Hoardings warn against Christians sharing faith in Chhattisgarh

Citizens of India have a right to practice and promote their religion peacefully. This fundamental right, however, cannot be applied in Bastar district in central Indian state of Chhattisgarh where anti-Christian hoardings have warned Christians from sharing Jesus Christ.

Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported that Hindu extremists allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal put up hoardings demanding Christians to restrain from sharing their faith.

The signboard put up in three different places said, "Preaching about Jesus Christ is strictly prohibited in the area, and a penalty of 1,130 Indian rupees (about 23 U.S dollars) will be imposed on those found guilty." The hoardings also have pictures of Hindu deities along with names of the extremists group, EFI reported.

The warnings are all written in Hindi, EFI has taken picture of one of the hoardings as shown in the picture.

"Without saying," EFI statement stated the "hoardings stand against the constitution of India where religious freedom to profess, practice and propagate has been granted equally to all the citizens of India."

"Successive persecution faced by Christians in India today endangered its democracy," it added.

Rev. Dr Richard Howell, the General Secretary of EFI has asked Christians to "pray that such provocative anti- Christian posters will not be allowed to be put up in any part of India and for the religious tolerance in Bastar."

As per Government of India 2001 census, Bastar district in Chhattisgarh state has a population of 1.3 million of which 70 percent are Dalits or the untouchables.

In recent years, many Dalits have embraced Christianity much to the dismay of the Hindu extremist groups who said they are forcefully converted which Christians have denied leading tension between the communities. It often resulted in attacking Christians and threatening them.

Bastar district like many other districts of Chhattisgarh share its eastern border with Orissa where the most number of persecution had taken place since 2008.

Like Karnataka, the state that recorded the second most number of attacks against Christians in 2008 as reported by Bangalore-based advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), Chhattisgarh is also ruled by Hindu nationalist party – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).