Hindu nationalists hope to ‘clean house’ by 2011
ICC Note
“It’s very well organized. They have a date: April 2011. So, between now and April 2011, they have a plan to try to force Christians to leave.”
08/13/2010
The Maa Narmada Samajik Kumbh (Mother Narmada Social Kumbh, with kumbh literally meaning, “pot”) is scheduled for Feb. 10-12 on the Narmada, a river that flows through Madhya Pradesh and
Compass Direct News and the regional Patrika newspaper first broke the story. They also reported that Hindu leaders announced a list of pre-festival objectives, which included a concerted effort to drive away Christian pastors, evangelists, and foreign aid workers.
Hindu nationalists openly declared their intentions to rid Mandla district of all Christian influence by starting preparations for a large “reconversion” event. At the time we reported the story, we also asked if ministries had already started to feel the pressure.
Dave Stravers of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India says they had been seeing an uptick in the level of harassment. With the announcement of an agenda, “It’s sort of given the ‘go’ signal to all the various extremist groups throughout the state to make life difficult for Christians. We’re starting to see increasing physical attacks as well as verbal abuse, arrests, and threats being made against Christians everywhere.”
What makes this different is that it’s a campaign. There’s no help from police, either. In more than one situation, when the victims went to the police for help, they found themselves facing charges or being arrested. Stravers explains, “It’s very well organized. They have a date: April 2011. So, between now and April 2011, they have a plan to try to force Christians to leave.”
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