Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has condemned attacks on Christians in Chhattisgarh.
A church was vandalised and a senior police officer was attacked in a clash between two tribal communities in Bastar’s Narayanpur district on Monday.
“Condemn the attack on Christians and the vandalization of the church at Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh,” Sangma said on social media today morning. “Urge the authorities to take strict action against those involved. Praying for speedy recovery of the police personnel and those injured during the incidents.”
According to Chhattisgarh police, tribals staged a demonstration on Monday to protest against a clash that took place between two communities over alleged religious conversion in Gorra village in Narayanpur district the previous day.
Meanwhile, the Khasi Jaintia Christian Leaders Forum (KJCLF) also strongly condemned the “horrendous acts of violence” against Christians as well as the “outrageous vandalisation” of churches and sacred objects.
“Even as the New Year 2023 commenced, these hateful acts had continued and taken place in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, which left many people injured including the SP in-charge of the area,” the forum said in a press release this evening. “The Minister of State for Minority Affairs of the central government had recently made an expedition of the region for rounds of meetings with Christian and other minority leaders where he had conveyed that the ruling party in the Centre wants to remove the ‘fear factor’ from the minds of the minority communities – Christians being one of them. However, incidents like those happening in Chhattisgarh show the opposite.”
The KJCLF also commented on the “deafening silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on attacks on minorities, not just in this instance. This could be interpreted by the perpetrators as “some sort of licence by which mob elements take as an encouragement to commit this mayhem and attacks against other citizens just because they are Christians or members of other minority communities”.
