A radical Hindu nationalist leader has ordered closure of all churches in Madhya Pradesh, a state in central India. The leader has given the government a 30-day ultimatum and threatened initiating violence if the demand is unmet.
International Christian Concern (ICC) reported Sunday that Azad Prem Singh, a Hindu nationalist group leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad has demanded shut down of all churches operating in Jhabua district's tribal areas. The leader stated this demand over a memorandum dated Jan. 11, alleging Christians' mass conversion of the people to Christianity.
"In the past 70 years Christian missionaries have converted gullible indigenous people to Christianity and built churches specifically on protected tribal land," Singh claimed. "All the illegally built churches should be shut down immediately and action should be taken against all priests and pastors involved in the process."
ICC further said that as justification to pass laws restricting freedom of religion, these nationalists have cited the issue of the people's mass conversion to Islam and Christianity. Radical Hindu nationalists are accusing Indian Christians and Muslims of the tribal people and poor Hindus' mass conversion to Christianity and Islam fraudulently.
This allegation contradicts India's own population data regarding Christianity. According to this data, the number of Christians recorded in the census taken in 1951 is the same as the one documented in 2011, the country's latest available census data. In both records, Christians make up to 2.3% of India's population.
According to The Christian Post, anti-Christian violence has already taken place in Jhabua District in March 2004 where 85% of the population are tribal people.
On November 2020, a group in eastern Odisha state known as Janajati Suraksha Manch (Tribal Security Forum) has written India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind. The letter persuaded the officials to deny the converted tribal people with the country's constitutional provisions in government and public-sector jobs, educational institutions and other protections.
"Maintain your religion, culture and traditions," Megha Oraon, an official of Janajati Suraksha Manch, said. "Those who are taking benefits reserved for scheduled tribes from other religions should be stopped and a law should be enacted to stop people taking advantage."
Recently, the state government has passed an ordinance which is considered to be the country's strictest anti-conversion law. The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion, 2020, aims to penalize fraudulent religious conversions including through marriage.
The Indian Express explained that under this law, for a couple of different religions to be legally married, they have to validate conversion first which requires a 60-day prior "declaration of the intention to convert" to the District Magistrate. It aims to show that the person being converted was not coerced.
The law entails between one and five years jail term for converting or attempting to convert illegally. The sentence is two to 10 years if the individual converted is a woman, a minor or a person belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. For someone hiding one's religion during marriage, the person is facing three to 10 years of imprisonment.
ICC said that the law is widely abused in other states where it is enforced. To justify assault and harassment, radical nationalists falsely accuse Christians of coercing people to convert to Christianity. Due to these wrong accusations, authorities have often overlooked the violence committed against Christians.
