SAGAULI, India (UCAN) -- Anwar Ali had refused relief materials some Catholic nuns distributed in his flood-hit village two years ago.

This year, the 65-year-old Muslim waded through waist-deep floodwaters for four kilometers to collect rice and lentils from those same Sacred Heart nuns.

Two years ago, "we did not want to accept bhikh (alms) from Christians, because we thought they were from America that killed our Muslims in Iraq," Ali told UCA News after collecting the food from the nuns on Aug. 17.

Ali had no option but to accept Church help this year, as the local administration excluded his Muslim-dominated Nawaka Tola from their list of flood-affected villages. The village is in Bihar state's West Champaran district, 1,000 kilometers east of New Delhi.

"We struggled to survive with our meager food stock for almost a month," Ali said. But on Aug. 13, when they felt that starvation was setting in, the villagers decided to approach the nuns.

Recent flooding has caused at least 2,200 deaths in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the United Nations reported. It also has deprived more than 30 million people of their homes or livelihood, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Sister Ambrose, superior of the convent in Sagauli, said they try to help everyone without discrimination.

"Our only criterion is that the beneficiaries must really be in need," the nun told UCA News. She explained that when they get information about a flooded village, their volunteers verify it and prepare a list of the affected people. "We subsequently arrange for relief materials and give these to them."

The nuns run a health center, a rehabilitation center for physically disabled people, a primary school and a women's empowerment program in the area. They began helping flood-affected villagers in mid-August, and in one week distributed rice and lentils to more than 700 families. "Nearly 60 percent of them are Muslims," Sister Ambrose said. The beneficiaries also included a Catholic and several Hindu families.

The nun said they had to step in because government relief failed to reach the villagers.

While Sister Ambrose said she did not know the reason for the government's delay, the Muslim villagers blamed their legislator, who belongs to the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian people's party), a partner in Bihar's coalition government.

Nesar Ansari, from Ali's village, alleged the government left out their village "because we are Muslims and we had not voted" for Ramchandra Sahani, who went on to become the state's forest minister.

Ansari claimed that Sahani and his people influenced the local administration to deprive them of flood relief. So the Muslim villagers decided to approach the nuns for help, he told UCA News.

Sahani lauded the nuns' relief program, but denied that he was biased against Muslims. "I am not (only) a politician, but also human too," he told UCA News. "When floods don't discriminate among victims on the basis of caste or creed, how can I do so? Will God forgive me?" he asked.

Sister Ambrose said she and her nuns know nothing about vote politics. "We simply believe anyone facing such disasters must be helped. ... This is the mandate of our Lord Jesus."

Ali pointed out that the nuns not only saved them from starvation but also helped dispel some wrong notions. "Even though we had wrong ideas about the Christian nuns, they came to our rescue. We don't know how many of our children and aged would have died if the nuns had not helped us," he said.

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(Accompanying photos available at here)