ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Government may declare 1999 as the Year of Christ

George Iype in New Delhi

Worried by the increasing attacks on Christians, especially in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is toying with the idea of declaring 1999 as the Year of Christ.

The plan, being discussed with the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaderships, will consist of various government-sponsored programmes, culminating in the celebration of Yesu Khrist Jayanti (Jesus Christ's birth anniversary) 2000. But the plan is yet to get the sanction of the BJP-RSS leadership.

The Christian community the world over starts preparing from January 1, 1999, to mark the beginning of the third millennium. In several countries and Christian denominations, the programme, a mix of festivities and piety, will extend for three years: 1999 as anticipatory, 2000 as the end of the second millennium, and January 2001 as the real beginning of the third millennium.

In India, the Catholic Church and various Christian denominations have planned Yesu Khrist Jayanti 2000, a year-long anticipatory programme in 1999. Christian organisations are urging the government to adopt this celebration as its own, pointing to its involvement, financially and otherwise, in celebrating the beginning of the fourth century of the Khalsa, and earlier in the Buddha Jayanti celebrations.

In fact, the recommendation to dedicate 1999 as the Year of Christ came after RSS-BJP leaders and top Church leaders met for a dialogue at the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India in New Delhi last week.

Those who participated in the conference were BJP president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, RSS joint general secretary K S Sudershan, BJP general secretary Narendra Modi, CBCI president Archbishop Alan de Lastic of Delhi, Archbishop Aruldas James of Madras, Evangelical Fellowship of India general secretary Richard Howell, the Church of North India's Sushma Ramaswamy, All-India Association of Christian Higher Education director Mani Jacob, Indian Social Institute director Father Ambrose Pinto and All-India Catholic Union national secretary John Dayal.

While the BJP-RSS leaders and the representatives of the Church later met Prime Minister Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani separately and appraised them of the outcome, Vajpayee indicated the government's resolve to woo the community through a series of measures when he addressed the BJP's MPs.

The plan to declare 1999 as the Year of Christ is the first of the confidence-building measures to allay the fears of Christians who have faced frequent attacks from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal activists ever since the Vajpayee government came to power.

Vajpayee also wants the RSS-BJP leadership to carry out a series of "free and frank" talks with minority communities like Christians and Muslims to assure them that they need not feel insecure under his government.

Besides, the prime minister is planning to form a national committee, sponsored by the government, for the Yesu Khrist Jayanti 2000 to actively participate in the Christian celebrations in 1999.

After a lull, in the last three days, churches and missionary schools were attacked, vehicles torched, and several Christians injured in violence across Gujarat as the Bajrang Dal and VHP announced the stepping up of their agitation against the alleged conversion of Hindus.

VHP and Dal leaders accuse Christians of forcible conversions in several parts of the country and fomenting secession and violence in the North-East.

The home ministry is believed to have listed the fresh attacks as the first serious incidents of communal violence since the BJP-led coalition came to power. It has also asked the Gujarat government to investigate the attacks thoroughly and submit a report soon.

Tell us what you think of this report