Militants Attack Gospel for Asia Bible College
by Staff
March 8, 2007
ORISSA, INDIA (ANS) -- About 500 anti-Christian radicals attacked a Gospel for Asia Bible college in the eastern Indian state of Orissa on Wednesday evening, February 28. Gospel for Asia leaders in the area report the mob, which was mobilized by a Hindu nationalist group, systematically attacked the approximately 300 students and staff members present on the campus. Five students and the women's dorm director were seriously injured. All have been hospitalized, and one student is in critical condition. The rest of the student body and staff remain inside the dormitories. Local and reserve police have arrived on the scene, but have found it difficult to control the situation and the situation remains tense.
The attackers also disconnected the electricity and ransacked the campus, destroying many of the roofs of the school buildings.
"The magnitude of this attack is unlike anything we've ever seen," said Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan, "but our students and leaders are not discouraged."
Instead, they are asking God to bless their enemies.
"Please pray that this will become an opportunity for us to share the love of Jesus to the people who are persecuting us," one GFA leader from Orissa requests.
The attackers have been identified as members of the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu militant group. The VHP is one of the organizations that falls under the Sangh Parivar umbrella, a loosely organized association of Hindu militant groups promotes a philosophy known as Hindutva, literally translated as "Hindu-ness." This is the view that "to be Indian is to be Hindu." Groups adhering to Hindutva claim that Indian citizens who become Christians are abandoning their national identity, and their goal is to see Hinduism become the state religion.
The extremists who attacked the college demanded that GFA close the school and discontinue all work in the state. Gospel for Asia has had missionaries working in Orissa since 1993. Their ministries include personal evangelism, church planting, Compassion Services relief work and a radio broadcast in the indigenous Oriya language.
Orissa has a history of violence against Christians. Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned to death in the state in 1999. Two other Christians-a pastor and a layperson-were stabbed to death earlier this month. Police have yet to take any action on these two recent murders of Christians.
In spite of the Indian constitution's provision for freedom of religion, the state of Orissa, now governed by the Hindu nationalist BJP party, has an anti-conversion law aimed specifically at Christians. Citizens must report to the government if they become Christians and then petition for permission to be baptized.
The attack on the Orissa Bible college comes just 10 days after another group of Hindu extremists attacked five Bible college students in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Two of those students were critically injured in the attack.
"We are asking Christians around the world to pray for complete restoration of the injured students and their campus," says Dr. Yohannan. "Also, pray that their attackers would come to know the love of God in a real and personal way."
For more information on Gospel for Asia, go to www.gfa.org.
