By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI), one of the major bodies of Church in the country has expressed serious concern at the increasing attack on the minority community’s institutions which include schools and place of worships in the country.
The CBCNEI has termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence as ‘unfortunate’ and demanded a judicial enquiry at the earliest.
“The attacks on Christians and their places of worship have also been intensified in recent weeks. The council demands that the central government should take steps to ensure repair and restoration of the damaged churches besides a judicial enquiry to punish the culprits,” said CBCNEI general secretary Solomon Rongpi in a statement.
After vandalizing a church, the miscreants reportedly damaged a Christian missionary school in New Delhi on Thursday night. According to reports this is the sixth such incident of attack on Christian institution since November in the capital.
On Friday, though Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi to investigate the recent incidents of vandalism targeting Christian institutions, the CBCNEI expressed its displeasure at the way the PM has dealt the issue so far.
“It’s unfortunate. He should have issued a statement installing confidence and security amongst the peace loving Christian community of the country. We also urge the government to create a sense of security, safety and a new hope for all the minority communities,” Rongpi added.
On February 2, St Alphonsa’s Church in the Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi was also attacked besides two similar incidents were reported in January among others.
On the Ghar Wapsi issue, the council expressed serious concern. “We are concerned that the fundamentalist groups have engineered conversions of Muslims and Christians in different places of the country. India being a sovereign and secular country, the constitution guarantees to all its citizens with freedom of practicing our own faith and religion,” he said.
The CBCNEI further said that it’s an alarming atmosphere apparently linked to the Ghar Wapsi programme organized by some religious fanatics. “Unfortunately, the central government is not doing enough to reassure the minority communities in the country in spite of the continued orchestrated and systematic attack and vandalism on Churches which included miscreants, breaking open the Churches and desecrating holy objects and also setting a church on fire,” said the statement.
Moreover, the council has appealed all the people and organization to uphold the secular values in the country.
The CBCNEI is a member of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation. It is also a member body of the North East India Christian Council, the regional council of the National Council of Churches in India. The Council of Baptist Churches in northeast India has about 1,099,548 members in 5,585 churches.