The Other Cheek

After a lull of many months, anti-Christian violence is back. The past few weeks have witnessed several acts of burning of biblical literature, attacks on nuns and missionary institutions. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan says that the government is obliged by the Constitution to safeguard the minorities and Prime Minister Vajpayee condemned the anti-Christian violence also assuring that the guilty will be brought to book.

Just a month and a half ago, before this second round of anti- Christian violence began, the Bajrang Dal held its convention in UP and sent the usual 'clarion call' of the need for the awakening of Hindus against the conspiracy of conversion activities of the missionaries, which according to them, are anti- national activities. On top of all this, the vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has played a major role in anti-Christian propaganda, Giri Raj Kishore not only said that this violence is being blown out of proportion by the media but also demanded a probe into these episodes.

This violence suddenly, came up on the social scene from late '97. In 1996, there were seven cases of anti-Christian violence which went up to 24 in 1997 and 120 in 1998. Gujarat was the major theatre of this violence where, under the BJP rule, the VHP and Bajrang Dal had a field day going on to bum the Bible, chasing missionaries crying the slogan, "Hindu jago, Christi bhago" (Awake Hindus, pack up Christians).

Quit India

Around this time, calls of "Christians-Quit India" were also given. In the wake of all these happenings, the Gujarat Deputy Commissioner of Police C P Singh in an interview given to Teesta Setalvad (Communalism Combat, October'98) said, "One thing was clear in the pattern of incidents. It was the activists of the VHP and Bajrang Dal who were taking the law into their hands, which posed serious threats to the peace in Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the minorities took place after these organisations had whipped up local passions against conversions (by Christian missionaries) and alleged forced inter-religious marriages. Our investigation revealed that in most cases these were entirely baseless allegations."

Around the same time, Vajpayee visited Gujarat and while turning a blind eye to the intimidation of minorities and the anti-Christian violence, did a neat cover job for the deeds of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. Instead of calling for action against the culprits of violence, he demanded a national debate on conversions. The culmination of the first round took place with the ghastly murder of Pastor Graham Stewart Staines and his two minor sons Philip and Timothy (ages nine and seven respectively).

President K R Narayanan was so aghast that he listed it in the "world's inventory of black deeds". Pastor Staines was torched to death by the Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh who was nabbed after a long delay Even before any investigations could take place, three of the ministers of the BJP-led coalition rushed to the spot and in an 'instant investigation' concluded that the murder is a part of an international conspiracy to destabilise the BJP-led coalition.

The Wadhwa commission concluded that Pastor Staines was not involved in conversions. Between 1981 to 1991, in Keonjhar district, the percentage of Christians went up marginally from 0.299 to 0.307 per cent. During the same time, the percentage of Hindus went up from 95.10 to 97.62 per cent (Wadhwa Commission Report).

Sangh parivar

But this commission failed to take note of all the evidence of Dara Singh's links with different wings of the Sangh Parivar (SP). A special investigation team headed by Padman Singh pointed out that "Dara Singh was an activist supporter of the Bajrang Dal". The CBI-Orissa police report concluded that Dara Singh attended RSS camps at Maliposi, Champua and Ghategaon areas of Mayurbhanj district. (The Week, September 5, 1999).

The intense anti-Christian propaganda, which preceded this phase of violence, was based on the falsification that Christian missionaries are using fraud and inducement to convert gullible adivasis. The decline in the percentage of Christian population tells another tale while squashing this baseless charge. As per the census of India 1991 and 1971, the population of Christians in India stands as follows-1971-2.60 per cent, 1981 - 2.44 per cent, 1991-2.32 per cent.
 
The Parivar needs to be 'complimented' for its 'brilliant' application of the Goebbelesian technique. At a time when the percentage of Christian population is actually declining, it can 'successfully,' inject the myth in the popular psyche that conversions are on the rise. And this myth is then used to rouse the sentiments and emotions of average people to generate hatred against Christians.

Anti-Christian violence

The anti-Christian violence came up as a part of the Parivar's campaign to get a bigger foothold amongst the adivasis. It is in these remote areas that the missionaries from decades and centuries are busy with their social work. The violence, which has been cultivated, has passed through different conveyor belts. The RSS manufactures the basic hatred philosophy, the BJP applies this in the political sphere, the VHP specialises in vehement anti-minority propaganda and the Bajrang Dal 'solves' the problems.

With most of the anti-Christian crime getting exonerated by the state machinery and dominated by the silent and violent supporters of the Parivar, word has gone round that one can get away after attacking Christians. Also, there seems to be a silent sanction to the anti-Christian violence due to the rabid anti-Christian propaganda spearheaded by the Parivar.

So now even the Bajrang Dal probably does not have to 'spend' its energy for the Hindutva agenda of minority bashing, as now all and sundry lumpens and criminals of different hues and shades have discovered the soft target in Christians.
 

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