Fearful Christians pretend to be Hindu

ICC Note: This article provides an important update from Orissa – Christians there are pretending to be Hindu for fear of their lives.

By Shaikh Azizur Rahman
06/29/09 India (The National) – Christians in the state of Orissa are pretending to be Hindus to protect themselves from militants who continue to threaten them nearly 10 months after a wave of sectarian violence.

Orissa’s Christian leaders reported this week that in some remote villages of Kandhamal district Christian families are still living with an “outwardly adopted” Hindu identity.

They maintain their faith despite being forced to take part in Hindu conversion rituals following an outburst of attacks against Christians after a Hindu monk and four of his associates were killed in Kandhamal district in August.

Although police later found Maoists responsible for the killings, militant Hindu groups launched anti-Christian riots that over several weeks saw 122 Christians killed or go missing, hundreds of houses and churches destroyed, thousands of people driven from their villages and 3,000 Christians reportedly forced to convert.

Several months after his house was vandalised, Narahari Digal refuses to remove the saffron-coloured flag – a symbol of Hindu power – that was left on the roof.

Mr Digal and his family were forced to flee Adunaju village in August after rioters attacked Christians.

When he returned home in April, after hiding in a forest for several weeks and then spending months in state-run relief camps, he found his house looted and the flag on the roof.

The 42-year-old farm labourer said yesterday he did not remove the Hindu flag because he believed it prevented activists from coming back to attack his home.
He said as recently as April he overheard the militants were still active and many of the Hindu villagers had joined them.

“Sources in the villages said to us that the Hindu activists had threatened not to let us live in the village unless we converted to Hinduism. So like some of our other Christian neighbours we have kept the Hindu flags flying,” said Mr Digal.

“Now as those activists and their informers find that we have saffron flags attached to our house they would assume that we have embraced Hinduism as well and would spare attacking us.

“Although the saffron flag is flying on top of our house we have not changed our religion. Now we cannot practise our faith openly, fearing attacks from the Hindu radicals, but at heart we are still Christian.”

Mr Digal’s wife, Uma, said before going to bed at night she still reads the Bible and the family prays together, as they have always done as Christians.

“I have faith in God. I believe my prayers will be answered and those Hindu militants who made us homeless last year will soon lose their hold.”

Community leaders said the situation was changing and the “dark phase” for Orissa Christians could soon be over… [Go To Full Story]