Catholic school in India attacked by Hindu nationalists

MUMBAI, India – A group of around 50 Hindu nationalists forced their way into a Catholic school in Madhya Pradesh state in India on July 27.

The activists were associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – All India Students’ Council – the student body of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in India.

They forced their way into St. Peter Higher Secondary School in Jaora, in the Jhabua diocese.

They demanded the Catholic school remove statues of St. Peter and Mother Mary and installed portraits of the goddess Saraswati, who is considered the patron of knowledge under Hinduism, and Bharat Mata (Mother India) on the school’s premises.

The month before – on June 27 – a right-wing group allegedly belonging to the ABVP — demanded that St. Thomas Higher Secondary School in Mansuar district allow students to attend a function organized by the Hindu nationalist group.

Because the principal opposed this request, they pelted stones and vandalized school property.

On July 22, a mob of around 50 right-wing Hindu activists barged into Vandana Convent School in Guna, Madhya Pradesh, forcing its principal to “apologize” for “hurting religious sentiments” for her usual directive to “speak in English.”

Since the BJP took power in India’s national government in 2014, incidents of harassment against Christians and other minorities have increased across the country.

The BJP also runs the state government in Madhya Pradesh. There are few Christians in the state: Less than 0.3 percent, as opposed to the national average of 2.3 percent.

“This is a serious matter of concern,” Bishop Peter Rumal Kharadi of Jhabua told UCA News on July 29, speaking about the latest attack on a Catholic Church.

The bishop said he condemned the “targeted attacks on a Christian school that has been imparting education” for over a quarter of a century.

Father Rocky Shah, spokesman for the Diocese of Jhabua, told Crux the latest incident is similar to the previous attacks on Catholic schools in Madhya Pradesh.

“On [July] 27, exactly after a month, similar incident which took place at St. Thomas Sr. Sc. School, Mandsour Mp, was repeated at St. Peter’s School Jaora. Around 50 youth, under the leadership of a local ABVP leader, started a protest against the school, at the main gate,” he said.

“They reached the main gate of the school, forced and threaten the watchman for entering inside the campus. After half an hour, they managed to enter inside the campus with big shouting of slogans against the school,” Shah continued.

“Inside the classrooms, exams were going on. They rushed towards the main administrative block and started shouting. They demanded the management to remove the statues and pictures from the campus. They entered in some of the classrooms and snatched the calendars,” he said.

“After the struggle of nearly two hours, they forcefully displayed the pictures of Hindu goddesses. Due to the unity of our staff members, they could not destroy or break anything as they did in Mandsour,” the priest added.

There were fears Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have a sweeping majority in the 2024 elections and consolidate Hindu nationalist policies in India, which was founded with a secular government. However, the party lost its majority, although it still rules with support from other parties.