By F M Britto

Raipur, May 10, 2023: More than a hundred Hindu activists forcefully entered a Catholic school in Chhattisgarh to oppose a summer catechetical camp held there for Catholic children.

The intruders, who entered the Vishwadeep School campus around noon on May 7, alleged the program was meant to convert “Hindu” children. The school in Durg, 40 km west of Raipur, the state capital.

On information, police and government officials rushed to the school and pacified the activists, after verifying from the organizers that all the children were Catholics and only some moral lessons were imparted to them.

As many as 197 boys and girls, studying in 8-12 grades, had come to the camp from seven nearby parishes. Bhilai area has many Catholic parishes,

The archdiocese conducts the annual summer catechetical camps or retreats for Catholic children to supplement Sunday catechism classes.

The intruders, belonging to various Hindu organizations, claimed that list showed names of Hindu children. They demanded to know whether the organizers had written permission from the government to conduct the religious program and from the parents for their children to attend it.

Father John Ponnore, the diocesan catechetical director, explained to them that their Catholic parents’ permission was implicit since they had to pay 400 rupees each as fees for meals and accommodation for three days. They also said no permission from the government was needed to organize programs for church members. But the activists ignored the priest.

Vaijayanti Mala Tigga, a parishioner involved in the camp, was a government employee, and the fundamentalists said at least she should have followed the government norms.

On checking the organizers’ laptop, Thashildar Durga Sahu and the BJP local ward member Hema Sharma found no materials for religious conversion. But the fundamentalists alleged that the organizers had deleted the contents.

Father Ponnore explained to them that these children were taught the right use of mobiles, besides providing them sex education.

The police and the authorities made the fundamentalists to return by 4 pm. On hearing the news, some 300 people also gathered outside the gate.

Elections to the state legislative assembly are due this year and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is making conversion an issue. It has accused the ruling Congress party of encouraging the Church to convert Hindus