A communal riot-free India will continue to remain a
distant pipe dream with stiff opposition to the proposed Communal
Violence Bill likely to ensure that it is not passed. Until that happens
though, the vociferous Hindutva militants and right-wing parties
continue to have a field day preying on the minorities.
A study of the attacks on Christians in 2011 clearly
shows the year to be one where persecution has peaked. This despite the
fact that there has been no major pogrom (like Orissa or Karnataka in
2008) causing massive threat to life, limb or property. The reason 2011
is the worst ever year for Indian Christians, as the sheer number of
attacks indicates, is because the persecution has become more
widespread, covering almost all states of the country. A minimum of
1,000 Christian families have been affected by these attacks.
Reports coming in during 2011 from almost all Indian
states show there is a perceptible increase in the Hindutva attacks even
in places where the Hindutva brigade (RSS, VHP, BJP, sangh parivar,
Rama Sene and their spawn) was not traditionally strong. Of serious
concern is the fact that a clear pattern is emerging, which shows that
after Muslims, Christians are next on the Hindutva radar of terror. The
well-documented pan-Indian attacks expose a premeditated sinister
campaign to make soft targets of this micro-minority across the country
in the year to come. If one goes by the number of reports coming in, in
2012 the numbers of persecuted Christians and discriminated
institutions/NGOs are bound to go up as more incidents get recorded.
This preliminary annual persecution report 2011
highlights about 250 of the most heinous crimes of targeted violence
against Christians in India. It raises relevant issues of freedom of
faith and religious liberty besides abuse of basic human and
constitutional rights. The Catholic-Christian Secular Forum would like
to reiterate that these are only the serious ones that have been brought
to light and the attacks that are unreported by the media or not
recorded by the authorities could well be over three times this number.
If one were to add all major and minor persecution incidents against
Indian Christians, the number could well swell to over 1,000 cases in
2011 alone.
The targeting and crimes committed: death and murder;
grievous injuries and merciless beating; rape, molestation and trauma
against children; destruction and desecration of churches, religious
articles, seminaries, cemeteries, statues, Bibles, etc; destruction of
Christian institutions, homes, property, transportation, sources of
livelihood; disruption of religious services or Sunday/festival worship;
arrest and imprisonment of Christians; abuse, insult, threats to clergy,
church workers and Christian laity; deportation of foreign
missionaries.
BJP-ruled Karnataka heads the list of top 10 rogue
states, being guilty of all the above heinous crimes except no recorded
murder. The dubious distinction for most Christian killings, making it
second on the blacklist, goes to Orissa, with half a dozen martyrs who
died for the faith and include pastors, a catechist, a presbyter and
community leaders. The other eight states that recorded crimes against
Indian Christians, in order of intensity, are Andhra Pradesh (coming a
close third), with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, following it. Among the
others in the dubious list of persecuting states are the national
capital Delhi, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
What makes such acts of persecution and anti-Christian
violence even more shocking is the fact that they are perpetrated on a
micro-minority (2.3 per cent), commanded by its faith to turn the other
cheek. The communalists are sure of no retaliation from the Indian
Christians, as they are indoctrinated by the church to suffer, forgive
and love in return their persecutors. How else would one explain the
silence of the lamb victims, many of whom are senior citizens, women and
children, even handicapped, and many times with the implicit or tacit
involvement of the police, politicians and administration.
While all the other faith followers are free to pray and
celebrate their religious festivals or observations, thousands of Indian
Christians across all states cannot do so. Sunday services, prayer
meetings, Good Friday, Christmas, Easter, etc have all been occasions to
provoke, threaten and attack. Another trend noticed in 2011 is that
Christians are not even allowed to pray for the country on national
holidays like Independence and Republic Days. While a strike by the
Hindutva brigade prevented Christmas celebrations for the fourth
consecutive year in Kandhamal, in Karnataka, a vicious attack by
religious fanatics left dozens grievously injured on Christmas day,
battling for their lives. The situation in other states was no different
with reports coming in of Christians having to go underground, remain in
their houses and observe religious days in an atmosphere of fear and
threat.
