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Christians are safe in India, Vajpayee asks embassies to tell the West

George Iype in New Delhi

As the Bharatiya Janata Party tries to wriggle out of the attacks against Christians in Gujarat, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has instructed Indian embassies in the United States and Europe to convey that protecting minority communities in India is his government's top priority.

The prime minister also virtually disowned the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Wednesday by stating that the BJP is a political party and is not part of the VHP.

Disagreeing with VHP president Ashok Singhal's accusations against Mother Teresa and Professor Amartya Sen, Vajpayee said violence against Christians could not be allowed to go on.

But Vajpayee's coalition partners came down heavily on the government's "inaction in Gujarat" and stated that the Union home ministry has miserably failed to stop the increasing atrocities against churches and missionary schools in the state.

On Wednesday, the external affairs ministry -- under orders from the prime minister -- asked Indian embassies to explain that attacks against Christians have been isolated incidents and the government has always taken prompt action against the perpetrators of communal violence.

The Vajpayee government had issued a similar message to Western countries when the international media -- after the gang-rape of four nuns in Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh in September --reported that Christians in India are frequently attacked and the missionaries working in tribal areas ill-treated by pro-Hindu parties.

But after the fresh outbreak of violence against Christians during Christmas day, diplomats stationed in New Delhi led by US Ambassador Richard Celeste lodged strong protests with the home ministry.

The official spokesperson at the Vatican embassy in New Delhi told Rediff On The NeT that the "Vatican is extremely concerned and disturbed about the continuing violence against Christians in India." He said Pope John Paul II has been informed about the happenings in India. The embassy is expected to lodge a strong protest with the Vajpayee government soon.

Archbishop George Zur, the papal nuncio in India, will meet President K R Narayanan and the prime minister to take up the increasing attacks against churches and Christian missionaries after the BJP government came to power.

An external affairs ministry official said the government's response to the crisis in Gujarat is aimed at distancing the ruling party and its coalition partners from the VHP's statements against Mother Teresa and Christian missionaries.

The VHP's Singhal on Tuesday stated that he developed a deep hatred for Teresa after he learnt that she was injecting people who did not want to convert to Christianity and that these injections made them insane.

The ministry official said the Indian embassies have been asked to convey that Christian community in India continues to enjoy the rights and privileges of citizenship and practice its religion without any hindrance like other religious groups.

"The Government of India took prompt and effective action by nabbing 24 people who were involved in the gang rape of nuns in Madhya Pradesh. We want to assure the West that there is no inaction from the government to investigate attacks against Christians and to bring the criminals to book," the official told Rediff On The NeT.

He said the Vajpayee government is keen to tell foreign countries not to attribute communal motives to criminal incidents against the Christian community and assure them that India's 23 million Christians are not under any kind of threat.

While the government is trying to distance itself from the VHP, Vajpayee's allies in the government on Wednesday got restive and hit out at the home ministry. "We feel the ministry has failed to stop the communal violence against Christians allegedly instigated by VHP leaders," Trinamul Congress general secretary Sudip Bandopadhya told Rediff On The NeT.

"We always proclaim that India is known for its religious tolerance and is a home to a large number of faiths. But the attacks against Christians have proved that a section of VHP leaders are deliberately trying to take law in their hands," he said.

Telugu Desam Party leader V S Rao said the home ministry has been acting like a "passive onlooker" when atrocities against Christians have been going on in Gujarat for the last three months.

"The Vajpayee government needs to assure the minority communities in India that they are not under threat from fundamentalists," Rao stated.

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