documents of Canadian evangelists D. Ron Watts and his wife Dorothy Mary Watts in an effort to prosecute them and to force the couple to leave India, BosNewsLife established Tuesday, July 12. The Watts, who are also senior leaders of the growing Seventh Day Adventists domination in India, have been criticized by local authorities and hard line Hindu groups for converting people from Hinduism to Christianity.
India, with a population of 1 billion people, currently has an estimated Seventh-day Adventist Church membership of 350,000 and that number is rapidly increasing, church officials say. However the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a nationalist Hindu party, claim Watts was involved in converting at least one million people.
CONTROVERSIAL MOVE
In what is seen as a controversial move, the Madras High Court apparently agrees that these activities violated Indian regulations for foreigners. "The Superintendent of Police [in] Krishnagiri District" must therefore "execute the Leave the Country Notice of the Ministry of Home affairs, government of India," the High Court said, a reference to possible expulsion after the prosecution process.
D. Ron Watts was re-elected this month as President of the Southern Asia Division of the Seventh Day Adventists, while his wife remains the Associate Secretary of the same organization.
Both were believed to be in the United States for a general Adventist conference and were not immediately available for comment. It was not clear if Indian customs officials had been ordered to arrest the couple when they arrive in India, where they have lived and worked for many years.
HUMANITARIAN AID
Besides preaching the Gospel, the Watts are also involved in several humanitarian aid projects and the establishment of thousands of churches in India. They also co-authored at lest two books on Christian values.
In a recent interview D. Ron Watts spoke of a "thriving church membership” and of there being a "deep moving of the Spirit among the people" of India.
The latest developments were expected however to add to concern among Indian advocacy and church groups, which have complained about what they see as growing Hindu pressure on Christians across the country. Christians make up roughly 2 percent of India’s over 1 billion population. (BosNewsLife Chief International Correspondent Stefan J. Bos contributed to this story. Satya Sundar Mishra is BosNewsLife India Reporter based in Orissa. Mishra is a Development Journalist of Orissa working on social and religious issues that are not yet on the radar screen of media and politicians. He has been working for a variety of key publications. He can be reached via e-mail satya_mishra11@rediffmail.com ).
