Advertise in this spot on CatholicCulture.org. View all ads.

Catholic World News News Feature

Anatomy of Anti-Christian Violence December 06, 2001

The year 1998 was one of the most unpleasant periods in the long history of Christianity in India. The United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR) recorded more than 120 incidents of violence against Christian individuals and Christian institutions during the year: a number which exceeded the number of all the recorded assaults on Christians during the previous 49 years of Indian independence.

The UCFHR, an ecumenical forum headed by Archbishop Alan Basil de Lastic of Delhi, who also serves as president of the Catholic bishops' conference, was itself set up only after assaults on Christians reached epidemic proportions early last year. That unhappy trend in turn began after a coalition government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed office in March 1998. The violence that continued through the year came to a climax when Hindu bigots torched or vandalized three dozen churches in the western Gujrath state within the space of a week after Christmas.

Although an uneasy calm prevails in troubled Gujrath as this report is being written, if the latest trends are any indication the 23 million Christians of India still face more difficult times. The epicenter of anti-Christian violence has now shifted to the eastern Orissa state. There an Australian evangelist, Graham Stuart Staines, and his young sons Philip (10) and Timothy (8), were burned to death on the night of January 23. The killings were allegedly carried out by a gang of activists of Bajrang Dal, a Hindu fundamentalist group, who set fire to the jeep in which the Australian missionary and his sons were sleeping outside a church in the Keojhar district. Thousands of mourners--Christians and non-Christians alike--attended the funeral of Rev. Staines and his sons in the town of Baripada where the missionary had served patients at his Leprosy Mission Center for 34 years.

The town of Baripada was back in the headlines within ten days after the funeral, when a Catholic nun was gang-raped there. The 33-year old nun had been walking to catch a bus that would take her home to her convent, about 10 miles from Baripada, after completing her teacher-training examination on the evening of February 3. An elderly lady told her that somebody was calling her from a car parked at the side of the road. Two "women" inside the car offered the nun a ride, telling her they were headed along the same route. In her hurry to get back to the convent, the nun imprudently accepted the offer. Only as the car moved out of Baripada did the nun realize that the "ladies" were really men disguised in women's clothing and makeup. The men then gagged and raped the nun inside their car.

"This is not just a case of rape, but a continuation of the treatment meted out to Rev. Staines," asserted Bishop Thomas Thiruthalil of Balasore, shortly after he met with the rape victim. The bishop pointed out that the nun had been going to Baripada on a regular schedule during the 5-day period of her examinations; he concluded that the culprits had "thoroughly planned" their assault. The fact that the nun was wearing her habit also shed light on the rapists' motivations.

And still the violence continued. On the same February day that Christians staged silent marches in Bhubaneswar, the Orissa state capital, to protest the killing of Rev. Staines and the rape of the nun, a Christian girl and her brother were murdered in the Kondhmal district of the same state.

With a steady stream of reports about concerted attacks on Christians in several different parts of the country, the anti-Christian violence by Hindu fundamentalists has now become a major source of headline news for the Indian media. Anti-Christian violence has been reported even in the southern Kerala state, where--in sharp contrast to the other regions of India, where Christians are only a tiny minority--the 7 million Christians account for 20 percent of the state population, and exercise enormous influence over the social and political affairs of the state. On February 2, for example, two Pentecostal pastors suffered head injuries after activists of the Hindu fundamentalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer Corps, waylaid them. This was the fourth attack on Christian targets in less than a month in Kerala, the state where St. Thomas the Apostle first sowed the seeds of Christianity in 52 AD.

This proliferation of assaults against Christians--ominously coming at a time when proponents of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) enjoy the political support of the ruling BJP coalition government--has been drawn sharp condemnations from all quarters of Indian society, except from among the most belligerent Hindu activists.

THE NATIONAL OUTCRY

One of the strongest public statements of condemnation after the macabre murder of Rev. Staines and his children came from none other than the Indian head of state. President K. R. Narayanan described the killing as an act "belonging to the world's inventory of black deeds." He lamented:

That someone who spent years caring for victims of leprosy, instead of being thanked and appreciated as a role model, should be done to death in this manner, is a monumental aberration from the traditions of tolerance and humanity for which India is known.

Over 10,000 "concerned citizens," led by former prime ministers Inder Kumar Gujral and Viswanath Pratap Singh, joined in a Citizens March Against Attacks on Minorities, held in New Delhi on January 30, to protest the relentless anti-Christian violence being orchestrated by Hindu bigots. That date carried special significance: it was the 51th anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi, who himself was killed by a Hindu fanatic.

Some of the participants in that January 30 protest laid the blame for the anti-Christian violence at the doorstep of the BJP government leadership. Some protest marchers wore masks that bore a picture of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee; others wore masks showing a likeness of the Home Minister (and second in command of the BJP government), Lal Krishna Advani. Still other marchers carried a mock coffin, symbolizing death of the "secular state" at the hands of the BJP government.

Other criticisms of the government were more subtle. At the end of the demonstration, participants voted in support of a resolution which read: "It is the climate of hate and intolerance that led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Yesterday it was the father of the nation, today it is the whole nation that is under attack."

The condemnation of anti-Christian violence also stretched across political lines. "I am an atheist. But as an Indian I feel that the attacks on Christians cannot be allowed to continue. This is declaration of war against the entire Christian community in India," Prakash Karat, a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India, told CWR during the march.

In Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, a separate demonstration was staged on the anniversary of Gandhi's death, at which Archbishop Ivan Dias read out a pledge of communal harmony. "We shall rise above religion, caste, creed, community... and respect one another on grounds of our common humanity; we shall never support or resort to violence and intolerance under any circumstances," said the pledge.

The atrocities inflicted on Christians are "the latest in the long chain of atrocities by Hindu fascists," according to Ravi Nair, a Hindu and director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation center in New Delhi. The roots of the ongoing violence, Nair pointed out, lie in the social work done by Christians among "those who have been kept in misery and poverty for thousands of years. By working among the oppressed dalits (low castes) and adivasis (indigenous tribes), Nair said, "Christians have brought social empowerment to these sections. But the fundamentalists, supported by vested interests, want them to remain illiterate and in subjugation."

THE CHURCH RESPONSE

Indian Church leaders are measured in their public reaction to the escalating violence, pointing out that only a "lunatic fringe" of the Hindu community which dominates Indian society--accounting for 83 percent of the country's 980 million people--can be classified as "anti-Christian."

"The response of the Church is our determination to continue the mandate of love and service given by Jesus Christ. We unequivocally reject hatred and violence, even in the face of the worst provocation," declared the leaders of the Indian Christian churches in a joint statement released on February 2, after a convention that brought together representatives of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and the National Council of Churches of India--the latter an umbrella group including 29 Protestant and Orthodox denominations.

While pointing out that anti-Christian violence is the "handiwork of an extremist and fundamentalist ideology," the Indian Christian leaders added "the warmth of love and solidarity shown to us by the majority community has isolated the perpetrators of this doctrine of hate and violence."

Archbishop Lastic adopted the same tone when he addressed a February 6 news conference at the headquarters of the Catholic bishops' conference. "Those who commit these crimes--I don't think they belong to any religion," he said. He continued:

They are not Christians, not Hindus, not Muslims, but paid mercenaries. They are ready to go under any name. I strongly resent reports that Hindus are attacking Christians. It is not one community against the other.

Despite the mounting feelings of insecurity that are the inevitable product of the hate campaign, Christians should strive to remain calm and to avoid provocation, the archbishop said. "In spite of all these attacks," he promised, "we are not going to change our character as Christians. We will never hate them or take revenge." Repeating the belief that the handful of violent Hindu bigots were "isolated" from the nation's majority, Archbishop Lastic called upon "people of all faiths with the good sense to join together, to pressure the government, which has failed in its duty, and to restore the peace and harmony in which our people have lived for years."

P. A. Sangma, a Catholic and senior leader of the opposition Congress party, told CWR that what is happening in Orissa is "a shame on the nation, damaging the secular character of the nation." Sangma, a former speaker of the Indian parliament, charged: "This is result of the anti-Christian rhetoric that even BJP leaders have adopted since they assumed power. India will be increasingly isolated among the nations."

"This is religious terrorism," said Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India--a group in which Rev. Staines had served as a member of the executive committee. When a Catholic nun was raped in Baripada just after Rev. Staines was buried amid a loud public outcry in the same city, the Hindu bigots were sending a message, Howell believes. That message, as he reads it, was simple: "We have done it in Baripada. We are doing it again. What can you do about it?" Howell argues that with a friendly BJP government in power, Hindu fundamentalists have begun to feel that they "can break the law and get away with it." Calling the events in Baripada an "evil portent" which suggest that Hindu nationalist forces believe they can "dominate the rule of law," Howell cautions, "If this ideology of hate is allowed to continue and is nurtured, it will be a sad day for India."

STRAINS WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT COALITION

The unabated attacks on Christians have finally taken a political toll on the coalition government led by the BJP--a party which still professes faith in the Hindu nationalist belief that India should be "one nation, one culture, and one people." Madan Lal Khurana, a senior BJP leader and parliamentary-affairs minister, resigned from the cabinet on January 30 after his protests against anti-Christian violence were silenced by the hard-liners within the BJP. Pointing out that it was not "a crime" to speak out against the mistreatment of Christians at the hands of "pseudo-Hindutva" forces, Khurana told reporters the attacks on Christians and "the irresponsible statements" issued by BJP hard-liners in partial defense of the attackers had "denigrated the image of the government and the country."

To add to BJP woes, four major partners in the governing coalition have also decried the militant Hindu nationalists within the BJP and even threatened to pull down the coalition--which is now surviving on a razor-thin majority in the Indian parliament--if the attacks on Christians continue. The BJP has lost the "moral authority to rule," declared the Telugu Desam party, one of the BJP's key allies, in a public statement of shock after the murder of the Australian evangelist.

Despite such threats to the very survival of the coalition, Hindutva proponents seem in no mood to rein in their belligerent cadres. During his "peace mission" to troubled Gujrath, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee did not bother to issue any public condemnation of the violence against Christians, much less to criticize the local BJP government for their failure to provide adequate security for the harassed Christians. Instead, he stirred a hornet's nest by calling for a national debate on conversions to Christianity--thereby lending credence to the arguments of Hindu fundamentalists, who justify the orchestrated violence against Christians by saying that Christian missionaries have targeted poor and illiterate Indian peoples for conversion. Only several days later, after his remarks on conversions had touched off a new outcry, did the prime minister offer a public gesture of reconciliation; he announced that on the anniversary of Gandhi's death he would undertake a fast, for the cause of "tolerance and harmony."

Few observers were enthusiastic about that gesture by Vajpayee. "Fasting is not the prescribed method of paying penance for a head of a government," said the Times of India, the country's largest newspaper, in its January 30 lead editorial. Describing Vajpayee's fast as "adroit political maneuvering disguised as atonement," the daily said, "the final penance, as always, will be left for the common citizens to pay." Instead of making such a transparent gesture, the editorial argued: "A genuinely stricken prime minister would simply resign from office, owning responsibility for all that has happened in recent months to tarnish the country's image."

PROPAGANDA

The most dedicated proponents of Hindu nationalism reject the criticism of the BJP and its rhetoric, claiming that the critics are only pawns of an "international conspiracy" to discredit their Hindutva campaign. Thus for instance Home Minister Advani, a BJP hard-liner, has steadfastly refused to blame Bajrang Dal groups for involvement in the murder of Rev. Staines. "I am acquainted with these organizations, and they have no criminal records" Advani told reporters at a January 25 news conference.

That comment by Advani came despite the fact that eyewitnesses have gone on record with reports that Bajrang Dal leader Dhara Singh led the attack on the Australian missionary. The same eyewitnesses also have testified that the gang which set fire to the evangelist and his sons remained on the scene until they were sure that their victims were dead, then marched away, chanting "Bajrang Dal" as they left.

On the other hand, the Hindutva lobby rarely misses an opportunity to throw allegations against Christian groups. So for instance even many international news services were persuaded to carry reports about alleged attacks on a Hindu temple in Gujrath in mid-January 1999. The attacks were cited as evidence that Christians were "retaliating" after the flurry of violence against Christian churches a few weeks earlier. But in reality, Father Cedric Prakash, the UCFHR coordinator in Gujrath, told CWR, "No Christian was anywhere near the temple" on the day in question. Although two Christian tribal leaders were implicated in the first police report on the incident, in fact those men were shown to be several miles away when the temple was damaged. The UCFHR coordinator concludes that the entire "attack" on the temple was a staged event, designed to discredit Christians or to deflect attention from the violence by Hindu extremists.

Even as the attacks on churches in Gujrath subsided, Home Minister Advani kicked off another propaganda campaign against Christians by telling journalists that 70 percent of the foreign exchange flowing into India from abroad goes into the hands of the tiny Christian population, and is used to pursue religious conversions. "Apart from the veracity of the claim," pointed out A. J. Philip, senior editor of the Indian Express English, "the funniest part is the Home Minister quoting from a newspaper report instead of government files to make this embarrassing claim."

This was not the first time such claims had been used by government leaders against Christians. Soon after an assault of four nuns in central India last September, Hindu propagandists spread the word that most of the men accused of the assault were Christians--when in fact not a single Christian was among the 15 arrested for the crime. Bishop George Anathil of the Indore diocese in which the nuns were attacked has said: "I wonder where the home ministry received this information. Not even one of accused is a member of the Catholic Church or belong to any other Christian denomination." Yet Advani and Prime Minister Vajpayee repeated the discredited reports in parliament, ignoring Christian protests. "There is obviously a concerted attempt to divert attention from the deplorable crime by insinuating that (Christians) are involved in the attack on their own nuns," complained the UCFHR in December.

When Indian economist Amartya Sen (based in England) was chosen to receive the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics, Hindutva lobbyists were quick to cite the influence of an "international conspiracy to Christianize India." Hindu nationalist leader Ashok Singhal declared on December 27 that the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Sen was part of a "Christian conspiracy" to convert Hindus. He pointed out that the Nobel laureate teaches that education holds the keys to India's economic development and the alleviation of poverty, and observed that the eyes of Hindu nationalists, Christians use their educational institutions as a means of converting Hindus.

Even Rev. Staines, the Australian evangelist who was killed in January, has been the object of a similar calumny campaign. As Hindu fascists were widely chastised for having created the climate of violence that led to the Staines' murder, another Hindu nationalist leader, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, called a press conference in New Delhi, at which he claimed first that Staines had used his Leprosy Mission Center as a front for efforts to convert Hindus, and next that the Australian missionary had brandished a pistol when he was confronted by an angry crowd in the village of Manoharpur. Kishore told reporters that Rev. Staines and his sons had been killed when the crowd, enraged by his threats, set fire to Staines' jeep. He did not explain why the pistol was never recovered from the scene.

"It is ridiculous to say that Graham [Staines] had a gun," Cornelius Walter, the South Asia chief of Leprosy International told CWR. "He was such a simple soul, always wanting to do something better for the lepers. Why would he carry a gun?" The outlandish claim put forward by Kishore, he concludes, "is like the murderer trying to find fault with the murdered."

[AUTHOR ID] Anto Akkara, a free-lance journalist based in Delhi, writes regularly for Catholic World Report.

[SIDEBAR]

SUPPORT FROM A FORMER CABINET MEMBER

"What happened in Orissa is a shame on the nation. I am not prepared to accept the theory that the motive behind Christians running schools and hospitals even in remote areas among the members of indigenous tribes is conversion." That declaration did not come from a Christian. These were the words of senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana, who resigned the his cabinet post as Parliamentary Minister to protest the atrocities against Christians.

Addressing a meeting organized by the Jesuit-Indian Social Institute in New Delhi on February 2, Khurana said that "blood has the same color, whether it is a Sikh, Hindu, or Christian. Blood has no religion." He pointed out that his resignation should send out a message to the world--that there are many people like him even among the ranks of Hindu nationalists.

"I was a student at the Christian College (in Allahabad). The moral education I received in that college, I can tell you, has shaped my life," acknowledged Khurana, to the cheers of the predominantly Christian audience. "Speaking from my experience," Khurana repeated, "I don't think that the motive behind the Christian social service is conversion."

"For me, Hinduism means respect for all religions: no discrimination and justice for all," claimed Khurana. He insisted that the attacks against religious minorities now being carried out by Hindu extremists should rightly be described as "pseudo-Hindutva." And the permission given by local government officials for an anti-Christian rally to be held in Gujrath on Christmas Day itself could not be justified on any grounds, the former BJP leader stressed. (The rampage of violence that led to attacks on three dozen Gujrath churches began immediately after the rally, which was organized by the hard-line Hindu Jagran Manch, or Forum to Awaken Hindus; during the rally, forum leaders urged their followers to drive Christian missionaries out of the country.) "How would Hindus feel if Christians were holding an anti-Hindu demonstration on Janmashtami or Ram Navami?" asked Khurana, referring to two important Hindu feast days honoring Lord Krishna and Ram.

Khurana's public statements came as pleasant surprise to harassed Christians, and to the vast majority of secular-minded Indians. Since Khurana wields considerable clout among BJP activists in Delhi, the most militant Hindu nationalists within the BJP are now scratching their heads, exploring ways in which they might quietly undermine the influence of this BJP rebel.