Inquisition in Gujarat

Chhindia can hardly be viewed as an isolated incident as several such ``minor'' cases of intimidation of Christians have come to light in the south Gujarat districts in recent months, writes MANAS DASGUPTA.

THE BJP Government in Gujarat has once again proved that it cannot function impartially outside the influence of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or other constituents of the Sangh Parivar. With the personal popularity of the Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel, on the wane as reflected from the drubbing it got in the recent local bodies' elections, the party is increasingly depending on the Parivar to fight the Assembly elections 26 months away.

Any softening towards the minorities by the Keshubhai administration, despite strong objections from the militants in the Parivar, seems to have disappeared after the party's defeat in the local elections.

The deft handling of the volatile situation in the Dangs district during Christmas last year, though it failed to please either the Christian leaders or the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, at least helped to avoid a confrontation between the two communities. Though described as a ``Christmas in graveyard'' by the Christian leaders, as a large posse of policemen was posted in the Dangs district headquarters of Ahwa in the face of the Sangh Parivar threat to disrupt the celebrations, at least peace prevailed then all over south Gujarat.

But Christians in the State may not have a peaceful Christmas this year if the handling of the recent Chhindia village incident - where a church was attacked and desecrated - is an indication of the State Government's attitude. While the Christian leaders claim the attack was ``planned and engineered'' by a group of about 400 local VHP activists, the Keshubhai administration has denied knowledge of any involvement of Parivar activists and maintains that it is a ``simple case of dispute over property rights''.

What the Minister of State for Home, Mr. Haren Pandya, described as a ``room in his personal residence'' which the ``owner'' of the land, Mr. Punyabhai Kotwalia, a tribal, allowed the local Christians to use as a ``prayer hall'', is actually a permanent structure with all signs of a church till it was attacked on November 26 - the cross at the pinnacle and at the altar were removed and a picture of a Hindu deity worshipped by the tribals installed instead.

According to a spokesman of the All India Christian Council, the church was consecrated on October 29, 1996, and used ever since exclusively as a place of worship by the local Christians who constitute about 25 per cent of the 1,500-odd population of the village in remote Vyara taluk. He also maintained that the land on which the church stood was jointly owned by seven villagers who inherited it from a local Parsi and that no individual had any right to change the status of the structure.

Mr. Pandya, apparently holding the VHP's brief, claims that in Government records, Punyabhai was the sole owner of the land which he had inherited from his father. The State Revenue Department records this as happening in June, 1992, much before he converted to Christianity.The title of the land was with his father since 1948 and Punyabhai himself was cultivating the land since 1975.

Since under the law no sale or transfer of land is allowed in tribal areas without Government permission, Mr. Pandya maintained that there was no question of any Parsi owner transferring the ownership to the seven persons as claimed by the Christians. He denied the allegation that the ruling party had tampered with the Government records to erase involvement of VHP activists in the attack.

``If Punyabhai as a Christian allowed his fellow Christians to use his property as a prayer hall for sometime, what can the Government do if now as a re-converted Hindu he refuses to permit the Christians to trespass into his personal property,'' Mr. Pandya argued. He also disagreed that the basic issue in the Chhindia case was the ``constitutional right of worship'', but claimed that the problem was of ``conversion and re-conversion'', an issue being highlighted by the VHP.

Judging the mood of the party in power in Gandhinagar, the local administration has refused to come to the aid of the Christians and the police played a dubious role in helping the local VHP overnight change the church into a temple.

Besides the sub-judice dispute over the ownership of the land, which is pending in the Vyara civil court and the Gujarat High Court, the State administration is silent on the question whether a property once used as a church becomes a public place and no individual has any right to change its status overnight. Mr. Pandya also uncomfortably shrugged off a question whether the VHP will accept it without protest if Punyabhai, or any other Hindu, turned a Muslim and wanted to convert a temple into a mosque.

But even while leaving aside the sub-judice matter, the Chief Minister or Mr. Pandya could have tried to assuage the feelings of the Christians by granting an audience to the head of the Evangelical Church of India, Bishop Ezra Sargunam, who is also chairman of the Tamil Nadu Minorities Commission, who had launched an fast in front of the Chhindia church in protest against the attack.

Mr. Patel had all the more reasons to invite the Bishop for at least a courtesy call because a request to this effect had come from his Tamil Nadu counterpart, Mr. M. Karunanidhi. But apparently the ``Parivar bond'' is stronger than that with allies of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Now, the Christians are being viewed as a potential threat to the law and order situation and have been repeatedly warned by the Government against any attempt to disrupt peace and create communal tension particularly on the eve of Christmas to ``defame'' the BJP at national and international levels.

The one-sided warning impliedly gives a clean chit to the VHP and the Bajrang Dal which have again planned a rally in Dangs district ahead of Christmas.

Chhindia can hardly be viewed as an incident in isolation as several such ``minor'' cases of intimidation of Christians have come to light in the south Gujarat districts in recent months.

A Christian family of seven was thrashed in Raigad village, two Christians were attacked in Vanjkatamba village, the paddy crop of a Christian farmer was destroyed in Cuelipada village, two Christian women were attacked and allegedly raped in Murambi village, a church was converted into a temple in Halmodi village, all in the southern districts of Surat and Dangs.

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