Known as the «Naxali,» the rebels operate in central India and say that they are fighting, violently, for landless farmers. They too are tribals, generally Dalit and Adivasi.
The Fides agency today highlighted the concern that this recent incident of violence has aroused in the local Catholic community and in other Christian communities.
The vicar general of the Diocese of Jagdalpur, Carmelite Father Kurian Puthuman, said: «It is the first time that the rebels are opposed to a religious conversion in such a clamorous way. Perhaps it occurred given the fact that conversions are multiplying.»
The subject of conversions arouses opposition in several Indian states. Recently, the Christian community of Orissa, in eastern India, made an appeal to put a stop to «re-conversions»: radical Hindu movements persuade or oblige tribals converted to Christianity to «return to the Hindu religion,» a practice they describe as a «return home.»
