New Delhi, February 06, 2023 (PPI-OT):Hindutva protagonists have created an atmosphere of fear among tribal Christians in Chhattisgarh and the hapless community continues to suffer brutal attacks carried out by the activists in the Indian state. A recent report by a fact-finding team said a series of attacks on Christians, who are tribal, or indigenous, took place from Dec. 9–18, 2022, in several villages in the two districts displacing about 1,000 Christians.
The systematic attacks have resulted in more than 2,500 Christians becoming homeless and hundreds of homes being vandalized and looted. “There wasn’t even a time for me to lock the door of my house before I fled to the jungle,” the US-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) quoted a distressed tribal Christian as saying.
The ferocity of the attacks has left many Christians traumatised and constantly living in fear, ICC said. “They would have killed me and my family had I not fled to the jungle,” a survivor, identified only as Pastor Kanan, was quoted as saying. “The phone call that I received from my friend saved my life … he alerted me about the furious mob that was advancing toward our village Gadhbengal carrying sharp weapons and sticks,” media reports citing ICC as saying.
The attacks in several villages in the two districts displaced about 1,000 Christians for refusing to “re-convert” to Hinduism. Their homes were vandalised and churches and properties were ransacked. On New Year’s Day, an anti-Christian mob of nearly 700 radicals mobilised in the Christian-populated area of Gadhbengal village, and destroyed homes and properties, the ICC statement said. It added that around 200 Christians escaped the mob when they were alerted about rioters heading their way.
Later, a video, shared by Global Christian Relief, showed hundreds of protesters armed with rocks, iron rods and wooden sticks attacking the 50-year-old Sacred Heart Church in Narayanpur district’s Edka village earlier this week, media reports said. “The mob destroyed everything, the church and the presbytery,” Sacred Heart parish priest Fr. Jomon Devasia told UCA News at the time. “A tense situation prevails here.” Two local leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – Rupsai Salam and Narayan Markam – were among the accused. Many of those affected also sustained serious injuries in the attack, ICC said.
Attacks against tribal Christians have increased since radical Hindu groups launched a campaign in 2020 to stop the country’s tribal people from converting to Christianity. Chhattisgarh is one of several Indian states with anti-conversion laws, and the violence has left the Christian community with little protection or recourse from the government, ICC noted.
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