On August 31, police in Surajpur (District Gautam Buddh Nagar) detained and interrogated 10 Christian religious leaders from the village of Kulesra. Police confirm the pastors were taking part in a fasting ritual, which did not involve any religious conversion. However, having received many complaints from the local population, officers were forced to bring them in for questioning. Once brought into the police station, a mob surrounded the building, preventing the police from releasing the 10 following their interrogation. This is one of the latest incidents created by the strategy adopted in many parts of India by Hindu ultra-nationalist groups, that of making accusations of forced conversions against the Christian minority with the sole purpose of creating communal distrust and suspicion. One of the pastors, Rev. Joseph Wilson, is head of Calvary Ashram Seva Sangh and has been in Uttar Pradesh since 1992: “In the many years, I have never seen this kind of communal tension. We are not even being able to get close to Surajpur police station. Some members of our church, who went there, were beaten up”. According to the pastor, activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, a Hindu nationalist paramilitary group) incited the people of Kulesra, spreading false news of forced conversions. The police deny that there were major tensions. However Sajan George, president of the GCIC, confirmed the seriousness of the situation to AsiaNews: “These lumpen elements, surrounded the police station, where the vulnerable pastors were detained. The bogey of conversion is being raised, with an aggressiveness against the innocent Christians”.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 20:36:29 +0000
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