the Indian
American Intellectuals' Forum, the planned protest
will accuse Reddy of "Christianizing"
Andhra Pradesh, "destroying Hindu temples"
and "discriminating against the Hindu community."
A Hindu website notes that actions of the state
government ruled by the "evangelical Christian"
suggest a "well-designed plan to decimate
Hinduism through destruction of Hindu institutions
and abetting of massive illegal conversions."
"The entire state infrastructure is made
available for these activities," it says.
George condemned the planned protest and appealed
to organizers to stop the hate campaign against
Indian Christians.
*Tirupati-Tirumala, Hotbed *
The protest will focus on the alleged "conversion
activities" of Christian missionaries in
the Tirupati-Tirumala area in Chittoor district,
which has become the hotbed of the anti-Christian
campaign.
Tirupati is a temple town at the foothills
of Tirumala, which is believed to be the abode
of Hindu god Venkateshwara (one of the incarnations
of Lord Vishnu). Tirumala has seven hills, representing
the seven heads of a huge serpent, Sesha Saye,
on which god Vishnu is believed to reside.
Atop the Tirumala hills is the Venkateshwara
Temple, one of the most revered Hindu sites
in the country. Considering all religions worldwide,
it is believed that the financial offerings
and collections at this temple are second only
to those of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican
City.
The BJP has accused Christian missionaries
of converting Hindus in the university and hospitals
inside the Tirupati-Tirumala area in connivance
with the temple management committee and the
support of the state government. Both Christian
leaders and the temple management deny the charge.
The RSS and other extremist groups have held
numerous rallies to raise the issue of alleged
conversion activities of Christian missionaries
in the area.
Most recently, Hindu seers from a local group
allegedly led by the Bajrang Dal, the Tirumala
Tirupati Samrakshana Samiti (TTSS), held a rally
and urged the state government to enact a law
banning "conversion activities" in
the temple town on April 3, reported regional
daily The Deccan Chronicle.
The anti-Christian campaign picked up in April
2006, after the TTSS and other extremist groups
led local Hindu seers to constitute a fact-finding
committee headed by a retired judge of the state
high court, Justice B. Bikshapathy, to investigate
"anti-Hindu" activities in the Tirupati-Tirumala
area.
The report, released in June, alleged that
Christianity was being preached and "fraudulent"
conversions were taking place in Tirupati and
Tirumala. It also claimed that at least 40 Christian
families were living on Tirumala and holding
prayer meetings in their homes.
On June 25, 2006, police arrested four Catholic
nuns acting on a complaint by a mob of 40 people,
who objected to their visit in the Ruyya hospital
in the temple town to distribute fruit and pray
for the sick. The nuns had been visiting the
hospital for the last 20 years.
*Call to Prayer*
"We need prayers for the church in Andhra
Pradesh that it would stand firm amid the rising
persecution," the AICC's Paul said.
According to the Census of India 2001, Andhra
Pradesh' population is over 76.2 million, out
of which only 1.18 million are Christian.
Reddy, who was sworn in as the chief minister
in May 2004 after a walking tour of rural villages
for 64 days across the entire state, was named
as the most popular chief minister in the country
in a "Mood of the Nation 2006" poll
conducted nationwide by national weekly India
Today.
Reddy's grandfather was the first in his Hindu
family to accept Christ, through Father Rolls,
a British missionary. Due to the conversion,
the family was ostracized by the local community
and they decided to move out of Balpanur village,
near Pulivendla, Cuddapah district.
*Persecution Led by the RSS*
Paul said that in most instances of attacks
on Christians, groups linked to the Sangh Parivar
(family of organizations having links with the
RSS), such as the VHP, its youth wing Bajrang
Dal and Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarti Parishad (All
India Students Council or ABVP), have been involved.
Paul added that these groups use the allegation
of "forced" conversions against Christian
workers as a pretext for the attacks.
On April 11, extremists allegedly belonging
to the RSS, BJP and ABVP attacked a team of
Christian workers in the Madanapally area of
Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district. The team
included five women and the pastor of a local
Bhakta Singh Assembly church. The assailants,
who were waiting for the Christians in their
vehicles, first beat the Christian men and then
the women, and later burned the Christian literature.
On Easter Sunday (April 8), extremists of the
BJP, ABVP, VHP and Bajrang Dal attacked a pastor
in his house in Ananthapuram area in Anantpur
district. The attackers barged into the house
of independent pastor Isaac Medige and accused
him and his wife, Evangeline, of "forced
conversions" before beating the pastor.
On April 4, a mob of 300 extremists led by
the VHP assaulted seven Christians after lodging
a police complaint against them for "forced
conversion," which led to the arrest of
the Christians.
Paul added that Hindu extremists have started
another group, christened as the Dalita Govindam
(equivalent to "Dalit Hallelujah")
to woo Dalits and restrict their conversion
to other religions, mainly Christianity.
Paul said generally the police are doing their
job in dealing with the cases of Christian persecution,
"but in a few incidents, they have seemingly
connived with the culprits."
On April 14, the state police arrested five
Christians for praying for the sick and distributing
Christian literature in Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad.
The arrest took place after some junior doctors
objected to their visit and complained to the
police. The AICC alleged the arrest was illegal
as the Christians practiced their fundamental
right.
Four Murders Andhra Pradesh has witnessed three
brutal murders of Christian workers in the last
three years. In 2000, a preacher was beheaded.
The body of a 29-year old pastor, Goda Israel,
was found with stab wounds on February 20 in
a canal near his house in Pedapallparru village
in Krishna district. Goda had worked independently
in the area since graduating from Emmanuel Bible
Institute of Emmanuel Mission International,
in Rajasthan state's Kota district, in February
2003.
In May 2005, two pastors, K. Daniel and K.
Isaac Raju, were killed near Hyderabad, the
state capital. Unknown persons called both pastors
by phone before they disappeared, asking if
they would act as wedding celebrants. Raju went
to meet a caller in Anantpur district on May
24, 2005 and disappeared; an unidentified caller
then phoned police on June 2, describing where
to find Raju's body.
Similarly, callers met Daniel in a motorized
rickshaw on May 21 and took him to a cemetery
in Karwan, where they severely beat him, strangled
him, and then dumped his body on the city outskirts.
The New Indian Express newspaper on June 27,
2005 quoted a man identified only as Goverdhan
who claimed he and two friends had murdered
the two preachers.
"I am not against Christianity, but Raju
and Daniel converted hundreds of Hindu families,"
Goverdhan said. "They enticed them with
money. We have done this to prevent further
conversions. This act should be a lesson for
others."
On September 11, 2000, two unidentified persons
beheaded Pastor Yesu Dasu, 52, on the outskirts
of Mustabad in Andhra Pradesh's Karimnagar district.
Dasu's body was found in a pool of blood at
a cattle shed near Kothakunta, along the Mustabad-Siddipet
highway, three kilometers (nearly two miles)
from Karimnagar. Hindu extremists had earlier
warned Dasu to cease preaching or face the consequences.
Seven years later, Dasu's case remains unsolved.
