Bhopal’s Archbishops says State fails to protect Christians
(April 20, 2010) Archbishop Leo Cornelius of Bhopal in central India’s Madhya Pradesh
said that the State has failed to protect Christians. He made the remark after a 25-year-old
Christian, Amit Gilbert, drowned in a well, trying to flee from the fury of a group
of Hindu radicals, who had attacked a prayer meeting in Madhya Pradesh, seriously
wounding three participants. The attack occurred last Saturday in the village of Saliya,
near Betul. Archbishop Cornelius told AsiaNews that the Home Ministry and the Law
Ministry have failed in their duty to protect the minority community. It is the duty
of the State to uphold the law and give people confidence, he said. For the prelate,
the climate of terror and the attacks against the Christian minority are growing by
the day. He said these attacks are well planned and systematically carried out. He
also said that some extremists have started to use a new method. Some file complaints
against local Christian leaders whilst others disrupt Christian assemblies. But when
Christian leaders go to the police to file their own complaints, they find themselves
detained on charges of conversion activities”. As a way to protest against the
situation, the archdiocese organised a large demonstration. “Some 2,500 people took
part in the event, including eminent Muslim leaders and Communist Party officials.
Christians are less than 1 percent of the state’s 55 million people, with Hindus
forming 91 percent. Buddhists, Jains, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians together form
the rest of the population.