Poonam Masih, TwoCircles.net
Bastar: Right-wing groups, including the Surv Adivasi Samaj and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), have intensified their campaign against the Christian community. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Chhattisgarh’s Bastar and the State Executive Chairman of Surv Adivasi Samaj held a press conference recently where they declared their intention to run a campaign against the alleged illegal churches in Bastar. They vowed to demolish these churches and replace them with Hanuman temples in the villages.
Raja Ram Todem, a key leader of the movement, told the media, “We have selected a place that we will not disclose now. The day it is demolished, we will install Bajrangbali or Budhadev (a tribal god worshipped in Chhattisgarh) on it.” He further claimed, “We have data of 66 thousand tribal converts to Christianity in the last few years.”
Over the past five to six years, right-wing groups have targeted tribal Christians in various ways. A church in Narayanpur district was destroyed two years ago by a VHP member. It had sparked a clash between the tribal Christians and other tribal groups. The Narayanpur church has yet to be rebuilt.
This year, all tribal communities in Bastar wrote a letter to the district collector asking for restrictions on Christmas celebrations in Narayanpur. They claimed that Bastar falls under the 5th Schedule area and that Christmas is not a traditional tribal festival. They argued that the celebrations create unnecessary tension within the community.
“This area comes under the fifth schedule, where every work must be done with the permission of the Gram Sabha. But churches are being built on government land in the village,” Todem told TwoCircles.net.
When asked how he knew that these churches were built “illegally”, he said, “We have surveyed many villages. Our people are going from village to village and talking to the locals. People say that others are building churches here and adopting Christianity.”
However, when pressed to name specific instances of illegal church constructions, he could not provide any examples.
When inquired about the figure of 66,000 Christian converts that Todem had mentioned, especially since the last national census was conducted in 2011, he explained, “I had filed an RTI (Right to Information request) some time ago. It was told that after independence, only 250 people in the entire Bastar region had officially converted to Christianity. However, in every village here, people are adopting Christianity.”
When asked about the source of the 66,000 figure, Todem claimed, “We have been given intelligence about this data from the Collector’s office.”
Following Todem’s press conference, Christian community organisations, including the VHP and other tribal right-wing groups, held their own press briefing. Sarpat Mandavi, divisional president of the Tribal Christian Service and Educational Welfare Committee, said, “If they have any kind of documents for this, they should present them.”
Ratnesh Benjamin, state vice president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, rejected the accusations of illegal church constructions. “All the churches here are built on allotted land. Mandirs are built on government land, but no one is talking about this matter,” he said.
He also highlighted the larger issue of harassment against Christians, which he believes is politically motivated. “The main objective is to harass Christians in any situation,” Benjamin explained. “This is mostly done around Christmas. For example, this year, we are being told to end Carol singing by 10 PM, which never happened before.”
Benjamin also pointed to the discrimination faced by Christians in rural areas, particularly regarding burial rights. “We are already not allowed to bury our dead, even though people in the village have their own land and graveyards. This ill-treatment is happening to us,” he told TwoCircles.net.
A lawyer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Christian community had submitted a memorandum to the collector regarding the issues of harassment and religious discrimination. The lawyer also noted that the harassment of Christians appeared to be politically motivated. “Christians are being harassed for political gains,” he said. “Even when an aggrieved Christian goes to the police station to file a complaint, they are often met with harassment instead of support.”
The situation in Bastar reflects growing concerns over the protection of religious freedom and the rights of minority communities in Chhattisgarh. Despite the increasing pressure, the Christian community continues to stand firm and seek justice and fair treatment in the face of these challenges.
