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Before Christmas, Christian villagers must leave their homes in India

MUMBAI, India – Christian families in a village in India say they feel uncertain about Christmas celebrations amid local pressure from Hindu nationalists.

Tensions began on November 24 in the central state of Chhattisgarh, a day after a group of residents did not allow the family of Anthi Mandavi – a 35-year-old local Christian woman who died of tuberculosis – to carry out his burial. According to LaundryCharan, Anthi’s brother, said police were present but did not intervene after a crowd stopped the funeral and the family eventually had to take the body elsewhere for burial.

The station house officer, alias police inspector Ganesh Yadav, said police had intensified patrolling in the area, which has a population of around 400, following the assault.

But local Christians accused the police of inaction. They said the required report was never filed and that even the complaint by seven Christian villagers about the attack was “rephrased” to link it to a “land dispute” rather than “religious hatred”.

A day after the police complaint, the Hindu group that attacked them issued a show-cause notice to the 23 Christian families referring to their homes – over their involvement in “illegal” construction on tribal land.

“More than 150 villagers told us that these families had encroached on their land and that is why we have issued a show-cause notice to them,” said a revenue officer. Laundry.

“They responded to the show cause notice. We will investigate whether they have encroached or not. We did not send them notices due to religious bias. We sent it only because other villagers informed us about it,” the official said.

Village council head Beeruram Baghel denied there was a land dispute and said the villagers wanted these families to return to the “tribal and Hindu group” and were “planning to evict them from the village.” if they did not practice ghar wapsi,” a common practice. Hindu rite.

“All the villagers have also decided that we will not let them celebrate Christmas this year,” reported Laundry.

Earlier in Chhattisgarh, in Sukma district, eight village councils passed a joint resolution on November 17 banning any Christian from staying in their village.

The resolution stated that Christians in these villages should either leave their faith or renounce their faith, and if they did not do so, all their fields, goods and properties would be plundered. About 100 Christians are affected by this order.

The matter was brought to the notice of the head of one of the villages concerned, who upheld the resolution and asserted that the rules of the village council superseded those of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion or of conviction under article 25. .

The next day, on November 18, the Christians filed a written complaint at the Gadiras police station in Michwar and provided audio proof of what the village head had said. However, police initially refused to file an official report, which would have been necessary to open an investigation. Instead, they asked them to take them to their field. When they arrived there, a crowd of at least 1,500 people had looted the Christians’ crops and demanded that they renounce their faith or leave the village. The police then left the scene without offering further assistance.

Around 40 villagers from eight families whose fields were looted have left their land and are now staying in a church in Michwar.

The eight villages are: Dabba, Doodhiras, Gonderas, Gurli, Jagadlanar, Kundanpal, Kunna and Michwar.

According to the 2011 census, over 93.25% of the state’s population practiced Hinduism, higher than the national average of 80%. The Christian population is about 1.9 percent, below the national average of 2.3 percent.

Father Thomas Vadakumkara, press officer of Jagadalpur diocese, said that these things only happen in Sukhma town.

“It almost affects Christians in many districts,” he said. Node.

“Fundamental human rights are regularly denied to Christians: burial of the faithful; stay on their own land; and cultivate and harvest their fields and farms,” he said.

According to the United Christian Forum (UCF), a civil society organization based in Delhi, violence and discrimination against Christians is increasing in 23 of India’s 28 states.

The highest number of hate crimes was recorded in Uttar Pradesh with 182 incidents, closely followed by Chhattisgarh with 139 cases reported.

Archbishop Victor Henry Thakur of Jagadalpur Diocese said Node he heard about the current incidents from the media.

“However, the persecution of Christians in Chhattisgarh has not stopped regardless of which state government is in power. Whether the Congress or the BJP governs, lawlessness continues, non-denominational churches in villages are regularly targeted and the persecution of Christians continues,” he said.

“We are a peace-loving people, we are law-abiding citizens and we respect the Constitution,” the archbishop said.