Herald, Editorial, 16 September 2008
And now, Karnataka…
The ongoing communal violence against Christians in the Kandhamal district of Orissa and the Bajrang Dal-led attacks on Christians in Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere and Chikmagalur districts of Karnataka can no longer be seen as ‘spontaneous’ occurences. Obviously, violence against Christians seems to be part of a new, sinister offensive on the part of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its militant wing, the Bajrang Dal, as well as a number of front organisations of the so-called Sangh Parivar.
Attacks on Christians are being sought to be justified on the ground that people are being forcibly converted from Hinduism or indigenous tribal religions to Christianity. But there is little or no justification for this. In Orissa’s Kandhamal, for example, there was not a single complaint of ‘forcible conversion’ lodged with the police. Bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius DSouza has clarified that not a single case of conversion has been reported in any of 158 churches under the Mangalore Diocese.
The one common factor in both states is that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power; as part of a coalition in Orissa and as the sole ruling party in Karnataka. The attitude of the Karnataka government can be seen in yesterday’s statement by Minister for Power K S Eswarappa who, while condemning the violence, said in the same breath that the state will not tolerate forceful and illegal ‘religious conversion’ in the state. He said the state government has ordered an ‘inquiry’ into the incidents of violence and would not spare anybody who was behind it, “Be they activists of the Bajrang Dal or anybody else”. However, the administration’s efforts have inspired little or no confidence in the minority community. “We don’t want any assurance. The police should act swiftly and arrest the culprits. They have not acted in a proper manner,” the Bishop has said. Police in Karnataka have been instructed to take action against all those who were responsible for violence as well as against any “organisations or individuals who were found guilty of encouraging and promoting illegal and forceful conversions from one religion to another”. Does this make any sense when the state has an anti-conversion law, and the police are bound to take action if there is a complaint? The fact is that there haven’t been any complaints. Former Bangalore city police chief and BJP MP H T Sangliana, who revolted against his party and voted with the UPA during the recent trust vote in the Lok Sabha, has clearly said: “The impression among the people is that attacks on Christians have increased since the BJP government came to power in the state.” Sangliana debunks charges of conversion, saying: “No one has produced any evidence.” The BJP in Karnataka is trying to wash its hands off the violence by claiming it is the handiwork of unnamed ‘miscreants’ who are out to tarnish the name of the new government. If that is the case, why is it that the culprits are not being rounded up? What is the sense in asking the police to crack down on those responsible for the violence as well as those involved in ‘illegal conversion’? Now that the Union Home Ministry has sought an immediate report from the Karnataka government about the attacks on churches and instructed it to tighten security in the state and take all necessary steps to deal with the situation, we hope that the violence will end. Otherwise, the centre should contemplate taking action against state governments that take a policy of deliberate inaction in the face of religious violence.
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