Persecution to Increase in India as Extremists Train Militants to Fight Christians

The Hindu Fundamentalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) announced on 6th June its shocking new initiative to train Hindu militants to fight Christians. A training camp has been set up in Jeypore, a city in the Orissa state. It is supported by Orissa Finance Minister Manmohan Samal and Water Resource Minister Rabi Nanda.

RSS joined its partner extremist group Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or World Hindu Council that announced last Wednesday its intention to train thousands of young people within next two years to fight Christian missionaries.

According to its statement published on presecution.org, their work will be focused on Orissa state, since "missionaries are very active in this area."

The re-conversions to Hinduism are planned in "various border districts of Orissa," where the Gospel is preached, VHP said.

Religious freedom and conversions to another religion apart of those respected by state are not tolerated by the extremist groups.

The situation in Orissa state is not very respectful towards the Christian community. In one of the districts, authorities ordered the demolition of 109 Tribal Christian houses. Victims of the decision believe that behind the decision stands the RSS, backed by ministers Nanda and Samal.

"It is a very, very tragic situation," said Mgr Alphonse Bilung, Bishop of Rourkela for AsiaNews.it. "These houses are inland, in a semi-forested area, largely inhabited by very poor Tribal people."

"They are receptive to Christianity and this make the fundamentalists angry since the children of these Tribals like those of all faiths and caste now receive an education so they cannot be exploited to the extent they were exploited before," he explained.

"Fundamentalists are continuously plotting schemes to instil terror in the minds of these poor folks, using psychological and economic intimidation," Bishop Bilung continued.

Despite many violations against Christians, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended India to be removed from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs). In the statement USCIRF claimed the situation in India is developing significantly, affecting the freedom of religion and belief, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was defeated in the election last year.

However, there was consequential surprise over this decision among the Christians in India. Dr. John Dayal, a prominent Christian and a member of the National Integration Council of the Government of India said to Compass that the main cause of violence and religious intolerance was in ideology spread by fundamentalist and extremist group RSS, with close ties with the BJP.

"The RSS is...spreading hate among the Tribals. The international community must fully and publicly investigate the RSS and all its sub-organizations, their funding, ideology and spread among the Indian diaspora in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the U.K., Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean."