(ZENIT News / Assam, India, 26.02.2024).-An extremist Hindu group has called for the removal of Christian symbols from schools run by the Catholic Church, and for Catholic Religious not to wear emblems.
The Hindu group of the state of Assam, in the northeast of India, has given an ultimatum to Christian schools, as well as to priests and women religious, to remove Christian signs from schools. The Bharatiya Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalist, governs the state of Assan and wants all Christian symbols to disappear, including the habits and soutanes of the Religious, as reported by UCA News.
The group wants photographs and sculptures of Jesus and Mary, which they call idols, to be removed within 15 days, threatening them with harsh consequences. “Christian missionaries are changing schools and educational institutions into religious institutes. “We won’t allow it,” said Satya Ranjan Borah, President of the Kutumba Surakshua Parishad or Council of Family Security Hindu group, during a press conference on February 7 in Guwahati, with a population of 900,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Dispur, capital of the state of Assam.
Ranjan Borah said that Christian missionaries use schools for activities to convert Hindus and he accused the priests and women religious of promoting Christianity in schools with Christian symbols. The Hindu group also asked for the suppression of churches and chapels installed in school complexes, according to “Northeast Now,” a British news portal.
John Moolachira, Archbishop of Guwahati, said the accusations “are unfounded.” “We are aware of the threats, and I don’t know why they happen,” he said to UCA News on February 9. ”It’s a very difficult situation when such open threats are made.” Christians number just over a million among the 31 million inhabitants of Assam, with an average 50% higher than the national average.
Christian leaders plan to approach Assam’s principal Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party, to show that Christians have participated for decades in the education of people that live in remote areas of Assam, and of poor people and that threats to Christian missionary activities have increased over the last years in the northeast region of India. They point out that Hindu groups promote cultural nationalism, which ends in opposition to Christians.
Moreover, Hindu groups promote the image of Christianity as a diabolical force that intends to destroy the native Hindu culture with the conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
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