While one attack took place in Bihabandh village in Sundergarh district in Odisha, where the parish room adjacent to the sacristy was burnt to the ground, the other took place in Salangabahal, also in Sundargarh, where a Marian Grotto near the entrance gate was broken into and the statue of Mary was stolen.
 
As per a press release by The Catholic Diocese of Rourkela, Odisha, the people staying close to the gate of Salangabahal Parish heard sound of “something being broken” on April 1, 2018, around 10.30-11 pm. In the early morning hours of the next day, people allegedly saw the fibre glass of the small shrine of Vellankani broken, Mother Mary’s statue missing and the head of the Baby Jesus broken and fallen apart.

Reportedly, the Priests of the Parish were then informed, who in turn informed the Raiboga police. Police arrived immediately and security personnels were deployed at the site.

Later, on April 3, Mother Mary’s statue was spotted flowing in the nearby Sankh river by villagers from Dalki village who had gone there for fishing.
 
In another village, Gyanpali of Bihabandh Parish of Kutra block, a similar incident took place on April 1. As per the release, a woman was woken up by the sound of something breaking down. When she peeped through the door, she reportedly saw a man busy breaking the shrine of Mother Mary. Frightened, she tried to wake up her fast asleep family members. When they didn’t wake up, she called another woman from the neighbourhood and both of them allegedly saw that the man had broken down the shrine and moved to the road going towards Bihaband Parish. The people who gathered around the shrine on hearing the calls of the two women, then sought help from a truck driver who was passing by in his truck. The truck driver informed them that he indeed saw a man walking towards the Bihaband Chowk, which is just beyond the Parish Church.
 
As the people went after looking for this man, they witnessed that the Bihaband Church was burning. Immediately, they woke up the priests, the gardener and the cook who were sleeping and all of them extinguished the fire together. By then the adjacent room of the church had already completely burnt.

 
The press release said that the ADM of Sundargarh, Superintendent of Police, Sub-Collector and the Local Tahsildar and the local MLAs visited the place and assured the people of their support and told them not to panic.
 
Bishop Kishor Kumar Kujur who signed the press release, said, “Never in the past had occurred such an attack on Christian worship place in the locality not even in the district. The people of different religion, cultures and the language have been peacefully coexisting in the place for years. The Christians have bene known in the district for the education of the people especially of the poor, care of the sick and the charitable works. We are known for peace and harmony in the society.”
 
Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar noted grimly that 2018 marks the 10^th anniversary of the Kandhamal riots and there was a need for everyone to make “concerted efforts to uphold the secular fabric of India.”
A series of riots led by Radical Hindutva groups in Kandhamal, east Odisha in 2008 left about 100 people dead, thousands injured, 300 churches and 6000 homes destroyed, and 50,000 people displaced and many were compelled to hide in nearby forests and died of hunger. People are yet to recover from the trauma of these riots.
 
There is a need to protect the Christian community in Odisha who comprise only 3% of the population as compared to the Hindus comprising 93% of the population. The incidents of vandalism clearly look motivated to spread fear in the peace loving people of the community who have lived in harmony with other communities so far.

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Broken statues and furniture lay strewn across the floor after vandals broke in to Our Lady of Fatima Church in Telangana State May 13. Courtesy:Ucanews.com

New Delhi:  The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) has appealed to political leaders to protect places of worship of all communities, days after a Catholic church was damaged and statues desecrated in southern India. A mob of more than 100 people attacked the Our Lady of Fatima Church in Kundapalli village of Telengana State May 21. They broke statues of Jesus, the Blessed Mother, a crucifix and damaged furniture in the newly constructed church that was blessed by Archbishop Thumma Bala of Hyderabad on May 13.

"We are a little worried about the way things are taking a turn in the country. We are not blaming the government but somehow some of the fringe elements seem to feel empowered and this is not a good thing for the country," Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the bishops conference, told ucanews.com.

"We appeal to our political leaders to ensure that religious places of all communities be protected and that the right of every citizen and community to worship God according to their belief be protected from unruly elements," the bishop said.

"Everybody needs to respect each others' religious sentiments. Why go and damage somebody’s religious place?" he asked. "These types of acts bring shame and disrepute to our beloved country and its peace-loving citizens of all communities. The incident is against the free practise of religion in our country," Bishop Mascarenhas said.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Bala called on parishes, clergy and laypeople in his archdiocese to conduct and take part in spiritual activities such as eucharistic Adoration, the recitation of the Rosary, fasting and a ritual cleansing and washing of the damaged church.

"Reparation is required as the church has been desecrated and the dignity of the chapel and holy things need to be restored," Archbishop Bala told ucanews.com.

Christian leaders have often blamed such attacks on extremists, who they alleged have become emboldened since the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. The BJP, part of a collection of groups seeking to make India a Hindu country, has also been criticized for remaining silent about a spate of mass conversions of Christians and Muslims to Hinduism.

According to the Indian Christian Persecution 2016 report, some 12,000 Christians that year experienced persecution, including murder, detention, assault, rape and harassment.

The report states that 10 people were killed and over 500 clerics or community leaders were attacked for their faith during the year.
During the first 100 days of the BJP government, more than 600 incidents of targeted violence against religious minorities took place in different parts of India, according to the Minority Report on 100 days of Modi Governance, released in September 2014. Narendra Modi is the Indian prime minister who heads the BJP-ruled federal government.

Statistics from the 2011 census show that India has 1.2 billion people. The percentage of Hindus has slightly dipped from 80.5 percent in 2001 to 79.8 percent 2011. While Christians remained at 2.3 percent during that period, Muslims have increased by just over one percent, to 14.2.
 

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On Friday morning, a group of around 150 people, including 11 US nationals from the Christian community gathered at a church in Dadhauli village, which comes under Kothibhar police station of Maharajganj district. While the group was praying, some members of Hindu Yuva Vahini reached the place and saw US nationals in the prayer meeting.

Members of Hindu Yuva Vahini reached Kothibhar police station, alleging that the priest and US nationals were involved in a religious conversion in the church premises. Anand Kumar Gupta, SHO Kothibhar station, accompanied them to the church and stopped the prayer. Police found no such practice was being carried out. But police did check the passports and visas of every US national and let them go after finding everything was fine and proper.

While talking with TwoCircles.net, Anand Kumar Gupta said, “They (HYV activists) came to us with the complaint that US nationals were carrying out the religious conversion in the church. We responded to the complaint and found no such thing was happening on the ground. But we did check their papers.”
 

 

Witnesses report that the whole fiasco lasted for more than five hours. Police, along with the local intelligence unit checked and questioned US nationals. While the on-site investigation was still on, Hindu Yuva Vahini member kept insisting about filing a case against and the arrest of church priest U Hannah Adam.

The situation got serious after police let the US nationals leave the place. HYV activists created a chaos and questioned the police why they let them go. Angry members of HYV, which included Krishnanandan Puri aka Pappu Puri, Rajesh Kharwar, Manish Sharma and Sheshmani Yadav and others, intensified their demand to arrest the church priest.

However, the police declined all of their demands.

SHO Anand Gupta informed that they were demanding the arrest of priest and US nationals and to investigate the matter thoroughly. “But investigating a simple prayer meeting would mean creating a hindrance in the religious freedom of the individual”, added Gupta.
 

A source also informed that police intervention was necessary as members of HYV had vandalised a church and beaten people in Belwa village a few weeks ago.

A person related to the local church, who was present at the meeting on Friday morning, said on the condition of anonymity, “We were just praying there. No such conversion was being carried out but goons came and tried to disrupt a peaceful event with the help of the police.”

This story was first published on Two Circles.
 

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