Hindu extremists attack Pentecostal church in Mumbai
(Nov.18, 2008):- In India’s western State of Maharashtra, a group of radical Hindus
attacked a Pentecostal church in Bhayander ( Mumbai), destroying furniture, beating
its clergyman and worshipers and launching accusations that they are involved in converting
people to Christianity. Last Friday, Nov. 14, a group of 20 from the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad - VHP, a Hindu fundamentalist organisation, stormed the ‘Church of God’
in Bhayander, close to the Navghar police station. According to eyewitness accounts,
the hoodlums forced their way into the church shouting slogans like “Jai Hind; Jai
Maharashtra; Jai Bajrang Bali”. After claiming to be from the VHP they said they had
information that conversions took place in that church. They then shouted vulgarities
and began beating those present. They manhandled the church’s pastor, Rev Felix Fernandes,
stripped and beat him senseless, leaving him unconscious in the street. Abraham
Mathai, deputy chairman of the State Minorities Commission told Asia News that these
attacks will continue, as long as police do not really track the culprits. For Aux.
Archbishop Percival Fernandes of Bombay this uncalled for act was a “terrorist”
act. “These actions have only one purpose, and that is to create and maintain fear
and anxiety in the people and communities attacked,” he added. This is the first
time that a church is attacked in Mumbai since last August, when a wave of violence
hit Christians, first in the state of Orissa and then other Indian states of Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisghar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Police have arrested
about 20 people in connection with the attack, including a woman, from the radical
Hindu group Shiv Sena, and launched and an investigation into the affair.