Gurugram: Days after right-wing Hindu activists disrupted a Christmas event in Haryana, prayer sessions organised by the Christian community in Ambala and Rohtak were disrupted Sunday by activists of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Police complaints have been lodged in both cases. Meanwhile, the Hindutva outfits have moved complaints alleging forced conversion by the Christian community.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by Pastor Vikram in Ambala district’s Barnala village, members of the Bajrang Dal interrupted a prayer session, attended by around 100 people, with slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”.
Pastor Vikram—referred to only by one name in the FIR—also alleged that the right-wing Hindu activists attacked women and children, injuring some of them, and damaged property by hurling bricks at the meeting venue.
“I have been peacefully holding prayers at this venue for the past four years. But this is the first time such an incident has happened. Several people were injured, and property was damaged,” he told ThePrint Monday over the phone.
Expressing outrage over the attack, he added, “We have lodged a police complaint and have demanded strict action against those involved. While the police have registered our FIR, they appear to be in no mood to act against the miscreants who committed this crime.”
He alleged that the police were “under pressure from some influential people in the ruling party to lodge a cross-FIR against us”, adding that “if no action is taken, we will hold demonstrations on roads”.
Station House Officer (SHO) Vikrant Singh of Panjokhra Police Station in Ambala district told ThePrint that both groups had lodged complaints. However, an FIR had so far been registered only on the complaint filed by Pastor Vikram and not from the other side.
The FIR lodged on the basis of Pastor Vikram’s complaint named Devi Dayal, district president of Bajrang Dal, as the main accused.
“Christian community members, a majority of them women and children, were holding prayers at around 12 noon in a rented hall in Barnala village area of Ambala on Sunday when some miscreants arrived there in vehicles and entered the hall chanting slogans of Jai Shri Ram, forced the participants to stop their prayers and started beating women and children,” Pastor Vikram said in his complaint, seen by ThePrint. “When I tried to stop them, they ridiculed Christ and threatened to kill me.”
The FIR has been registered against the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal members under various charges, including voluntarily causing hurt, unlawful assembly, rioting, hurting religious sentiments, and criminal intimidation.
Devi Dayal countered the allegations and claimed the group had acted on complaints from locals alleging religious conversion.
“Our members went to Barnala after getting complaints of conversions, We went there to ask the pastor to stop luring people for conversions. They started misbehaving with our members and one of our members was hit on the head, which led to the brawl. We have filed a complaint demanding action against them,” Devi Dayal told ThePrint.
‘Saved our lives by running from venue’
In Rohtak, Apostle Parveen Singh alleged that members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal arrived at their church Sunday and started chanting “Jai Shri Ram” when their prayers were on.
“We have given a written complaint to the SP (superintendent of police) about the Christmas Day incidents as well as yesterday’s incident but no action has been taken,” Singh alleged speaking to ThePrint Monday over the phone.
ThePrint has seen the two-page application in which Singh has said that he has been holding Sunday prayers in the church situated in Pada Mohalla of Rohtak under the “Fundamental Rights” to profess the religion of one’s choice granted to him under the Constitution of India.
“If we were celebrating Christmas Day in a Dharamshala, we were not committing a crime. However, the miscreants of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal beat us up and threatened to kill us. We saved our lives by running from the venue of the event,” the complaint said, demanding action from the accused.
“We didn’t take the law into our hands and instead informed the police to take a legal remedy. The police didn’t act and the miscreants have been emboldened and have even started creating disruption at our church too.”
ThePrint reached Rohtak SP Narendra Bijarania via calls and text messages. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
However, Inspector Ravinder Singh, SHO of the Sabji Mandi Police Station, said that the police have received the complaint, but no FIR has been registered so far.
“We are carrying out inquiries into the complaint and will take action as warranted,” the SHO told ThePrint.
‘Complaints of forced conversion’
The twin incidents follow the disruption of a Christmas celebration on 25 December in Rohtak earlier this week, where members of the Bajrang Dal and VHP reportedly stopped a Christian gathering at Shiv Punjabi Dharamshala.
The protesters began reciting the Hanuman Chalisa on stage and forced the attendees to leave. Eventually, the police were called. But the organisers had to leave the venue leaving their arrangements of decorations and food behind, ThePrint had reported.
VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal told ThePrint that the organisation never disrupts Christmas Day events or prayers of the Christian community. However, he said, the group intervenes with the help of the police whenever there are complaints of forced conversion because it is an offence.
The Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Rules was passed in 2022.
He alleged that they keep receiving complaints regarding the conversion of people from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe communities by luring them, threatening them or showing them miracles.
“They also lure people by promising to cure them of diseases. Isn’t it strange that they could not cure Mother Teresa and Pope but they claim they will cure poor people from India?” Bansal asked.
Similar incidents took place in Haryana in 2021. In Kurukshetra, a group entered a church and disrupted the Christmas celebrations by singing Hindu devotional songs and, in Pataudi, Gurugram, Sangh Parivar activists entered a school where Christmas festivities were taking place and schoolchildren were performing.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
This is very surprising and disturbing at the same time.
How come there are so many Christians in Haryana? Or Punjab for that matter?
Since when have these churches and allied Christian organizations been active in Haryana? Nobody ever saw Christians in Haryana. The only minorities in Haryana were the Muslims (primarily in Nuh) and the Sikhs. How come these organizations have been able to successfully convert thousands of Haryanvis?
Was the Union and state governments sleeping all this time?
Where did Christians in Haryana come from?? Why don’t they focus on getting Europeans to their churches, where most of the churches are empty
Good news indeed. Finally, Hindu organisations are waking up to the grave danger posed by Christian missionary activity in Punjab and Haryana.
Of late, Christian missionaries have become highly active in these two states and have successfully converted thousands of Sikhs and Hindus. It’s time Sikh institutions such as the SGPC and Akalis join hands with Hindu organisations like the Bajrang Dal and VHP and counter Christian missionary activity.
Otherwise, Punjab and Haryana will end up being Christian majority states.
One only has to look at the north-eastern states to understand what happens when a state becomes Christian majority.
For example, in Nagaland, the state govt never tables bills/laws in the legislature without the prior consent and approval from the various Naga churches. The same applies to Meghalaya and Mizoram as well. In fact, in these states Hindus are harrassed/intimidated routinely and temples/gurudwaras desecrated and destroyed on the state government orders.
The Indian government must realise the threat to national security posed by such widespread Christian conversions in a sensitive border state like Punjab. Even Haryana is a matter of concern.
The Sikh religious authorities like the Panch Pyare, the SGPC and the political parties espousing the cause of Sikhs like the Akali Dal must wake up before it’s too late. The various Deras active in Punjab/Haryana with their babas too must close ranks to ensure that Punjab/Haryana does not end up with a sizeable Christian minority.
In communally sensitive states like Punjab and Haryana with a very painful history, this might light a fire impossible to extinguish.