RSSChurch people have welcomed a Supreme Court directive for the government of the eastern state of Orissa to quit if it is incapable of protecting religious minorities.
“The Christian community has always believed in the judicial system of the country, which has been in the forefront when it comes to the protection of rights of minorities in the country,” Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly said in a Jan. 7 press statement.
The cardinal, president of the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of India, thanked the Supreme Court for having clearly reiterated the responsibility of Orissa state to protect the basic rights of minorities. He highlighted the court´s observation that Christians are still insecure in the state, and that this should be sufficient reason for the Orissa government to act.
The Jan. 5 directive followed a petition by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar seeking security for Christians in Orissa, where Hindu radical groups orchestrated seven weeks of violence that killed 60 people and displaced 50,000 others, mostly Christians. The archbishop, who heads the Catholic Church in Orissa, is based in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, 1,745 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
“We are a secular country. We cannot allow persecution of minorities,” insisted the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan. “If the (Orissa) state government is unable to protect them, it should resign,” he said, adding that religious minorities should not feel insecure in the country.
“It is the duty of the state government to protect the minority community. You (Orissa government) have done it only after 50,000 people of the minority community fled to the jungles,” he wrote.
Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes of Gandhinagar, secretary general of the bishops´ conference, remarked in the Jan. 7 press statement that the Supreme Court has brought great relief to the Christian community in the country and especially in Orissa.
“It is unfortunate that the Christian community has been a victim of evil ploys by some fundamentalist groups,” he said, asserting that despite such difficulties the Church will continue its mission of service to the poor and downtrodden, irrespective of caste, color or creed.
Archbishop Cheenath said about 8,000 people continues to live in government-run relief camps in Orissa, while thousands keep away from their homes and villages for fear of further attack. “It was nice of the highest court of the land to be supportive of the Christian community,” he told UCA News Jan. 7. He added that he was happy the Supreme Court described the violence in Orissa as a “persecution.”
Christians who want go back to their villages have to become Hindus or face death, he pointed out “That is the situation in Orissa today. My own cook was forced to become Hindu.”
The Orissa government promised to contain the anti-Christian violence soon after it began on Aug. 24 but was accused of helping fanatics by restraining security forces. The state is ruled by a coalition of a regional party and the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people´s party). The BJP is considered the political wing of groups trying to make India a Hindu theocracy.
The violence began in Orissa´s tribal-dominated Kandhamal district after Maoists gunned down a popular Hindu religious leader based there and four of his associates. Hindus blamed Christians for the murder because the slain swami had long opposed the work of Christian missioners in the district.
Bishops´ conference spokesperson Father Babu Joseph told UCA News on Jan. 7: “Even after so many attacks, there was a lack of political will to contain it. The Supreme Court directive is more than welcome.”
Orissa has a population of around 37 million, 94 percent of whom are Hindus. Christians form the largest religious minority, with 2.4 percent of the population, followed by Muslims at 2.1 percent.
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