By Matters India Reporter

Guwahati, October 19: Christians living on the world’s largest river island are upset that the Assam police have not arrested a group of radicals who torched their church.

The incident occurred on October 15 when some 100 people attacked the church at Raidangani Banshichuk village in Lower Majuli, and set it on fire, said Parma Pegu, secretary of the Majuli Christian Forum.

Majuli, some 350 km northeast of Guwahati, is the base of the Satriya culture spread by Vaisnavaite reformer, Srimanta Sankardeva (1449-1596).

Vaisnavaite is the term used for the followers of Vaisnavism, a major tradition within Hinduism. It considers Vishnu, the second person in the Hindu Trinity, as the Supreme Lord. The basic ideology of Sankaradeva’s Satriya culture in Assam has been tolerance.

However, the attackers on the Majuli church were allegedly led by the chief of the Sastra, Janardan Deva Goswami, who claimed Majuli as the place of Vaisnavaite culture where no other religious prayer house can exist. Goswami also allegedly broke the church’s signboard.

People accompanying Goswami too threatened to demolish all churches in Majuli, declaring Christianity as unsuited to the Indian culture.

Pegu said the local Christians remained helpless as the mob torched the church.

The village is dominated by Mishing tribals who had accepted Christianity a few years back and erected a church.

He said the local Christians gathered together after the attackers left the place and submitted a First Information Report to the nearest Jengraimukh police station. “However, the police have not taken any action so far,” he told Persecution Relief, an interdenominational initiative that monitors attacks on Christians in India.

Pegu also pointed out that Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) represents the area in the state legislative assembly.

“India is a secular country and every citizen has a right to choose his religious belief and faith. But the present BJP government has failed to protect this constitutional right,” the Christian leader bemoaned.

Pegu said the growing popularity of Christianity has upset members of Hindu radical groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (world Hindu council), Lok Jagaran Manch (Forum to awaken the masses) and Bajrang Dal (the party of the strong and stout).

He said as the BJP has spread its roots in the river island tension tensions between Christians and the Vaisnavaite group have increased.

The party portrays Christianity negatively and the anti-Christian violence increased after Sonowal’s electoral victory, he alleged.

“If the chief minister of a state can’t protect a religious institution from his own party workers within his own constituency, how will he protect the constitutional rights of masses?” Amulya Pegu, a local resident. He also asserted that the Mishing tribals are not followers of Hinduism.

“They have every right to choose their religion,” he added.