In Mumbai’s jewellery bazaar, Kavita Jogani gingerly places her wedding bangles on the shopkeeper’s scales, one of the thousands of Indians parting with their most cherished asset – gold.
It was not an easy decision – Jogani was desperate after her garment business took a severe hit in the past year and a half with multiple corona-virus lockdowns, making it difficult to pay shop bills and the salaries of her 15 emplo-yees.
The headline growth numbers suggest Asia’s third-largest economy is rebounding from the economic crisis un-leashed by Covid-19, but there is no end yet to the financial pain for many Indians.
“I don’t have any other option than selling the gold,” said Jogani as she waited nervously for the shop owner to make her an offer.
“I bought these bangles before my wedding 23 years ago,” the 45-year-old told.
Business closures and job losses pushed more than 230 million Indians into poverty in the past year, according to a study by Azim Premji University, leaving many struggling to pay rent, school fees and hospital bills.
Their difficulties have been compounded in recent weeks by soaring prices for electricity, fuel and other items.
Indian Jesuits put off plan to name park after Stan Swamy
The opposition from Hindu nationalists’ organiza-tions has compelled a Jesuit-run institution in the southern Indian state of Karnataka to postpone the naming of a park inside its campus after late Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy.
The 140-year-old St. Aloy-sius College in Mangaluru had decided to hold the naming ceremony on Oct. 7 but post-poned it citing President Ra-manath Kovind’s two-day offi-cial visit to the city.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, its youth wing Bajrang Dal and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Pa-rishad, the students’ wing of the ruling BJP, had threatened to stage a protest if the college went ahead with the plan. The park is located on the college’s Beeri campus on the outskirts of the coastal city but VHP said it would be an insult to name it after someone accused of terror activities.
“It is unfair to oppose the naming of the park in the name of Father Stan and to brand him as a Maoist because it is not yet proven in court,” Father Denzil Fernandes told.
Hindu groups harass nuns, Christians in Uttar Pradesh
Some 50 Christ devotees attending Sunday service were attacked by Hindu radicals in the Mau district of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The activists of Bajrang Dal (party of the stout and strong) and Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth group, paraded the Christians to the nearby police station where they were detained until late night on October 10.
Seven of them, including three women and a pastor, were sent to jail for attempting forced religious conversion and other allegations.
Meanwhile two Ursuline Franciscan nuns, who had come to the city bus stand, were forcibly taken to the police station and kept there from 12:30 pm to 6 p.m. They were released under pressure from high ranking police officials from Lucknow, the state capital.
Sister Gracy Monteiro, working in Mirpur Catholic mission, told Matters India that she had gone to the bus stand to help her companion Sister Roshni Minj to board a bus to Varanasi.
Sister Minj was going home to visit her ailing father in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. As Minj went to ask about the bus, some Hindu radicals attacked the driver and forced the nuns to walk to the police station, where the Sunday worshipers were already detained..
Sister Monteiro said she was under terrible shock for almost an hour as she and Sister Minj were accused of being part of the Sunday worshippers who were allegedly attempting to forcibly converting the people.
Vijendra Rajbhar, the leader of the Christ devotees, told the police and the journalists that the Catholic nuns were not part of the prayer meeting. The Hindu radicals insisted that the nuns are part of the conversion gang.
Stan Swamy Park: Hindu radicals oppose Jesuit college’s move
Some right wing Hindu groups in the southern Indian state of Karnataka have objected to naming a private park after Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, who died in judicial custody three months ago.
The park is situated inside the campus of 140-year-old St Aloysius College in Manga-luru, a port city in the state.
The college is part of a network of educational institutions administered by the Society of Jesus in India.
The Mangalore college recently decided to name their park after Father Swamy, who is revered by many for sacrificing his life for the poor tribal communities in Jharkhand, eastern India.
However, Hindu groups on October 6 condemned the college’s decision threatened to protest if the management goes ahead with its plan.
The opposing groups are the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that heads the federal and several state govern-ments, including Karnataka, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) and Bajrang Dal (the party of the strong and stout).
Sharan Pumbwell, VHP zonal secretary, told reporters that Father Swamy was arrested under India’s anti-terror law — the Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Act – as he had faced serious allegations like promoting terrorism and Maoism.
“It is an insult to society if the park is named after him,” he added. He also said the Hindu groups would protest if the management goes ahead with its plan. The groups have also submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner in this regard.
The ABVP secretary suggested that the college could name the park after renowned politicians and college’s alumni such as Oscar Fernandes or George Fernandes, who, he said had contributed to society.
Oscar died September 13 this year, aged 80, while George passed away on January 29, 2019, when he was 88.
Some Catholic leaders say the controversy is unnecessary and urge groups to keep away from the internal matters of private institution.
“The political groups have no rights to interfere with the internal matters of St. Aloysius College,” asserts Jesuit Father Joe Xavier, the director of the Indian Social Institute, Bengaluru, where Father Swamy had served as a trainer and director for years.
Indian Catholics to launch campaign against Terrorism, Narcotics
The laity council of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) will launch a nationwide awareness campaign against terrorism and the use of narcotics on Oct. 1.
The Save the People camp-aign will see students and youths, religious, political organizations and sociocultural movements participate in a “conscientization process” over a period of three months, said V.C. Sebastian, the laity council secretary, in a press release issued on Sept. 24.
Programs through social media against narcotics and te-rrorism, seminars, discussions, family visits, and formation of local solidarity groups will be part of the campaign, the press release said.
Sebastian said the campaign “will rouse the general consci-ence against the glaring threats of narcotism and terrorism getting worse across the nation and making the common man increasingly worried.”
The anxiety shared by certain political parties about the fast spread of a terrorist agenda to the higher education sector is to be viewed seriously, he said.
The CBCI is the apex decision-making body of the Indian Church. The 14 regions of its laity council, 174 Catholic dioceses, various churches and lay organizations will collaborate in the campaign, ensuring the in-volvement of different religious denominations, people’s representatives and sociocultural leaders.
Karnataka ignores bishops, goes ahead with ant-conversion law,
The government in Karnataka has issued an order to check “forced conversions” in the southern Indian state.
State Chief Minister Basa-varaj Bommai on September 28 instructed the district deputy commissioners to become vigi-lant about the conversions in their respective jurisdiction and puni-sh those violating the rule.
The order came five days after the Catholic bishops in the state governor to express their concern about the proposed Anti-Conversion Law in the state.
Bommai said he has received complaints about the forced conversions during his recent visits to various districts and that such activities cannot be tolerated. He reiterated the government plan to bring in a legislative ban on conversions in the state.
Father Faustine Lobo, the director of the regional Pastoral Centre in Bangalore, says the Catholic Church does not involve in any forcible conversions, although it cares to more than 30% of the population with schools and hospitals.
“If we really wanted to con-vert people through our schools or hospitals, we could have done it easily,” the priest told Matters India September 29. He also challenged the government to prov4e if any such incidents had been reported.
However, he expressed concern that an anti-conversion law might result in people taking law into their hands and harassing “Christian workers and our institutions.”
Mandya bishop honours Covid volunteers
Bishop Sebastian Adyanthra-th of Mandya has hailed the Covid volunteers for their exceptional service to mankind during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Covid posed a serious crisis in Bengaluru and the Catholic laity under the Vincent De Paul Society have played a remarkable role as frontline warriors,” the Syro-Malabar prelate said.
Bengaluru is the capital of Karnataka where Covid19 claim-ed more than 8,500 lives.
The bishop was speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of the St. Vincent De Paul Society at St. Thomas Church, Jalahalli in Benglauru, capital of Karna-taka. The parish unit of the St. Thomas Church that celebrated the jubilee on September 27 decided to build five houses for the Covid-19 victims as jubilee gifts.
The bishop called upon the society members to imbibe the Vincentian spirituality and increase charity activities in all the parishes of Mandya diocese.
Tom Thomas, a pioneering member of the unit, said his most gratifying moments in life came when he reached out to the needy.
The parish unit of the Vincent De Paul Society worked round the clock to transported Covid patients to hospitals in their ve-hicles, supported their treatment and provide food to their fami-lies. The main tasks included reaching food and medicines to the affected families, help orga-nize hospital admission for those requiring hospital care, assist in swab collection from people with symptoms, provide oxygen cyli-nders, oximeter, masks, gloves, sanitizer and other items irres-pective of people’s cast or creed.
“For us, the work was wor-ship and we experienced the Christian life more meaning-fully,” said Tom Thomas, who has led the lay movement in the parish for more than two decades as the founder president.
Indian police probe Christian wedding over conversion claims
Police have launched an investigation into the marriage of a Protestant couple after Hindu activists claimed the bride was a Hindu converted to Christianity in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Hindu extremists barged into the marriage reception in Indore town on Sept. 29 evening and disrupted the function.
Even though the families of both bride and groom denied the allegations, the ruckus led to the police being summoned.
“The couple and their family members were taken to the police station. The allegations of the Hindu activists were found to be false and they were let off,” Pastor Patras Savil, who is based in Indore, told on Sept. 30.
“The newly wedded couple are Christians and their marriage reception was disturbed based on a false allegation of religious conversion.”
No one from either family spoke to the media about the incident, apparently out of shock and fear. Police have started a probe into the marriage based on a complaint from an office bearer of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajarang Dal, right-wing Hindu organizations opposed to Christians and their charitable work.
Young Christian woman endures months of violence in Faisalabad
After months of threats and attempted kidnappings, Arushma Ejaz, a young woman from Rabbani Colony, turned to Human Rights Focus Pakistan (HRFP) late last month for help after her complaints to the police proved useless. A man named Ghulam Jelani has been stalking her for a while, going so far as to try to kidnap her back in mid-July in order to convert her to Islam and force her to marry him.
To this end, Jelani broke into Arushma’s home, armed, forced to leave only after neighbours intervened. In this incident, the police arrived too late.
In the following days, Jelani continued to follow the young woman in an attempt to kidnap her.
He threatened to kill the young woman’s brothers if she refused to marry him, and then attempted to intimidate her family by saying that he would accuse them of violating the blasphemy law.
At this point, Arushma’s mother contacted HRFP, which immediately brought the case to the Faisalabad District Court. However, the human rights organisation was able to file a First Information Report with police only on 2 September.
Under maximum security, Arushma and her mother testified before the court 10 days later.
For HRFP President Naveed Walter, “kidnappings, forced conversions and forced marriages are not yet considered a serious matter by the state. The government sometimes talks about high-profile single issues, but never addresses the underlying causes, much less tries to eliminate them.”
A big problem continues to be police reluctance to get involved in such cases. In Jelani’s, he was held in custody for a while, then released without trial.
“From the first call to the police to actual action, 47 days passed,” Walter pointed out.
The HRFP told that it was concerned by how free and fair trials involving girls from religious minorities are, given the fact that “often political and religious figures publicly support the culprits.”
“Muslims who convert [to other religions] would be called murtads (apostates), so that only non-Muslims can convert,” the organisation added.
For the HRFP, the authorities must stop “protecting kidnappers and rapists who hide behind forced conversions and marriages to save themselves from punishment.”
Asia falls short on religious freedom, say Christian legal experts
Asian nations are failing to effectively interpret and imple-ment freedom of religion and belief for their citizens despite having constitutional provisions and guarantees, Christian legal experts said during a regional consultation.
“Although a majority of Asian countries have strong constitutional provisions and guarantees to secure their citi-zens’ freedom of religion and belief, there are severe short-comings in interpretation and implementation, or in upholding such principles in practice,” observed two legal experts during the Asia Regional Consultation on “Freedom of Religion, Rights of Religious Minorities and Constitutional Guarantees in Asia” organized by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA).
The five-day consultation from Oct. 3-5 drew 50 partici-pants from various Asian nations.
“In order for freedom of religion and belief to be secure, enhanced and applicable to all human beings, we must comply with constitutional provisions and be consistent with international declarations,” said Eugene Yapp, senior fellow of the Religious Freedom Institute’s Southeast Asia team. “If constitutional guarantees are to be meaningful, there is a need for more context-ualized or localized approaches based on ground realities – such as cultural particularities and contingencies of a local nature.”
Yapp, former secretary-gen-eral of the Evangelical Alliance of Malaysia, also emphasized the role of churches and missionaries in Asia, stating that churches must seek concrete expression for the flourishing of “diversity of cultures in social engagement and creative dialogue for the well-being of everyone for the common good.”