A fresh row has erupted in the Lundra region of Surguja district after a pamphlet of one Dewari Kachhar went viral on social media in which bizarre claims have been made by a converted family of neighbouring Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh.
According to the reports, the pamphlet of the Church which is doing the rounds on social media read an ordeal of one Mangal Sai, a resident of Dhara Nagar village of Balrampur of Chhattisgarh. In the pamphlet, Mangal has claimed that he got paralyzed in January this year and when he got back to his senses he found himself in Dewari Kachhar Church.
Mangal has further claimed that he was informed by his wife that the family took him to several hospitals but their efforts proved to be futile and it was only three days ago that they arrived at the Church after a close friend suggested the same.
The pamphlet further read that after three days of prayers Mangal finally returned to his senses however he was still in paralyzed state following which special prayer sessions were organised for him and now he has become fully fit again.
Further while making an appeal Mangal claimed that by the grace of Parmeshwar (Christ) he has recovered from illness and whoever wants to get rid of their illnesses can visit the Dewari Kachhar Church for the same. Bizarrely the pamphlet in the end also read that ” I got treated after being whipped by Christ.”
The pamphlet also has details of a prayer ceremony being scheduled on September 27 and 28 for curing the convalescents and others facing serious illnesses. It also read that Jesus Christ has arrived not for conversion but for making a difference in the lives of devotees.
Devri Kachhar Church
Located around 35 kilometres from district headquarters Ambikapur, Devri Kachhar Church in Dhawarpur is a growing center for such activities where people from the nearby region are brought up in the name of treatment. The persistent attempts to convert people with these tricks have also annoyed the local Hindu community who have time and again lodged strong protest against it.
Speaking with the Organiser, Thakur Dayal Paikra a resident of the neighboring Bargithi Mandal said that Dhawarpur region has a significant Hindu population though despite of it the missionaries are openly promoting conversion activities. You tell me what is the need of running huge mission healthcare centers if they can cure the patient with mere praying only, it’s nothing but a hoax.
“I know several of them who have converted after being brainwashed like that, though their condition remained the same, all they (missionaries) do is mere propaganda for luring people into conversion, they also provide financial aid to those who are needy and then convert them. On many such occasions we have foiled their attempts for conversion, we have also filed complaints about that, though they do it intendedly”, added Paikara who is an active Hindu activist as well.
Another local identified as Vishal who resides around two kilometers away from the church premises while speaking to the Organiser representative said that Initially they opened a school in the village which is still functioning, later on they built a church in the school premises where they took people for the so-called prayers and other things. Vishal further claimed that more than one third families of the village have been lured and converted into Christianity in the last 4-5 years.
Meanwhile, terming it as an instrument for luring Hindus in conversion, Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Anuj Singh said that this is not the first time that such pamphlets have surfaced and this is now more of a common tool for inciting innocent locals for conversion. A mission hospital is being run by the missionaries In Ambikapur itself, if any illness can be cured in that way, there is no point running such health care centers.
Surguja is a tribal dominated region and the locals are innocent by their very nature that’s why such attempts for conversion are going on rampantly. We had informed the administration about such activities in the past and would soon lodge a formal complaint about this as well, added Singh.
Row over candidature of Christian candidate
It is to be noted that the pamphlet making bizarre claims has surfaced at a time when the Lundra region is already witnessing a protest against growing menace of illegal conversion.The anguish over conversion and missionaries backed propaganda surrounding it has also led a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters and other Hindu activists to oppose the recently announced candidature of Prabodh Minj, a Christian leader of the party from Lundra constituency of Surguja, a seat reserved for the scheduled tribes.
The party announced the candidature of Prabodh Minj while announcing the first lot of its candidates for the state assembly elections, however the party’s decision didn’t go well with a section of local functionaries and supporters who are of the opinion that the candidature of Minj doesn’t comply with the party’s ideological line upon which the saffron party has been building consensus within the Vanvasi community to rally behind it in the upcoming elections.
Minj a popular figure of the party has a solid base in Christian community, however his candidature from Vanvasi dominated Lundra constituency where the Christian community merely constitute around 10% of the total population has stroked a controversy as illegal conversion and delisting have been in the core agenda for BJP and other Hindu outfits in the regio in recent years.
It is to be noted that the issue pertaining to illegal conversion has been on the forefront of tussle between the incumbent Congress government and the BJP where the latter has been continuously alleging the grand old party for keeping a soft attitude against the conversion sharks. Additionally the state in recent years has also witnessed a number of communal flare-ups between the local Vanvasis and the converted Christians over illegal conversion and issue pertaining to burials.
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