Secret survey of Christians in Gujarat strikes fear in the heart of the minorities

The state government of Rajasthan has reportedly ordered its police to prepare a "data bank of churches and missionary organizations," giving rise to fears that it will be misused to harass the Christian minority in the state.

A copy of the questionnaire, obtained by Compass, includes dubious questions like, the "ideology of the priest of the church or the head of the organization," and whether the "character of the priest or head has been verified earlier."

The questionnaire also seeks a detailed description of the activities of Christian institutions, their sources of income and financial aid, legal status, fixed assets, and information on residents of any hostel facilities they may run.

It also asks if they provide education and whether they are permitted to do so.

According to Sajan George, national convenor, Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), "The tone and tenor of the questionnaire is as if it were aimed at illegal immigrants."

"The survey's content violates basic human rights and equality assured to all citizens by the constitution of India," Compass quoted him as saying.

The questionnaire not only asks for the detailed addresses of the Christian institutions, but also the names, ages and addresses of those running them. The questionnaire, which is in Hindi, also has a provision for putting up relevant photos.

"About 10 days ago, police came to us with a questionnaire and took all the details concerning our institution," a top Christian leader in Udaipur, who requested anonymity, told Compass.

But when Compass spoke to Rajasthan state Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria of the BJP and concerned officials of Udaipur district, they denied ordering the questionnaire.

"No such survey is underway, and we are not collecting any data on Christians," Kataria said.

"Our police are not collecting any data on Christians. I have not given any such orders," said Udaipur district Superintendent of Police, M.N. Dinesh.

Vijendra Jala, Addtl. Superintendent of Police, admitted that the district sometimes does conduct routine surveys for security purposes, but he denied knowing anything about the survey of Christians.

"We fear that the attempt is to identify and target church congregations by the Sangh Parivar in active connivance with the state machinery," George explained. "A similar survey was held [in the past] in Gujarat."

When the Gujarat state government undertook a similar survey in the wake of anti–Christian violence in Dangs district in 1999, the high court ruled that it was against the tenets of the India Constitution and ordered the government to halt it.

In spite of the order, the Gujarat government conducted three more surveys subsequently. It tried to collect data on Christians once in 2001 and twice in 2003 as a build up to the anti–conversion bill that was passed in the State Assembly on March 25, 2003.

Each time, the BJP government initially denied having given any instructions to the police or anyone else for the surveys but later acknowledged it, saying they were part of investigations of Christians.

The report of an independent inquiry conducted by journal, Communalism Combat, following the Gujarat carnage of 2002, where over 2000 Muslims fell victims to incidents of religious intolerance and violence, revealed that the Hindu mobs were able to identify houses of Muslims and even shops that had a Hindu or general name but were owned by Muslims. This information suggested the government had collected data on the Muslim minority community in the state.

A survey focusing on only one religious community is illegal and does not come under the jurisdiction of government census officers or the Home Ministry's Foreign Contribution Regulation department.