300 Hindu radicals attack Chhattisgarh Protestant church: two seriously injured
The aggression at the Bastar for Christ Movement Church in Jarpara took place during Sunday prayers. Women and children also beaten. Pastor: "The radicals are supported by the Bjp party in power."
Raipur (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A crowd of 300 Hindu radicals assaulted a church and faithful gathered for Sunday prayer. International Christian Concern (Icc) reports that the assault on Jarpara's Bastar for Christ Movement Church in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh took place on 15 October. The assailants attacked all the Christians present, including women and children, and nine were injured. Two of them, Raju Sodi and Sangetha Kartami, are in a critical condition in Dantewada government hospital. The Hindu radicals vandalized the place of worship set the furnishings on fire.
It is not the first aggression against the followers of the Christian movement in Chhattisgarh. In 2012, extremists stopped a funeral, leaving several people injured on that occasion. Regarding the October 15attack, the local pastor said: "The attack is inhuman and deplorable. These assaults are emerging in the context of the upcoming state elections [to be held in 2018]. The Bjp (Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party), in power in the state, makes it much easier for Hindu radicals to pursue the campaign of hatred against religious minorities for political ends. "
International Christian Concern activists denounce that at the beginning the police refused to file a complaint against Hindu nationalists responsible for numerous attacks on Christians in Chhattisgarh. Regional Officer William Stark reports that the aggression against Christians "are repeated almost daily. It seems that the Hindu radicals of the whole country have the approval of local authorities to pursue their campaigns of hatred against Christians and other minorities. " The leader complains: "It is time to finish this incapacity or reluctance to protect and sustain the rights of Christians." Then he recalls that Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of worship for all citizens, but "unfortunately only on paper".
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