Christians in Madhya Pradesh demand protection of minorities, present memorandum to CM

Jabalpur – Christians in Madhya Pradesh have demanded protection of minority communities against the atrocities perpetrated against them and have urged the repeal of the anti–conversion law that allows the state government to intervene in religious conversions, Christian Today has confirmed.

Indira Ayengar, a Catholic member of the state's Minority Commission, led a seven–member delegation that met the Chief Minister, Babulal Guar, on August 4, and presented a memorandum to him.

The memorandum urged the government to scrap a 1969 law that allows government to regulate religious conversions. It also sought the protection for Christians and their institutions, and demanded the government's recognition of and support for Christian social services. The memorandum also requested the government to withdraw a report by a state–appointed committee that concluded that the “huge conversion of tribal people” is the prime cause of violence against the Christians.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led state government, in February 2004, appointed a ‘one–man commission’ to probe violence against Christians in Jhabua, a tribal–dominated region. However, the highly controversial and baseless report, prepared by former state director–general of police (DGP), Narendra Prasad, on the communal violence in Jhabua last year, that was submitted to the government on May 21 and published later in the newspapers on July 11, has alleged that “huge conversions” in Jhabua were widening the rift between the Hindu and Christian communities and were leading to communal tension.

According to the report, Christian missionaries were forcibly converting large numbers of tribal peoples in the state and as evidence, cited census data showing that the Christian population in Jhabua had increased by 80 percent from 1991 to 2001.

Prasad’s report blamed Christian missionaries and government laxity for the “huge” numbers of conversions and pointed an accusatory finger at the Christian missionaries for last year’s confrontation between Christians and groups opposing conversions in the district of Jhabua.

The Jhabua violence, which resulted in the burning of three churches, illegal detention of 11 Christians since January 2004 until date, and the torching of houses of 15 Christian families, was ignited by the brutal rape and killing of a 9–year old girl within a Catholic school compound in Jhabua on January 11, 2004. Although, subsequently, police investigations revealed the rapist and the murderer was a Hindu, the Narendra Prasad Inquiry Committee sought to point the blame elsewhere.

According to Ayengar, the chief minister gave the delegation "a patient hearing” and assured cooperation. The chief minister also reportedly met her again on August 7 to discuss the conversion law and the report of the government committee.

The delegation met the chief minister two days after Christians in the state organized a prayer meeting and fast for repeal of the anti–conversion law. About 1,500 Christians from all denominations attended the daylong program in Bhopal.

While addressing the gathering, Archbishop Pascal Topno of Bhopal, who heads the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, lamented use of the anti–conversion law as a tool to harass Christians. Christians would "never take sword or pistol" against those persecuting them, the Jesuit archbishop assured, but "we make them friends through our sincere love and service" and pray for them.

Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur, who also attended the program with seven other bishops of the region, stressed in his talk that "unity is strength." He also noted a growing awareness among Christian communities "for unity."

Father Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, said in a press release that the state has recently seen "a steep rise" in attacks on Christians. "The existing anti–conversion law is being used as a tool to persecute Christians," he pointed out.

Ayengar described the prayer meeting and fasting as "a big success." She said it was a rare occasion in which "members of all denominations stood together with no sign of differences." It also showed people of other faiths that "the Church is different" because it prays for "enemies rather than hating them."