What secular order? Madhya Pradesh church attacks make a mockery of Modi, Rajnath

Bhopal: The revival of attacks on Christian institutions in Madhya Pradesh has created doubts over Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s claims to restore secular order in the country. Narendra Modi last month pledged to crack down on religious violence and ensure freedom of worship for all faiths. His promise is yet to translate into action while violence against minority institutions has continued unchecked. A church was vandalised in Haryana and an aged nun was allegedly raped at a convent in West Bengal in the last fortnight. A Catholic Church located in New Panvel node of Navi Mumbai was attacked by unknown persons later last week. Why does the assurance of the nation’s Home Minister on protection to minorities fail to convince? “Whether it is an attack on a temple, mosque or any other religious place, whatever action is required, we will take that strongly” Singh said on Monday in the wake of incidents against the Christian institutions. Singh, however, doused the conviction in the statement by qualifying that religious conversions should stop for communal harmony to be established. Singh’s anti-conversion clause obviously fails to cover the aggressive ghar wapasi plans of the Hindutva activists. [caption id=“attachment_2168157” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Singh’s assurance makes little sense when elements like Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Dharma Raksha Sena or such other outfits patronised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seem to wield a licence for violence. The latest flare-up on the night between March 20 and 21 in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh was marked by the administration’s effort to block it out from the media. The ploy failed as the CCTV footage went viral. Six persons who were caught on camera indulging in wanton violence were promptly let off by the police within an hour of detention. The men, including the chief of the Dharm Sena Yogesh Agrawal and his associate Raju Rai were booked under relevant sections of IPC. They were identified from CCTV footage and by tribal groups who were attacked in the church. The signal to the minority community was loud and clear. In Jabalpur, the Hindutva hotheads justified the reign of terror by claiming that religious conversion was taking place at the venue. The frenzied mob ransacked the building demanding the custody of Father Thankachan Jose for allegedly converting Hindus to Christianity. A large number of Dharm Sena and Bajrang Dal activists also stormed into Saint Thomas School where some delegates were putting up. Thankachan Jose and police officials and some leaders of Hindu organizations were holding talks when mischief mongers gate crashed the venue and began abusing the hosts of the Bible convention. Jose said the Catholic diocese of Jabalpur was organizing a Bible Convention with due permission from the District administration in preparation for Easter. Police chased them from the premises of the school. Thereafter, they marched to the 140-year-old Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral. This is the second time a Cathedral was attacked since September 12, 2008. Sameer Kulkarni, the lone man tried for the arson, was later discharged by a court in Bhopal. The state police was accused of shielding Kulkarni. During the wave of “saffron terror” Kulkarni, an accused in the Malegaon bombings, was handed over to Madhya Pradesh police and brought to the state to stand trial. However, he was discharged in the arson case. The soft treatment accorded to the Hindutva extremists emboldened the fringe elements to take law into own hands. Though Madhya Pradesh would rank high for maintaining secular credentials among the BJP-ruled states, the Hindutva hate-mongers have managed to get away with several acts of violence. And, it is not just the Hindutva hardliners who have enjoyed a free run in the state. The police are still paying for the letting some extremists of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) escape from the Khandwa jail in October 2013. The Union Home minister has prodded the state government over that failure in the context of recent incidents in Jabalpur. In a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rajnath Singh reminded him that the prime responsibility of the State police is to re-arrest the five escapees. Of the seven prisoners involved in the jailbreak one surrendered a day later and a second was arrested in December 2013. The others, identified as Mohammad Aijajuddin, Zakir Hussain, Mohammad Aslam, Mehboob and Amjad Khan, are still at large. They are said to have carried out bomb blasts and other crimes in different parts of the country.