Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists seen here during a protest against Christian missionaries in Allahabad on Oct. 22, 2013. Church leaders in the western Indian state of Gujarat have demanded action against an event organized by the Hindu nationalists for spewing hate speech against the pope and Catholic priests and nuns. (Photo: AFP/ UCAN files)
March 24 2023
Church leaders in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state have demanded strict legal action in a case of hate speech circulating on social media insulting the pope and Catholic nuns.
Archbishop Thomas Ignatius Macwan of Gandhinagar in western Gujarat state on March 21 wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to take “immediate and stringent” action against a speaker, who is yet to be identified, and organizers of the event where defamatory statements were made against the supreme leader of the Catholic Church.
A video of the event has been circulating on social media for the past few days and contains provocative statements against local Christians and a Catholic pilgrimage center called Unteshwari Mata Mandir in Kadi village.
“We do not know the name of the speaker. But from the podium and background of the stage, it is clear that he was speaking at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad function in Kadi, Mehsana district, north-western Gujarat,” said Father Telesphoro Fernandes, secretary of Gujarat Education Board of Catholic Institutions.
The speech in the local Gujarati language makes sexually explicit references to the pope and nuns and calls on the crowd to not tolerate Christian priests and nuns in their midst.
He said the pope is the husband of thousands of nuns the world over because nuns during their initiation ceremony need to accept him so. Therefore, the pope is committing adultery, he said.
The speaker further called to drive away the “dagalawala” (priests in cassocks) from the area.
Macwan’s letter, released to the local media, said the video clip contains “obnoxious, shameful and hurtful statements against the pope.”
The speaker, the prelate said, “has abused His Holiness with demeaning, uncouth and crass words. He has hurt the sentiments of 1.4 billion Catholics all over the world.”
He further stated that the speaker also “cast aspersion on the integrity of the Catholic nuns and priests who have been doing a yeoman’s service to humanity irrespective of caste, creed or religion.”
Macwan said there is a possibility of support from local political leaders for the event.
“This is done systematically, consciously and deliberately with the tacit support of local political bosses and their ideologues,” he said in the letter.
So far, no action has been initiated by the police against the accused person.
The VHP is considered an organization of Hindu radicals who openly target and threaten to uproot Christians from the country, accusing them of converting people through force, fraud and allurement.
“The Christian community in Gujarat is feeling extremely insecure due to the ever-growing cases of attacks, violence, physical intimidation and vitriolic hate speeches,” Macwan said in his letter to the chief minister.
The prelate, however, acknowledged the support the Christian community receives from ordinary Hindu members.
Unteshwari Mata Mandir was built in honor of Mother Mary in 1969 and became a separate Parish with a resident priest in 1986.
It has 19 villages with a few Catholic families in each, while also serving as a secular space for retreats, spiritual and other social activities for various faith groups. – UCA News
