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Dangs limps along road to peace

Gujarat's Dangs district appears to be on the road to normalcy.

Since New Year, no untoward incident has been reported. And the Sunday mass in churches passed off peacefully.

But Christians in the region still fear attacks when the special reserve police protection provided to them is withdrawn.

In interior Dangs, however, the tribals are least concerned about violence. They have a more basic need to bother about -- namely, earning two square meals a day. They were quite happy in their bamboo houses, happy with their lantern lamps, until they were caught between religions.

The district has a population of about 144,000 of which 94 per cent are tribals.

In Mulchand village en route to Ahwa, where a church was burnt down on the night of December 28, Janubhai R Bhoya, a Hindu local, says: "We have lived harmoniously for long and we will continue to do so. Nothing can provoke us to raise our hand against each other."

A 100 km away, Swami Asim Anandji of Vanvasi Kalyan Kendrasays alleged that missionaries have been converting tribals by mass for the last five years. In the last two years, his mission has worked in the area teaching the tribals about Hinduism and distributing photos of god Hanuman to every household.

Swami Anandji showed this correspondent about 35 villagers who voluntarily accepted to reconvert to Hinduism, and claimed that the process is continuing vigorously in other villages also.

The villagers, in three jeeps, were on their way to Unai to be re-christened at the spring there.

The swami expressed his apprehension about the conversion of a single member of the family while the rest remained Hindus. He said that such people suffer from identity crisis. "When someone in the family dies," he said, "the problem would be whether to cremate or bury."

UNI

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