The Press Trust of India news agency reported that a Hindu mob vandalised churches on the outskirts of Bangalore, the capital of southern Karnataka state, which is ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Indian People’s Party. The BJP has been accused by Christian groups of tactically supporting anti Christian sentiments.
A group of people broke into a church in the Maryiannana Palya area of the state capital Bangalore Saturday night and damaged furniture and artefacts, city Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said in a statement. The perpetrators allegedly used iron rods to break in and looted the donations chest.
"We are investigating whether these men were professional robbers or religious fanatics," he said. In the second incident, also in Bangalore, attackers throwing stones damaged a statue in the grounds of a church in Rajrajeshwari Nagar area in the early hours of Sunday, Bidari told reporters.
THIRD ATTACK
A third attack reportedly took place at Siddapura in Kodagu district where window panes of a church were found broken on Sunday morning, September 21. Indian television channels showed police firing tear gas outside the damaged churches and charging attackers with canes and rifles. Police said the vandals belonged to the right wing Bajrang Dal Hindu group.
On Saturday police arrested Mahendra Kumar, head of the Dal’s branch in Karnataka, and charged him with inciting sectarian attacks, which began a week ago, news reports said. About two dozen churches in Karnataka have been attacked, following similar clashes in the eastern state of Orissa which left some 45 Christians died, according to church sources.
The Orissa violence, triggered by the murder of a Hindu leader and four followers, forced thousands of people, mostly Christians, to flee their homes. Many are still living in state-run camps, church groups said.
Hindu-Christian violence has increased in India, where at least 2.3 percent of the country’s population of more than 1.1 billion are Christians, according to estimates. Hardline Hindu groups accuse Christian missionaries of bribing poor tribals and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care. Christian groups have strongly denied
those charges saying forced conversions are against the Bible.
