Bhopal: The Christian community has strongly condemned the dharna organised by Bajrang Dal and Hindu Viswa Parishad in front of the churches in Madhya Pradesh, especially the one held in front of St Francis Cathedral Church at Jhangirbad in Bhopal. Archbishop Dr Leo Cornelio in a statement said, “The Government must treat all communities equally and stop these organisations from destroying the peace and harmony existing in Madhya Pradesh.”

As per the information from the police, the fundamentalist organisations decided to hold dharna in front of the churches all over Madhya Pradesh. They later decided to hold a massive dharna in front of St Francis Cathedral in Bhopal on 2 March 2008. The dharna was led by Narayan Singh Kushva and Susheel Sundele. The dharna began at 12 noon far away from the church. Tension prevailed in the in the area for quite some time. The protesters were few in number whereas Christians large numbers gathered in front of the church.

The fundamentalist organisations demanded that the Dalit Christians should not be given reservation as recommended by the Ranganath Mishra Commission set up by the Government of India. Another demand was that the Christians stop conversions in the State.

The statement said, “For quite some time Viswa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and its associate organisations have been trying to spread communal hatred against the Christian community in Madhya Pradesh. The fundamentalist organisations accuse the Church of forced conversions through social service and education. However the present crisis erupted from the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission asking the Government to allow reservation to persons who convert from SC to Christianity and Islam. But the Christian organisations refuse to buy this argument because if it is to protest the decisions of the commission, it should be done at a place which is the symbolic of the Union Government.”

Fr Anand Muttungal, the spokesperson for the Catholic churches in Madhya Pradesh, said, “It is an outright violation of the rights of the Christians who live in dignity and freedom with full honour. It is the violation of the fundamental rights of the Christians.”  He added, “Since all these organisations are from the ruling party, it looks like that the ruling party is not in control of the situation or they knowingly keep silence. For a healthy society both are very bad. It is the need of the hour for the administration to be fair and effective in administering justice.”

Major Christian organisations like the Indian Catholic Youth Movement, All India Christian Council, the Christian Assembly, Madhya Pradesh and Isai Maha sabha and Christian leaders Anup Jose, Sheela Shantyago, Sr Sneha, Saji Abraham and Babu Solomon condemned the incident.