Ban Bajrang Dal and VHP says Archbishop; 300 more Christian homes burnt

Archbishop of Delhi Vincent Concessao demanded a ban on Bajrang Dal and other Hindu outfits attacking minority Christians in the country.

Taking serious note over the unabated violence on Christians in Orissa, the Archbishop said, the church is under attack and the people feel insecure as government has been unable to protect them from atrocities.

In an interview to CNN–IBN, the Archbishop further said, he believes “Congress president and UPA Chief Sonia Gandhi must speak out clearly against the attacks.”

He indicated that Sonia Gandhi is not speaking out for the Christians fearing that the Hindutva brigade will attack her on the grounds that she is helping Christians for belonging to the same community.
“Well, I do feel that she is concerned, but that's another accusation that the Hindutvavadis have been leveling against her—that because she is a Christian, she is in favour of Christians,” he said.

Sonia Gandhi is the head of the Indian National Congress and the wife of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. She is named as the sixth most powerful woman in the world.

Concessao, who is also the president of the National United Christain Forum, further added that the fringe groups targeting churches are not the representatives of the vast majority of Hindus.

"Hinduism has not to be identified as Hindutva. Hindutva has its ideology from West, from Hitler and Nazims, It has no roots in India, not in Hinduism," he said.

"The problem is not just some incident here and there, behind them there is a very clear ideology and strategy...You can't just get hundreds of people together to attack some innocent people unless they are organised and motivated. And that's the ground work that Hindutva has done in the past several decades," he added.

Meanwhile authorities in Orissa state have imposed a curfew in sensitive areas after fresh incidents of violence killed a woman and injured 12 others.

Trusted sources informed Christian Today that at least 300 houses of Christians were burnt yesterday, even as violence spreads to other districts in Orissa.

In addition, a Christian woman, Ramani Nayak, was killed in mob clash. A dozen people were injured and are in the hospital of Behampur.

A mob of tribespeople armed with guns, bows and arrows and sharp weapons attacked Christian villagers in the village of Rudangia, police said.

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the fresh violence was "unfortunate" and appealed to people to stay calm.

"The rioters will be dealt with stringently", Patnaik said after holding a review on the prevailing situation in the district with the chief secretary, the director general of police and other officers.