the local administration because they provide "lucrative" incentives for tribes to get converted from Hinduism to Christianity, BosNewsLife established Thursday, May 12. The state’s Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or World Hindu Council, will soon start a campaign demanding the resignation of all Christians within the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and Indian Police Services (IPS) of Orissa, reported national daily, The Asian Age.
The campaign comes after a senior Christian IPS officer asked district magistrates in Orissa to recognize ‘Santhal Christians’ as part of a tribe, so they would not lose special privileges guaranteed under the Indian constitution.
Under India’s constitution certain impoverished tribal groups can receive privileges such as grants for education and guarantees for equal opportunities through a quota system in educational institutions and government services.
STATE RECORDS
However, if a tribe member is classified only as ‘Christian’ in state records without mentioning his caste or name of the tribe, he or she can lose these privileges.
IPS Officer Livinus Kindo, who serves on Orissa’s Board of Revenue, said the recording of the caste Santhal had been done incorrectly within several Orissa regions. "Instead of writing ‘Santhal Christians’ for [former Hindu’s] belonging to the Santhal tribe, all Santhals who are Christian are just termed ‘Christian’" he told reporters.
Kindo directed district magistrates to rectify "the mistake" and submit a compliance report within three months, reported The Asian Age. However VHP Secretary Sudhanshu Mohan Patnaik, said administration officials belonging to the Christian community have been "providing lucrative platforms for tribals to get converted."
QUESTIONS RAISED
"Why is this particular officer showing so much interest in safeguarding the benefits of the converted Christians? Mr. Kindo should act impartially," Patnaik added.
A spokesperson of the Orissa branch of the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Nayan Kishore Mohanty, agrees. He told the daily, that his party "doesn’t believe in giving benefits" to converted Christians. "We will take up the matter with the revenue minister."
A weekly published by the Hindu fundamentalist organization, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, The Organiser, accused the coalition government of Biju Janata Dal and the BJP in Orissa of pursuing "anti-Hindu policies" and providing "illegal benefits to Christians in the state."
The weekly quoted VHP General Secretary Sarat Chandra Sarangi as saying, that these "illegal"
actions "will encourage missionaries to undertake more conversions in the tribal areas." The
latest developments were expected to add to concern among Christian organizations about what they see as the growing influence of Hindu militant groups in Orissa and elsewhere in India. (Based in New Delhi, Journalist Vishal Arora, 33, has covered persecution and other hard hitting news stories for a variety of international and national publications. He has traveled around the country on invitation by NGOs for seminars and talks on human rights, communalism, and religious persecution. Vishal Arora can be contacted at e-mail address vishalarora_in@hotmail.com or visit his website http://www40.brinkster.com/vishalarora/ )
