By Jose Kavi
New Delhi: India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh on December 20 assured a Church delegation that the government will ensure Christians celebrated hassle-free Christmas this year.
The second top minister in the federal cabinet made the promise when Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, head of the Catholic Church in India, who led the delegation, briefed him about the Christian community’s anxieties and concerns over some recent developments.
The delegation met Singh six days after Hindu radicals attacked a group of 30 Catholic seminarians and ten priests inside a police station at Satna, a central Indian town. The seminarians had gone to a village to conduct Christmas program that they have been doing for the past 25 years.
A couple of days later, some fringe groups in Uttar Pradesh threatened Christian schools not to celebrate Christmas.
“I submitted a memorandum to the home minister to seek justice for the innocent people, request him to ensure such events do not happen in future and to provide safety for everyone in the country,” Cardinal Cleemis, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told a press conference in New Delhi later during the day.
The prelate also said on hearing about the Satna incident and threats against Christmas the home minister immediately called the chief ministers to ask them to take strict actions against anyone trying to disturb Christmas programs.
Monsignor Joseph Chinnayyan, deputy secretary general of the bishops’ conference, also accompanied Cardinal Cleemis. They were joined by P J Kurien, Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha, and Alphons Kannanthanam, federal minister for tourism.
The cardinal met Singh a day after he visited Satna to personally study the situation. He said he stayed at the seminary and talked to Church, police and civil authorities. He has also submitted a memorandum to the Madhya Pradesh chief minister.
The Satna event, Cardinal Cleemis said, threatens the “credentials of our democratic system.” He bemoaned that the police remained silent spectators when the Church people were manhandled inside the police station.
The seminarians have been conducting non formal education in the village for several years. The attackers were all outsiders, not the villagers, the cardinal explained.
“Instead of registering a case against the attackers the police filed a case against a priest for alleged conversion,” he added. The prelate dismissed the conversion charge as “frivolous” and “absolutely baseless.”
“This is a tragic event, not in isolation, but invokes great concern as it happened during Christmas, which is celebrated by all,” he added.
Such incidents create anxiety among Christians and other minority groups, the cardinal said. “What is the fate of our country if our police stations are taken over by such groups?” he asked.
Cardinal Cleemis’ memorandum to the home minister demanded justice for innocent people, withdrawal of conversion charges against a priest and arrest of those who manhandled the Church group.
Asked if the Church would seek the help of four federal ministers who had studied in Church schools, Cardinal Cleemis it was high time those people came out and spoke that nobody had tried to convert them. That would be the best testimony they could give to the world and they owe it to their alma mater, he added.
The cardinal’s memorandum to the home minister noted the district of Satna had seen harassment of Christians in the last few months. On September 22, police arrested a Sacred Heart nun “on baseless allegation of conversion” and detained in the police station for the whole day and night.
The Church there also face “undue interference” in school administration, the memorandum pointed out. Such incidents indicate “the hidden motives” of those indulging in spreading religious hatred and communal tension, the cardinal added.