The road to Ahwa, district town of the Dangs, is littered with thatched roof tenements. Some are "reconstructed" temples. Home to vermillion-smeared idols of Hindu deities like Shiva and Hanuman. The manifestation of "Hindu awakening" in the Dangs.
"If Christians can term such structures churches, we can make pucca these traditional village temples which were being ignored by locals, whom the missionaries led astray," says Janubhai Pawar, president of the Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM), which led the "protests" against the alleged conversion of "innocent" tribals. "We've been asked to restrain ourselves till the polls are over, but the Church continues to be anti-Hindu; the battle isn't over. We'll continue our fight till the last missionary leaves the Dangs." Pawar claims no truck with the BJP/RSS, though admits being from the "same ideological family" and campaigning for them as they're "pro-Hindu".
A local VHP activist insists that others accused of sparking off the attacks on churches last year, including Swami Aseemanand, are still active in the area. Pursuing their self-proclaimed mission to "reconvert tribals". Praveen Togadia is even more blunt: "There will be peace only when Hindus aren't provoked." Now, a surface calm prevails; the violence sparked off by the hjm's December 25 rally has abated; churches gutted in the aftermath have been rebuilt. But with polls impending, mobilisation on religious lines is acute.
Alleges Pawar, "In July, at the opening of the rebuilt prayer hall in Mulchond, the clergy exhorted Christians to vote Congress." Untrue, says the district administration. "We've told both sides there will be zero-tolerance to any bid to fuel passions," S.K. Nanda, special secretary, Dangs, told Outlook. But Pawar justifies distribution of pamphlets warning Christian tribals against availing of state facilities because, as Christians, they've lost their tribal status.
Such intimidation worries local church functionaries. "We've been forced on the defensive; the Constitution guarantees us the right to preach our religion. But even when individuals ask to be taken into the fold, we've to think twice as some mischief-maker will portray it as 'forced conversion' and instigate the majority community against us," says a missionary. Says Sister Carmen, principal of Deepdarshan School, "Things are much better than what they were in the aftermath of December 25 when our hostel was attacked. But the campaign against us continues."
"A low intensity, maximum anxiety campaign," as Father Cedric Prakash sees it. One which has more or less ensured-in the backdrop of the attempted consolidation of conservative Hindu votes in favour of the saffron forces-that Christians in Gujarat will be encouraged to vote for a party that's "anti-communalism and pro-poor". "This is a secular, non-denominational initiative," argues Prakash. And the battle lines are clearly etched.
