(June 4, 2010) Church leaders in western India’s Gujarat state have condemned the
arrest of two activists as a move to stifle opposition to human rights violations.
The government “is trying to link human rights activists with Maoists” and terrorists
“without any evidence,” says Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, who directs a human rights
centre in Ahmedabad, the state’s commercial hub. On Tuesday, a day after the activists’
arrest, the priest made his centre available as a platform for several NGOs to brief
the media on government “excesses”. Earlier, police had arrested Srinivas Sattaya
Kurapati and his wife Hansa, both working with two different NGOs. The pro-Hindu
Bharatiya Janata Party headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi now rules the state.
Fr Prakash says that NGOs in Gujarat have countered Modi’s “fascist” approach to the
sectarian riots in 2002 that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. “He
is now creating a ghost of Maoism to target human rights groups,” Father Prakash alleged.
Another Jesuit, Fr Xavier Manjooran, manager of the social service society noted that
the activists were arrested after they questioned state violence against tribal people.
A third Jesuit, Fr Joseph Appavoo, also accused Modi of trying to silence dissent
so that he could continue his agenda of violence against tribal people and religious
minorities.