Rajashri’s vision

As the hills get steeper, the driver changes to a lower gear, and the jeep lurches forward. Heavy monsoon rains are pelting the metal roof and keeping the windscreen wipers busy. Slowly we come into the Dang-minority area in the state of Gujarat on India’s west coast.

‘Tiger country’

This is ‘tiger country’ – in more than one sense. Gujarat is famous not only for its wild tigers but also for the ferocity of its Hindu fundamentalists. They, too, are dubbed ‘tigers’ by the Christians in the region.

Mention of the words ‘Hindu fundamentalist’ stirs fear in the heart of every Christian member of the Dang minority. Every one of them has experienced some form of persecution at the hands of the extremists. The list of atrocities ranges from verbal abuse to murder. Numerous churches have been burnt down or bombed, many believers have been beaten up with sticks, nuns have been gang-raped, pastors have been beheaded, evangelists stoned and Christian school- children harassed and beaten.

Graceful young Rajashri, 22, lives in a town in the Dang area, called Ahawa, and she belongs to its casteless Christian minority. She is only too familiar with the violence perpetrated by Hindus. Standing in front of her church building, she tells of the day which she says she will never forget.

“It was Christmas Day. My family and I and 700 other believers were in here, celebrating the birth of Jesus. Suddenly the peace was shattered. About 3,000 Hindus had surrounded the building, armed with canes and stones. I will never forget it.”

Shouting Hindu slogans, the marauders entered the church and began beating everybody they could lay their hands on. Neither children nor old people were spared. Rajashri was hit several times but her brother was less fortunate, suffering a beating so brutal and prolonged that he was in hospital for a month. In their terror some of the worshippers jumped out of the windows of the church – straight into the arms of waiting Hindus. One of Rajashri’s friends died on the way to hospital.

Burn the church

“The police came but all they did was watch,” she says. “After stealing all the valuables, including the church’s amplifiers and microphones, the attackers tried to burn the church down, but they only partly succeeded.”

The attack that Christmas was part of a well-planned and co-ordinated operation in the Dang area in which Hindu mobs destroyed almost 40 churches. Christian organisations, including the Church of North India and the Bible Society of India, rallied to the support of the fellowships that had been attacked, and their churches were quickly rebuilt. But the terrible event has left Rajashri deeply scarred.

No interest

“Now my goal is to start a school right here in Ahawa for the children of the Christian families. We are calling it the Logos Project, and the foundation of the school will be the Bible. But this is a very poor area and parents can seldom afford education for their children so we need some financial support.