AHMEDABAD, December 3: The stage is set for the Christian community across the country to observe tomorrow as a protest against what it feels is violation of human rights. In Gujarat, rallies are being held in all major towns and schools run by the community are observing a holiday.``The step has been taken in protest against constant violation of our rights and only after the community has been put on the defensive'', Bishop S Fernandes of the Ahmedabad Diocese said on Thursday.He told reporters that attacks on Christians in the State had increased manifold. While there were 35 recorded cases since this January, it was 31 in the rest of the country during the same period. Last year, he said, nine cases were recorded in the State as against seven in the rest of the country.He said the community had been on the defensive due to the authorities' approach. ``The Chief Minister said culprits had been caught for burning the Bible, while he suspected the motivation behind distributing Bibles in the schools,'' the Bishop said.He emphasised that Christianity was against any enticement for conversion. The bogey of conversions was a sensitive issue and the quality of service and good education even to the marginalised was the reason for attacks, he added. Conversion was a personal decision and anyone attracted to the religion because of the qualities of service, love and faith was welcome, Fr Fernandes said.Referring to the opening of Intechmart in Ahmedabad tomorrow, Father Cedric Prakash, director, St Xavier's Social Service Society, said the protest day happened to coincide with it. The date had been finalised by the Delhi-based United Christian Forum for Human Rights keeping in view the first Friday after Parliament sits for the winter session. Friday is considered an auspicious day by Christians as Jesus Christ died on Good Friday, he pointed out.In Vadodara, Diocese Bishop Godfrey de Rozario ruled out backtracking on the rally, saying the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India's directive was binding on all Christians in the country.Reacting to Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel's statement that the Christians had no reason to take out a rally since the government had booked those involved in attacks on them, he alleged the entire community was being attacked systematically according to a hidden agenda, with the tacit connivance of the government.However, he clarified, the rally was a token demonstration to attract the attention of the State to a very serious matter, and did not aim at stirring up any trouble.Maintaining that the October 29 assault in Vadodara was no stray incident, the Bishop said there was a common pattern in the repeated assaults. Employees of Christian hospitals and essential services - they are exempt from the rally call - would wear black badges, he said, adding upto 10,0000 people, including students of Class V and above, were expected to join the rally, which police had cleared. Police said adequate security arrangements had been made.In Surat, more than 10,000 Christians will hold a relay fast from 10 am to 4 pm in front of the Mahatma Gandhi's statue near Gandhibaug as well as near the collectorate. A procession will begin at 4 pm from Chowk Bazaar and culminate at the collectorate.Fr Jayanti Macwan, convener of the action committee, said except for medical institutions run by Christians, all other institutions would be closed. While St Xavier's postponed the leave given on St Xavier's Day on December 3 by a day to adjust the day's closure, Lourdes High School will not give a holiday on February 11, its formation day.Individuals, if denied leave on Friday, would sport black badges. All Christian educational institutions in Rajkot and elsewhere in the Saurashtra-Kutch region will be closed on Friday.
