Home Cities Ahmedabad Gujarat: Tension over Church construction in Dangs

Gujarat: Tension over Church construction in Dangs

Police, however, stopped the construction of church, being built about ten feet away from the idols, saying that the land was part of the forest reserve area.

Police reached the village on Tuesday morning after a resident, Sampat Puwar, filed a complaint. (Representational)

Police personnel were deployed at Kadmal village in Subir taluka of Dang district after tension erupted over construction of a church.

Police reached the village on Tuesday morning after a resident, Sampat Puwar, filed a complaint that Christians of his village had destroyed idols of local deities that were kept in the open to build a church. However, when police reached the spot, they found the idols of Nagdev and Vaghdev intact.

Police, however, stopped the construction of church, being built about ten feet away from the idols, saying that the land was part of the forest reserve area.

On Monday, Puwar had filed a complaint at Subir police station in which he had alleged that former sarpanch of the village, Ganpat Chaudhary, and his aides — Suleman Chaudhary, Vinesh Chaudhary, Suresh Chaudhary, all residents of the same village — had damaged the idols of Nagdev and Vaghdev installed on a roadside. He alleged that after “removing the idols”, Ganpat and his men started building a church at the spot.

Explained Why Dangs matters: site of tensions, a history of violence Around Christmas in 1998, tribal-dominated Dang district saw Gujarat's first anti-Christian riots, when Christian places of worship were attacked. Subir taluka, which has the Shabridham temple run by a trust of which Swami Aseemanand is a member, was the worst affected in these riots, which also spread to neighbouring districts in south Gujarat. Aseemanand was accused — and has been acquitted — in the Ajmer Sharif dargah blast of 2007. Dangs, which has a nearly 35 per cent Christian population, is also where the VHP started its ghar wapsi programmes in the nineties, and ran Vanvasi Kalyan Parishads for tribals.

Demanding immediate suspension of church construction, Puwar urged the police to take “strict legal actions” against the former sarpanch for “hurting religious feelings of village tribals”.

A police team led by Sub-Inspector H B Vadvaiya and Sub-Divisional Police officer (SDPO) A I Vasava reached the village on Tuesday afternoon and found no damage to the idols. They also found a 20 feet by 30 feet structure being constructed in the vicinity, nearby to house of Ganpat Chaudhary, a Christian. Police then asked officials of Reserve Forest Department to reach the spot. Reserve Forest Department officials on examining the land found that the concrete structure was being built in the reserved forest area, following which they ordered suspension of construction of church.

“We found that no damage was done to the idols that were installed around three years ago. The construction of church was also in progress. We have stopped it as it being constructed on the government forest land. We suspect that there would be some internal dispute between the complainant and accused. We have summoned Ganpat Chaudhary and his aides to police station and will take their statements,” Vadaviya told The Indian Express.

Police also held a meeting of the villagers and urged them to maintain peace.

Gulab Chaudhary, husband of village sarpanch Vanita Chaudhary, said that several Hindu families in the village were against the construction of church. “According to us, the reason behind inviting police and forest officials to stop the construction of church was to take revenge from Christian people in the village as my wife had got six villagers, all Hindus, arrested after a woman was tortured to death by an exorcist last year,” said Gulab Chaudhary, also a Christian.

Kadmal village has a population of around 1,000 people of which around 25 per cent are Christians while remaining tribals. There is no church in the village, and tribals converted to Christianity visit neighbouring villages for prayers. Subir was among the worst affected talukas during the anti-Christian riots of 1998-99 in the Dang district.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Ahmedabad News, download Indian Express App.