Hindu activists in Nepal foiled a religious meeting allegedly aimed at promotion of Christianity in Nepal’s Kharahni village after they sent back several missionaries along with villagers who are on their way to attend the gathering by smearing their faces with black ink on Saturday, September 14.
Around 80 villagers including missionaries had reportedly reached Maheshpur bus stand through Thutibari on Saturday morning. The commuters had already reserved two buses for Kharahni village under Nawalparasi district of Nepal. However, their journey ahead was thwarted by members of Hindu outfits who sent them back by arriving on the spot.
The agitated activist along with the locals blackened the face of the villagers, leading to an altercation between the group, after which they drove out the villagers in no man’s land and asked them to return to the Indian side of border. On information of the gathering of people from Indian side of border, a police team also reached the spot and returned the villagers after noting their names and address, along issuing a warning to them.
According to the reports, the activists first thought of the villagers as regular passengers, however upon knowing that they are going for promotion of Christianity in bordering areas of Nepal, they along with the locals intervened and smeared their faces with black ink. The buses reserved by the missionaries were also seized by the police.
नेपाल के हिंदू संगठनों का हंगामा, धर्म प्रचार करने आए लोगों के मुंह पर कालिख पोतकर वापस भेजाhttps://t.co/uVGMMf1Wsg
— तत्त्वमसि (@dhirenpurohit) September 16, 2024
Significantly, the incident has taken place almost a fortnight after the Maheshpur Seema Chauwki Prahari apprehended a pastor couple hailing from Kerala and handed them over to Indian authorities following a strife over conversion in a Church of Rampurva village adjacent to Indian border on August 31.
It must be noted that in another incident reported from Dhanusha district of Nepal, an unauthorised Church was sealed by the authorities following protest of local residents and Hindu activist in August itself. The Church was being operated at ward no 3 of the Shaheed Nagar municipality.
According to the media reports, a man identified as Bharat Mahto, the pastor of the said Church was allegedly promoting conversion activities in the locality which has a significant population of poor Dalit Hindus, who were allegedly being lured into conversion by the said pastor.
Upon receiving information about conversion activities, a local Hindu outfit after securing sufficient evidences had given an ultimatum to the administration to seal the Church within 15 days, however no concreate action was initiated in this regard.
This angered the activists who along with the residents gathered near the Church on August 31 resulting in heated exchange between the two groups. Learning about the confrontation a police team then rushed to the spot and tried diffusing the tension. The authorities then examined the documents linked to the Church and subsequently sealed it after they found it was running without legal documentation.
