Christians threaten indefinite fast

Interestingly enough, though a section of people want to believe the growing strength of the minority community is leading to the conflict, there are wide discrepancies in the estimates of the number of people who have converted to Christianity in the area. TheHindu Dharmajagran Manch (HDM) claims the around 40 per cent of the denizens have converted, while conservative estimates put it at 20 per cent.

Janubhai Parmar, district chief of the HDM, says is certain the missionaries are adopting every means possible “to lead people astray”. He holds the priests who have come from “outside” responsible for the deteriorating situation.

“If the administration does not throw them out, we will”, he declares.For all his posturing, however, Parmar has dissociated himself from the recent attacks. He has drawn up a list of five names — four of them government employees — for stoking ill-will and vitiating the atmosphere in league with some outside elements.

As the region crawls towards peace, more and more Christians from remote villages are coming to the town due to a sense of insecurity. Though the physical attacks have stopped, they allege they’re being terrorised and verbally threatened over the adherence of a “foreign” religion.

While exhorting tribals toretain their cool and not retaliate to individual attacks, Church of North India district superintendent T V Gaikwad warns that “it won’t be long before they tribals pick up their (traditional) arms”.

In the meantime, the missionaries are drawing strength from the flood of supporting individuals and organisations, but the extremist Hindu bodies find a lot of sympathy in the vernacular press, which is producing “new evidence” every day to prove that the conversions are not genuine, but coerced through either force or allurement.

Incidentally, Christianity was a factor in last year’s Assembly elections, but it did not go in favour of the missionaries, who had extended support to an Independent candidate; he secured a poor 3,000 of the total 60,000 votes polled.

Attack on temple

SURAT:The district police have intensified bandobast in the Hindla village of Songadh taluka following a complaint that unidentified people had tried to desecrate a village temple by throwing eggs into it early onFriday. Announcing that he had ordered a probe into the incident, District Superintendent of Police B D Vaghela said that neither the photograph of Lord Shiva — there was no idol — nor the temple had been damaged.