Chhattisgarh: Complete shutdown in Bastar against the forced conversions and deadly attack on tribals

In view of the rampant illegal conversions and the lacklustre attitude of the State police against the Church-backed hooliganism, a bandh was observed in the tribal-dominated Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on January 05.

As per the reports, many tribal organisations had given a call for the bandh, which was also supported by the Commerce Chamber of the State, following which a complete shutdown has been observed in the Bastar region of the State.

Shops have been closed, and daily transports remained still in Jagdalpur and nearby areas, while a complete shutdown from 11 am to 5 in the evening has been observed in Narayanpur District, which has been the centre of the conflict in recent days.

(Shops closed in Narayanpur)

Earlier, Security was beefed up by the State police following the call of a bandh by the Vanvasi organisations; police reportedly flagged marches in the sensitive areas of the districts where one can still sense the uneasiness among the locals.

It’s been learnt that the opposition BJP had also formed a fact-finding team whose members were detained by the police while they were on their way to meet the victims of the tribal community in Narayanpur.

Earlier on January 4, the Narayanpur District police arrested five members of the local Vanvasi community for hooliganism and rioting while protesting against the illegal conversion and attack on the local vanvasis at Gotra village under Ekda police station limits.

It should be noted that on the 1st of this month, a fanatic mob of Christians attacked the local Vanvasis while the latter were assembled for a village meetup against the rampant illegal conversion in the village and surrounding areas.

However, it’s been learnt that under pressure from the mission-backed political apparatus, the District police have moulded the incident as a local dispute between the members of the same community. Surprisingly the district police have also lodged an FIR against more than 100 people from the Vanvasi community for hooliganism and rioting while the latter were protesting against the pre-planned attack of the missionaries.

Following which the tribal bodies had given a call for bandh, it’s been learnt that the bandh has been observed peacefully and no untoward incident of any kind has been reported in the region.