VHP leader Ashok Singhal described the attacks on the Christians as a war against religious conversion. It is clear from Singhal’s statement that the RSS or the BJP, the fundamentalist organisations, are going ahead with their heinous game of persecution of minorites in a planned manner . Again on December 27, some people set fire to church and a nearby missionary school in Limbayat area in Surat district. Some newspapers or journals were aiding the fundamentalists publishing tendentious reports.

The politburo of the CPI(M) has alleged that the BJP led government at the Centre was behind the raids and attacks on churches and missionary schools by communal elements in Gujarat. The politburo has strongly condemned these attacks in a statement on December 28. The CPI and the Janata Dal have also condemned the attacks on the minority Christians. The CPIM) politburo statement said that the Dangs district in Gujarat has been worst affected in the renewed attacks by the fundamentalist forces. In Dangs series of attacks had been perpetrated on the Christians Same was the example in Surat too. The concerned Central Minister though have repeatedly assured of return of normalcy there nothing had been done in Surat. The culprits were at large thus giving the impression that both the Centre and the State Government were aiding the culprits. The politburo statement made it clear that the VHP’s outbursts only confirmed that the y are organizing their saffron brigade to perpetrate the attacks on the minorities in future.

The politburo said that the Union Home Minister Mr L. K Advani was not well-informed about the law and order situation in Gujarat. As Mr Advani claimed that law and order was normal in Gujarat vilence marred the situation there . The politburo called upon the people to untidily protect the secular and democratic fabric of the country and at the same time not to fall prey to machinations of the Sanngh Parivar.

A delegation of the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) consisting of A.B. Bardhan, Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury and Shameem Faizi met the President Shri K.R. Narayanan at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan this evening. They submitted a memorandum to the President expressing serious concern at the continuing attacks on the Christian community in Gujarat. In 1998,upto November around 40 incidents of attacks on churches, schools, priests and Christians have taken place in Gujarat alone. The situation has further worsened with the spurt of attacks beginning on Christmas Day particularly in the districts of Dangs and Surat.

The memorandum accused the Gujarat state government of aiding and abetting the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other organisations affiliated to the RSS who are conducting this campaign of intimidation and terror in a planned and systematic manner. The state government has not taken any effective steps for more than a year to defend the rights of the Christian minority to practice their faith and to run their educational and social institutions. The state government is responsible for dereliction of duty as per the responsibilities enjoined upon it by the Constitution.

The Memorandum also sharply criticised the Central Government and the Home Ministry for ignoring these attacks which have been going on for such a long time. The memorandum pointed out that despite repeated statements by VHP leaders maligning the Christian community and inciting people against them, the Union Home Ministry has not taken any measures to initiate action against them under the laws of the land.

The memorandum warns that the situation if allowed to continue would constitute a direct challenge to the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution. It requested the President to immediately direct the Union Government to take all necessary steps for the protection and security of the Christian minority in Gujarat. The delegation demanded the arrest and prosecution of all those responsible for instigating and executing the violence against the Christians. It demanded the prosecution of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad national leaders who have been issuing statements inciting communal hatred.

The central secretariat of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)also denounced continuing attack on Christian minorities in Gujarat by VHP and Bajrang Dal. Churches have been set on fire and VHP flags have been reported to be hoisted forcefully on some churches in Gujarat with the Christian inhabitants beaten up brutally by VHP activities.

The continuance of the assault and arson against the Christian minorities in Gujarat despite assurance by the central government and commitment by the state government regarding protection of minorities clearly reveals the indulgence of both the central and state government to such uncivilised brutality perpetrated by the VHP and Bajrangdal on the Christian minorities.

CITU condemns such inhuman nefarious game of the communalist forces emboldened by the tacit indulgence of the government at the Centre and the state of Gujarat, and stronlgy demands from the central government and the state government to ensure protection to the Christian minorities and their churches and also punishment to communalist outfits for their criminal acts.

CITU also calls upon the working class to remain vigilant about the conspiratorial designs of the communal forces in Gujarat and also in other parts of the country to attack minorities and fan communal frenzy and defend the unity of the class and secular design of the society against the anti-national and anti people of saffron combine.

Meanwhile the All India Coordination Committee of Working Women (CITU) has also condemned the heinous attack by the VHP and Bajrang Dal on Christians, their churches and places of worship, particularly in Gujarat. While the state government claimed that the situation was under control, two churches have been burnt in a fresh spate of attacks and the district administration refuses to even acknowledge the fact, not to talk of registering cases against the miscreants.

These attacks are part of the conscious efforts by the members of the Sangh Parivar to rouse communal passions and divide the people of communal lines, to serve their narrow interests. The RSS chief even went to the extent of saying that awarding the Nobel prize to the eminent economist Amartya Sen was a conspiracy to Christianise India.

Whenever communal clashes take place, it is the poor workers and the women and children who suffer the most. When the need of the hour is a united fight against the economic policies of the BJP-led government which have led to price rise, unemployment etc. and are playing havoc with the lives of the toiling masses, such attempts to disrupt unity must be resisted with all our might. The AICCWW(CITU appeals to the people not to be provoked by the communal elements, and instead to resist such attempts unitedly.