DM Monitoring
During my conversation with Thomas on 1 June, he mentioned a pastor in Jamalkul village of Mau district, Uttar Pradesh, who had been shifted to an intensive care unit after he was attacked with a knife for organising a prayer session in a Christian household.
The Uttar Pradesh government, on the advice of the Uttar Pradesh state law commission, is on the verge of enacting an anti-conversion bill drafted by the state law commission which states that any person wishing to convert to another religion must seek permission from a government official who will investigate the reason for conversion. The proposal by the commission heavily quotes Chhattisgarh’s anti-conversion law, the Chhattisgarh Dharma Swantantraya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion Act) of 1968, and an amendment introduced to it by the previous Chhattisgarh government, led by the BJP. Chhattisgarh’s amendment has a provision stipulating that “return in ancestor’s original religion or his own original religion by any person shall not be construed as ‘conversion.’” This would mean that Uttar Pradesh’s proposed law will not deem ghar vapsi ceremonies organised by right-wing outfits like VHP, in which Christians and Muslims reconvert to Hinduism as forced conversions.
In Chhattisgarh, the passage of this amendment led to the state tightening its grip on the Christian community. Thomas told me the amendment has abetted a rise in attacks on the community in the state. “In Chhattisgarh, the tribals living in villages are suffering,” Thomas told me, referring to Adivasi Christians. “There is a Congress government but they are not raising their voice.” On 4 June, when I spoke to Kumar, he told me there had been three such attacks in Chhattisgarh in the previous month alone. “People pray according to their own belief. But the villagers don’t understand this. They say that will not allow a deity worshipped by English people to come here. I have come across two cases of ghar vapsi here in 2020. And there are many cases of physical violence,” he said. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh contributes indirectly to such attacks by funding the assailants, Kumar alleged.
He told me that in multiple cases, despite registering a complaint with the police, Christians who were attacked felt compelled to lie low after being subjected to intimidation and violence.
The two Adivasi Christian families who were attacked in Kokkar Pal by a Hindu supremacist mob, before they were taken to the local hospital.. Courtesy Persecution ReliefThe two Adivasi Christian families who were attacked in Kokkar Pal by a Hindu supremacist mob, before they were taken to the local hospital.. Courtesy Persecution Relief
On 18 June, I spoke to Kuraam Desha, an Adivasi Christian man from Bodiguda village in Sukma district. Desha told me he had been attacked multiple times by radical Hindu groups. “I have been a believer since 2017. I was not going to church before that, but my sisters were going,” Desha said. He told me his sisters and his uncle’s children had been going to church before he began to go. On 8 February 2017, he said, his family was attacked. “The villagers beat up all of us along with the church-goers in the family,” he said. “I was not even a believer in Christianity at that time. After getting beaten up, we realised we were beaten up for no reason, in the name of the Messiah.” Desha told me that over the next year, the villagers called multiple meetings to issue threats against the family. “Then in 2017, more such fights happened,” he said. “They destroyed our house. We informed the police station. The police advised the villagers not to repeat this. They did not do anything to us for another year.” When I asked Desha who attacked his family, he said, “Those who came were associated with the RSS.”
During the lockdown, Desha said, associates of the RSS renewed the attacks against their family.
To be Continued…
