In run-up to attack on Chhattisgarh church, tribal tensions on ground

According to villagers, the first notable incident of tension in Narayanpur between the two groups took place in November last year at Bhatpal, a village 14 km from the district headquarters, allegedly over Christians using the village cemetery.

A police source said the differences between the two groups were mostly over “cultural issues, with the majority tribal community irked that the Christian tribals were giving up on tribal culture”.

Police sources said the tensions led to the first significant clash on January 1 in Gorra village, with a group of Christian tribals allegedly attacking members of the majority tribes.

“In Gorra village, panchayat meetings were being held by the majority groups asking the Christian tribals to give up their faith and return to the tribal fold. This led to a lot of frustration among the Christian groups. On January 1, many Christian tribals came together from different villages and attacked tribals from the majority community in Gorra village. The police were called but they too were manhandled,” said a prominent member of the Christian community who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Two FIRs were registered at Edka police station over the Gorra incident, including one for assault on police personnel, following which three persons were arrested.

A senior official in the administration said these two are among the first set of FIRs registered against the Christian community.

A BJP member from Narayanpur told The Indian Express, “In Gorra village, tribal people following Christian faith attacked majority tribals. Monday’s incident was a reaction to that.”

The next day, January 2, Rupsai Salam, Narayanpur district president of the BJP, along with others, organised a meeting in Narayanpur city, ostensibly to unite all non-Christian tribals against the clash in Gorra.

District Collector Ajeet Vasant said Salam and the other organisers had promised him and SP Sadanand Kumar that the meeting would go on peacefully. However, of the 2,000 tribals from different villages who gathered in a ground in Narayanpur, over a hundred ran towards the Viswadeepti School that shares its compound with the Sacred Heart Church, around a kilometre from the meeting venue, and broke open its gates.

About 50 of them, including women, vandalised the church and a statue in the school compound. They also vandalised the staff quarters. As SP Kumar reached the spot with reinforcements, he was attacked too. The officer ended up with five stitches on his head after being hit with an iron rod.

“I told my men to handle the situation with patience even after being assaulted. Even after getting hit, I continued to disperse the crowd,” Kumar told The Indian Express on Thursday.

Many members of the Sarva Adivasi Samaj, a registered group of tribals which comprises all sub-sections of the community in Chhattisgarh, participated in the meeting called by BJP’s Salam. Following the violence, Salam, who is also affiliated to the Pargana Adivasi Samaj, a local group of tribals from Benur and Edka in the district, is among the 11 who have been arrested so far. The police identified the others as Pawan Kumar, Atul Netam, Ankit Nandi, Domendra Yadav, Nirajan Karanga, Ramesh Potai, Sukman Netam, Laharu Ram Netam, Mangau Ram Kavde and Raju Ram Dugga.

Distancing himself from the violence, Hirashing Dehari, district president of the Sarva Adivasi Samaj, said, “We want to make this clear… Neither the Gondvana Samaj (one of the biggest tribal groups in the district) nor the Sarva Adivasi Samaj has anything to do with Monday’s violence. Those misusing our names must be punished. We condemn the violence that took place on Monday. It’s true that there are issues in our tribal community over Christian conversions of tribals and over attending church for prayers but the issues were portrayed in a wrong way by bringing tribals from other villages to carry out violence in Narayanpur. They are trying to vitiate the peaceful environment of Narayanpur. You know who they are. On January 10, we will call a meeting of our Samaj and decide on the issue of conversions and of tribals attending churches for prayers. We will persuade them to return to tribal culture. We condemn the Gorra violence and request the government to take strict action against anyone getting involved in violence. It’s unfortunate that tribal brothers are fighting amongst themselves and are getting provoked.”

After the incident, P Sundarraj, Inspector General of Bastar Range, reached Narayanpur. Security has been stepped up on arterial roads and sensitive areas, including the church.