ICC Note:
In the latest attack on Christian schools, Hindu radicals have accused a Christian school headmaster of boycotting Hindu shops in Jharkhand with the intent of preventing the shops from conducting business. Hindu radicals are hoping to create discord and division in one of India’s most religiously diverse states. Discrediting Christian institutions is the latest strategy of persecution for radicals. The current police investigation has not found any evidence of the boycott.
10/09/2017 India (Asia News) – Some members of the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, an old right-wing nationalist party, and the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, have filed a complaint against the head of a Catholic school.
According to the plaintiffs, Dilip Ekka, headmaster of St Joseph’s School in Latehar, Jharkhand, is boycotting local Hindu shops, preventing people from buying the products they sell. The Catholic man has rejected all the charges.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Michael Kerketta SJ, a Jesuit theologian and professor of systematic theology at Ranchi, said that nationalists are attacking the school headmaster in order to undermine India’s Catholic schools.
“These are all false allegations,” he said, “made for propaganda purpose. These people want to sow divisions. The school the headmaster heads provides quality education to everyone, regardless of caste and belief, and it especially open to tribal students.”
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