Hindu hardliners have stepped up intimidation of Christian educational institutions in India, not least Catholic colleges. In one recent case, sheer numbers were used to break through a security cordon with the aim of performing a nationa- listic ritual.
Braving wintry early January winds, armed police guarded St Mary’s College in Vidisha of Madhya Pradesh State in central India. Some 800 young Hindu men entered the campus, some by scaling walls, but police managed to stop them performing a purportedly patriotic ritual in front of students.
The Bharat Mata Aarti ritual can entail a personification of Mother India represented by the Hindu goddess Durga.
However, Archbishop Leo Cornelio, head of the Catholic
Church in the troubled state, said the attempt really had nothing to do with patriotism. Attempts to discredit church insti- tutions were aimed at gaining control over them, he warned.
The archbishop noted that Catholic schools and colleges run on secular lines are allowed under the nation’s constitution. “No one can take that right from us,” Archbishop Cornelio said.
