Attacks on Christians

The rash of vicious attacks on Christian missionaries and educational institutions witnessed over the past few weeks in Uttar Pradesh are unpleasantly reminiscent of the scourge that visited Gujarat, its Dangs region in particular, just over a year ago. There is no mistaking the pattern or the sinister design behind these incidents or their striking similarity with the Gujarat happenings. In Mathura, as many as four missionary institutions came under attack within a two-week span, the most serious of these cases being the one in which a priest was brutally assaulted and a huge sum of money taken away.

In a response typical of the BJP-led coalition in such situations, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, has come out with a condemnation of the attacks on Christians and a promise that his Government would see to it that the culprits are brought to justice by the State administration.

Without trying to belittle the importance of Mr. Vajpayee's words of reassurance, which are indeed significant coming as they did from the nation's topmost political executive, it must be said that his response has fallen far short of what the "Constitutional obligation" of protecting the minorities (which the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, spoke of in the Lok Sabha) entailed for the Center.

Given the serious dimensions of the threat the minority communities are increasingly coming under as a result of the sustained hate campaign and calculated attacks by the sangh parivar outfits, it is imperative for the Vajpayee regime to send a strong and unequivocal message to the likes of Mr. Keshubhai Patel and Mr. Ram Prakash Gupta on reining in the Bajrang Dal, the VHP, the Hindu Jagran Manch and other saffron brigades which seem to enjoy a lot of immunity under their benign rule.

-- The Hindu, New Delhi