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15 March 2006

Debate on Christian centre attack forces Indian parliament stoppage

Anto Akkara
New Delhi (ENI). The Indian parliament has been forced into an unscheduled adjournment for a second time within a week during heated exchanges between legislators debating attacks on an evangelical mission centre in western Rajasthan state.

The interruption in the Lok Sabha, the lower chamber of the Indian parliament on 13 March came after a visit by legislators to the Emmanuel Mission International centre at Kota in Rajasthan over the weekend. They demanded immediate federal government intervention to stop harassment by the state government at the behest of the local ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

BJP members in the federal parliament rejected the demand and engaged in an uproarious debate, some involving legislators from the Communist Party of India. The parliament adjourned to allow a cooling of frayed tempers.

"What is happening there (Rajasthan) cannot be tolerated in a democracy," Suresh Kurup, a Communist member of parliament who is a Hindu, and who visited the Emmanuel centre told Ecumenical News International on 14 March. Kurup said, 2000 orphans and others living at the centre had been battling to feed themselves as cooking gas supplied to the centre had been disconnected and the BJP-led state government has frozen the organization's bank accounts.

People at the centre have complained of harassment since February, said the legislator. It began after a book said to be derogatory about Hinduism that had been published outside the state was found on the shelves of a bookstall at the Emmanuel centre.

The centre issued apologies published in local daily newspaper, but Hindu fundamentalists and the state administration turned on the centre, arresting the administrator, who is himself a Hindu, while an archbishop, M A Thomas and others went into hiding fearing arrest.

Due to the freezing of the accounts, staff from 49 schools and hospitals run by the mission across the state have not been paid while teachers and doctors have stopped working, citing threats by Hindu fundamentalist groups that damaged the EMI office.

"The scenes there were heart-rending with orphans falling at our feet," said Lonappan Nambadan, one of the five members of parliament who visited the besieged centre. Nambadan told ENI that Hindu fundamentalist forces are "trying to target the Christians", using the book as a pretext. He added, "They seem to be really jealous of the good work Christians are doing in the state."

Christians in Rajasthan number less than 100 000 among the state's 57 million people.

"This is nothing but persecution," said Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians that has taken the harassment of the Christians to constitutional bodies like the National Human Rights Commission which has ordered an investigation. "We are glad that finally the [federal] government has taken note of the problem," said George.

© 1994 - 2006 Ecumenical News International.

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