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crisis. 101 If this report is true, <strong>the</strong> future <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> minorities under BJP rule is at risk.<br />

However, <strong>the</strong> report is yet to be verified. 102<br />

There are many incidents that cause Christians to believe that <strong>the</strong> Hindutva<br />

political party BJP and its government cover up atrocities committed by <strong>the</strong> Sangh<br />

Parivar and o<strong>the</strong>r organizations. The response from people in authority when<br />

Christian priests and missionaries were attacked and churches were burned has<br />

fur<strong>the</strong>r streng<strong>the</strong>ned this suspicion. The best example is <strong>the</strong> response <strong>of</strong> A.B.<br />

Vajpayee, after his visit to <strong>the</strong> Dangs district <strong>of</strong> Gujarat, which was followed by<br />

an intensified attack on Christians during Christmas 1998. On 10 January 1999,<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>n Indian Prime Minister and leader <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> BJP, Vajpayee, called for a<br />

‘national debate on conversion.’ 103 The observation <strong>of</strong> Earnest W. Talibuddin<br />

reveals <strong>the</strong> impression <strong>of</strong> Christians regarding Vajpayee’s call. He comments,<br />

… Christian nuns have been raped, Christian priests and missionaries have been<br />

executed, even burnt alive. But instead <strong>of</strong> any word <strong>of</strong> condemnation for such<br />

ghastly, anti-social and inhuman acts, in order to cover <strong>the</strong>m up and divert <strong>the</strong><br />

attention <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> public, a national debate on <strong>the</strong> issue <strong>of</strong> conversion has been<br />

strongly recommended by those in authority! 104<br />

101 Rajendra Vyas, ‘Narendrabhai Got <strong>the</strong> Police on Our Side,’ Tehelka.com, 8 June 2007, under<br />

‘Gujarat 2002-The Truth,’ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename= Ne031107<br />

Narendrabhai_Got.asp (accessed 13 December 2007).<br />

102 Tehelka is an un<strong>of</strong>ficial independent investigation agency. Modi and o<strong>the</strong>r BJP leaders rejected<br />

<strong>the</strong> report. For a response to this report by a leading periodical in India, see Dionne Bunsha, ‘The<br />

Tehelka shock,’ Frontline 22, no. 1 (1-14 January 2005), under ‘Gujarat,’<br />

http://www.hinduonnet.com/ fline/fl2201/stories/ 20050114006401800.htm (accessed 10 October<br />

2008).<br />

103 Kim, In Search <strong>of</strong> Identity, 187. For more details <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> discussion, see pp. 157-58.<br />

104 Earnest W. Talibuddin, ‘Mission Context Today: Inter-Religious and Cultural Conflicts,’ in<br />

Emerging Indian Missiology: Context and Concepts, ed. Joseph Mattam and Joseph<br />

Valiamangalam (Delhi, India: ISPCK, 2006), 26.<br />

205

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