Over 500 people in Chaugai Village under Buxar District of Bihar return to their roots, which they had deserted due to some reasons
Sanjeev Kumar from Patna
The horrors of Christian missionaries have been again exposed in Bihar. Several cases of conversion to Christianity have come to light in Bihar’s Buxar District, where Mahadalits in at least half a dozen villages have changed their religion.
Recently, around 500 people in a village called Chaugai in the Dumraon subdivision were converted to Christianity. However, with the efforts of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other organisations, these people have returned to their original faith. But the means through which they were given lucrative offers to convert raises questions on their functioning. All those who converted were Mahadalits. They were promised better living. The remaining 500 more Mahadalits in the village were also being pressurised to convert.
The trap was being laid by Christian missionaries for five years. It was five years before that a meeting was organised by Sonbarsa church where these Mahadalits were taken. Moti Musahar from the same village realised that perhaps their problems would stand resolved and thus, it started the
interference of the missionaries. Gradually they were told to worship Jesus Christ. Since these people were merely
considered a reliable vote bank, some politicians even
encouraged and contributed to these events. This trap of
missionaries started taking shape in other villages around block headquarters such as Yatha Murar, Ansari, Nachab, etc. Later the movement of missionaries started even in other
villages such as Ariaon, Ekrashi, since they have significant Dalit population. Most of the missionaries used to be from Sonbarsa church only. This church is located in Sonbarsa’s Nawanagar block and in the South-East of Buxar. The
activities of these missionaries gained momentum and as they do, they converted these people in August.
There is a Musahar settlement about 150m far from Chaugai in block headquarters. They count almost a
thousand. Economically and educationally backward, around half of them accepted Christianity in last few months. These conversions were undertaken exerting pressure and giving lucrative offers. The exposure of the incident made waves in the representatives of Panchayat and other villagers. District Magistrate Raman Kumar has also called it a serious issue. He has ordered investigation into it. According to him, if conversion of any community is undertaken through pressure or promises, it has a serious angle to it, and they should be subjected to law.
Many who have accepted Christianity said that they
consider Moti Musahar as their leader. Having formal
education only till ninth class, family of Moti was troubled due to diseases. Crumbled under illiteracy and superstition, these people considered all this as occult and ghostly. Moti thought that through accepting new religion he will be liberated from superstition and well being will prevail. This then led him to assist in converting many Mahadalits. Almost all those converted, such as Hira Lal, Karna, Nanki Devi or Phool Kumari, repeated the same fact that preachers from Sonbarsa of Nawanagar block and Rohtas used to visit them on Fridays and Sundays. They could not differentiate between the reality and falsehood due to absence of Hindu preachers and were converted due to little understanding. The Mahadalits also stated that they had not been getting any benefits under Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s “Mahadalit Mission” scheme —
neither any assistance for self employment, nor any pensions.
When this news spread across the region, many social activists started pouring in. One team led by Block
development Officer (BDO) Induvala Singh and (CO) Satyendra Singh visited the area and confirmed the
conversion. Local Member of Parliament Ashwini Kumar Chaubey has also made a visit. Converts complain that Hindus never accepted them. No one approaches them to preach about the Hindu faith, while Christian preachers’
frequent movement made them attracted. Even people have encroached over their community god’s place. But with the lauded efforts of local social activists Nand Lal and Gyanendra Ojha, these people are back in the Hindu fold. An assimilation of everyone in the society is being planned
sooner there.
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