by CEDRIC PRAKASH
‘The Quint’ (3 January 2022) has an article ‘Events on Christ will end with “Jai Sri Ram”: Behind Church Attacks in Haryana’. The article speaks about the slew of anti- Christian attacks in Haryana during the Christmas Season. It details a Christmas Celebration of some followers of Jesus in Kurukshetra which was disrupted by the goons of the local Bajrang Dal. The article goes on to quote the threat of the so-called convenor of the Bajrang Dal who says,
“Consider this Bajrang Dal’s warning in clear words, if something like this is attempted again, we will deal with you properly. This time, we didn’t say anything to you, but next time, we wont spare you!”
Strangely enough that inspite of the group disrupting the event, tearing down the decorations and terrorizing the people present (especially little children) the local police have nothing about the incident – conveniently stating that “no one has filed a complaint!”
Christians in India were looking forward to Christmas 2021 after being unable to do so in 2020 due to the pandemic! However, instead of being a Festival of love and peace, of joy and harmony – the Christmas festivities – both spiritual and other were disrupted in several places and particularly in BJP ruled states. The Christians of India have always been a ‘soft target’. In their ascent to power since the late 1990s the BJP and their ilk in the Sangh Parivar- have systematically hounded the community in different ways. Some media have now carried stories which include, the ‘bogey’ of forced conversion, Karnataka Legislative Assembly passing an anti-conversion legislation with plenty of false allegations against the Christians, the desecration of sacred objects, the attacks on Christians and their places of worship and institutions, the myriad threats, intimidation and harassments, the spreading of canard. All these are part of a wider game plan to polarize the majority community and put Christians in bad light! This past month of December – just before, on and after Christmas – has seen a surge of this orchestrated campaign against the Christians
The Year 2021 will certainly go down in the annals of Indian history on several counts. From the second wave of COVID-19 which took a toll on lives and the livelihood of the poor and the marginalised to the Omicron that is already creating havoc. From the worlds biggest and longest protest by the farmers (they were victorious in the end) to the skyrocketing prices on every front. From the incarceration of human rights defenders to the death of Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy. From the systematic pillaging of our fragile eco-systems to the wanton looting of our forests and other natural resources. From the mainstreaming of corruption to the exclusion of vast sections of the population. India has seen it all – plummeting to unbelievable depths in every global survey on the social, political and economic front!
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