Articles
Hindu-Christian Riots in Andhra Pradesh
Dt: 5/2/18
Hindu-Christian Riots in Andhra Pradesh
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
Close on the heels of Hindu -Christian riots in Kandhamal district of Orissa and similar incidents in Karnataka, I wrote an article in Oct 2008 that the danger of Hindu- Christian riots in Andhra Pradesh was imminent. To our great distress, these riots are now begun in several districts since the year 2016 .
2. According to the successive census the population of Christians in the Telugu states has been going down
Christian Population in Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Year |
||||
|
|
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
2011 |
|
Total population mln |
43.5 |
53.6 |
66.5 |
76.2 |
84.5 |
|
Christians mln |
1.8 |
1.43 |
1.2 |
1.1 |
1.1 |
|
% of Christian population |
4.19 |
2.68 |
1.83 |
1.44 |
1.38 |
Source: Census of India
But in village after village, upto a dozen Churches of different Christian denominations have come up, almost all of them without any permission from the local authority. For government records the dalit converts, mostly of the sub-caste Malas, are not disclosing the fact of conversion to avail of reservations, legal protection and other benefits meant for Hindu and Buddhist SCs. Alarmed by this phenomenon of Churches coming up illegally with no disclosed sources of funding and almost all without any permission and governments formed by the regional parties funding the construction of some Churches and giving subsidy raised from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 40,000 for Christians going to Jerusalem, Hindu organisations had prevailed upon the Government of Andhra Pradesh which is managing Hindu temples through the Endowment Department, that Hindu temples must be constructed in Dalit wadas, Girijan and fishermen’s villages with the funds of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), funds which are Kanukas (gifts) by Hindu devotees to Lord Venkateswara and other Gods and Goddesses.
3. The construction of every one of such temples is approved by the local authority and funds are disbursed through banks and construction is by recognised Hindu devotees’ societies registered as such through Samarasata Foundation. This temple construction is being obstructed by the converts to Christianity . This is leading to strife and riots. This is best illustrated by one such instance in Karnool district of Andhra Pradesh.
Bhoopanapadu is a village in Pandyam Mandal of Kurnool district. In the SC colony about 150 families are converts to Christianity . About 50 SC families are not converting. They came together and formed a society to construct Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple. The site and the construction were approved by the local Panchayat. The registered society is being funded by the TTD through the Andhra Bank. To commence the construction, the society was given Rs. 50,000 as the first instalment. On 20 Jan 2018 the Hindu SCs performed the Bhoomi Puja and after bhajana and distribution of prasadsam retired to their homes. A few hours after that, gangs from the converted families descended upon the site,
smashed the photo of Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy and desecrated the foundation site and the pujadrayas there. They said they would not allow the construction of any Hindu temple in the dalitwada. The foundation pit was refilled .
4. The villagers , SCs and Hindus from all other castes went to the nearest police station in the Mandal town Panyam and complained about the attack of the Christians and their obstruction to the construction of the approved temple. They further insisted that this is a case of atrocities committed on Hindu SCs by the Christians . On the insistence of the Hindu SCs and people from other castes, an FIR was registered.
5. While the bhoomi puja was done the local converts to Christianity did not object. Only a few hours after the puja the converted were incited by Churches in the nearby town Nandyala . These obstructionists put the following conditions to allow the construction. A compound wall taller than the temple should be constructed around the temple so that it would not be seen by any Christian ; no temple bells should be rung and no microphones and public address system should be used. Only if the Hindu SCs give such an undertaking would the construction of the temple be allowed.
6. In another village, Arthamooru in Bantumilli Mandal of Krishna district also the construction of a Hindu temple in Dalitwada (sanctioned by the local authority)by a registered society of the Hindu Dalits, is being obstructed in the same fashion.
7. It is generally known that the sub-caste Malas among the Hindu SCs are almost all converted to some Christian denomination or the other . They receive funds from unknown sources . Each one of their Churches is costing about Rs. 10 lakhs or more and none of them had the permission from local authorities. On Sundays these several Churches in the village broadcast loudly so that the entire village is subject to noise pollution. Since they are not officially listed as Christians, the rest of the population is afraid to file cases against them as these converts invoke the atrocities act.
8. There is strife between the Malas who are converts to Christianity (but not disclosing the fact) and another sub-caste Madigas who refuse to convert. Since Mala converts to Christianity are educationally better off and are well organised and led by Churches. 90% of government jobs, MLA/MP seats reserved for Hindu SCs and benefits meant for SCs are cornered by these converts . The Madigas who are about 40% of the SCs, get a single digit percentage of the benefits meant for Hindu and Buddhist SCs. Therefore they are agitating for classification of SCs into ABCD categories just as BCs are categorised accordion to the degree of their backwardness.
9. Hindu organisations and intellectuals and even political parties excepting those dominated by a leader converted to Christianity back this demand of Madigas who have formed into Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) ( Association to struggle for reservation for Madigas). The ruling regional parties and the Chief Ministers promised the MRPS that they backup their demand but don’t take any effective steps lest they offend the Mala voters . So there is strife between non-converting SCs and the converted Malas.
10. Another development is that under pressure from a large number of Hindu Dharmika Associations, the TTD which is managed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (required to be secular but in effect non-secular because Churches of Christians and Mosques of Muslims are left to be managed by the respective religionists and partly funded for construction of new ones and their pilgrimages are also funded ) issued notices to 44 known Christian and Muslim employees in the TTD for transfer to other departments. Instigated by Christian and Islamist organisations, they have approached the High Court of Hyderabad praying to uphold their right to be appointed in the Hindu temples, in the TTD and in the Endowment Department. They say because they are managed by government and so they are government servants and not of the Hindu temples. While all the salaries and wages and financial benefits of all those in the Endowment Department, the TTD and even the Principal Secretary, Revenue (Endowment ) and his staff including drivers and peons of the GOA P and Government of Telangana are met wholly from the kanukas (gifts) that Hindus make for the Hindus temples.
11. Regrettably even among the Executive Officers and other functionaries of the Endowment Department and the TTD, there are 25% employees who are known as converts to Christianity and Islam . It is through these people that the assets of the temples like the shops around temples, properties and farm lands are getting divested from the temples in various illegal ways. Almost all MLAs and MPs who are elected from constituencies reserved for Hindu SCs are converts to Christianity . But they have not disclosed this fact and have managed to get caste-certificates from government authorities some of whom are themselves such converts.
12. Before the Hindu -Christian strife and riots get widespread, become more violent, it is prudent that the Government of Andhra Pradesh, by legislation divests itself from the management and administration of Hindu temples . The Hindu Dharmika Organisations are demanding that like the Sikh Gurudwara Act, there should be an Act which will enable Hindus themselves to manage their temples just as Christians and Muslims manage their places of worship themselves. There of course could be State regulation so that there are no frauds , no cause and no activities for inter-religious strife and no offense to law and other. (1,359 words)
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