Jharkhand governor told that selective scrutiny of only Christian institutions is a breach of India’s constitution. Bhopal:

A Catholic delegation in India has sought the intervention of Jharkhand state’s governor to end what they describe as “selective” investigations targeting Christian organizations who receive foreign donations.

Auxiliary Bishop Telesphore Bilung of Ranchi led the four-member delegation to present a memorandum to governor Draupadi Murmu on May 24 urging her to dismiss ongoing selective investigations into Christian organizations.

The state has some 500 non-governmental organizations that receive foreign donations. However, the government ordered that only 88 Christian organizations be investigated to see if they “misuse foreign funds for religious conversion,” the memorandum said.

“The selective scrutiny only of the Christian institutions betrays not only the government’s discriminatory stance but is also a breach of the Indian constitution,” it said, seeking the governor’s intervention.

Christians say they began to be targeted after the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. With a BJP-led government also in New Delhi, administrations have been supportive to Hindu groups working to make India a Hindu theocratic nation, they say.

Hindu groups have routinely accused Christian organizations of diverting foreign funds to use in efforts to convert socially poor tribal and Dalit people in the state.

Over the past five years the state has witnessed hundreds of attacks against Christians and numerous police charges against Christians accused of violating a state law of 2017 that restricts conversion.

The law prohibits converting a person from one religion to another using force or by means of allurement or inducement. Hindu groups have been accusing Christian organizations of misusing overseas funding for conversion under the pretext of social services.

Seven classrooms, a records room and offices of St. Joseph School in the Sugnu area of Chandel district were destroyed by an arson attack on the night of April 25 after six students were suspended for indiscipline.

“We believe this was orchestrated in retaliation to the school management’s decision to suspend six female students of grade nine,” Archbishop Dominic Lumon of Imphal told ucanews.com. The school functions under his Imphal Archdiocese that covers the entire state of Manipur.

Police investigating the case said they suspect the involvement of the powerful Kuki Student Organization (KSO), a forum of students of ethnic Kuki people, the dominant hilltribe in Manipur. Two officials of the organization have been arrested, said Jayanta Singh, inspector-general of police in the state.

Mizoram has once again become a “completely dry state” from Tuesday following a new liquor law that prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol, a Minister said here.

“The Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Bill, 2019 was passed unanimously in the state Assembly on March 20. The Bill, that received Governor JagdishMukhi’s assent before the parliamentary polls, replaced the four-year-old Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) or MLPC Act, 2014,” the state’s Excise and Narcotics Minister K. Beichhua told IANS in a telephonic interview.

He said that the laws in the new Bill could not be implemented immediately after Mukhi’s assent due to the model code of conduct (MCC) in force for the 17th LokSabha polls and Assembly by-elections.

“The Election Commission on Sunday afternoon lifted the MCC. The Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Bill, 2019 was notified today (Tuesday),” Beichhua said.

The Minister said that the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) was committed to fulfilling its pre-poll promise made to the people before the November 28 Assembly polls.

The Indian bishops’ office for education and culture has for the first time conducted a nationwide quiz involving about 30,000 Catholic school students.

The event marked the 10th anniversary of the All India Catholic Education Policy.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s ‘Education Mastermind’ quiz culminated in the capital, New Delhi, on May 15 following a series of state and regional rounds that began in December.

Some 200 people — including priests, principals, teachers and parents — attended the final, which was presided over by Indian bishops’ spokesperson Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas.

Making students better citizens was one of the objectives of the competition, he said.

Quiz master Nath Mubayi noted that subjects covered ranged from India’s Constitution to the teachings of various religions.

Father Joseph Manipadam, secretary of the Indian bishops’ office for education and culture, said the quiz promoted general knowledge as well as an understanding of social justice, media culture and political systems.

It also sought to get students to reflect on whether their schools are properly following the ‘All India Catholic Education Policy’ goal of bettering the nation and its citizens.

Father Manipadam said the policy stresses provision of a holistic, inclusive and empowering education that respects the rights of children and helps them experience Jesus’ love and compassion.

Concern’s growing for Christians in India over the potential of a change to the country’s constitution.

There are fears that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) want to change the law to make India a Hindu theocratic state.

Bishop Nazarene Soosai of Kottar, southern India, says that would be a disaster and that Christians “fear the day.”

He’s been speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need as the final round of voting is beginning in the nation’s marathon election.

It has consisted of seven rounds over six weeks.

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is seeking re-election for another five years.

Bishop Soosai said: “They say there is no other Hindu nation, so India must be the Hindu nation.

“They say we need to be a Hindu state in opposition to Pakistan which is Muslim and they think all the western countries are Christian – although they are really secular – and so they say we need a Hindu country.”

Over 700 attacks against Christians were recorded in India in 2017.

The bishop says that will only get worse if the constitution is changed.

“Broadly speaking, religious minorities are under attack,” he said. “Minority rights are under threat and much infringed.

“And when you raise your voice for human rights they say you’re not a patriot.”

The election results are expected later this week.

A seminarian of Karnataka’s Bhadravathi diocese died in road accident near Shimoga, some 300 km northwest of Bengaluru, the state capital. Deacon Varghese Kannappilly died on the spot on May 27 when his motorcycle was hit from behind by a speeding jeep. The 26-year-old deacon, also called Vivin, was returning home after dropping a neighbour at the bus station in Shimoga. The incident occurred at 10 pm. Kunnappally’s ordination was scheduled for December this year.