ഒഡീഷയില്‍ കന്യാസ്ത്രീകള്‍ക്കും വൈദികര്‍ക്കുമെതിരെ നടന്ന ആക്രമണത്തില്‍ കടുത്ത പ്രതിഷേധം. ബജ്റംഗ്ദൾ നടത്തിയ ആക്രമണത്തിനെതിരെ പാര്‍ലമെന്‍റില്‍ ഇന്ന് ചര്‍ച്ച ആവശ്യപ്പെടാനാണ് പ്രതിക്ഷത്തിന്‍റെ നീക്കം. ന്യൂനപക്ഷങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെയും ക്രിസ്ത്യന്‍ മിഷണറി പ്രവര്‍ത്തനങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെയും ഭീഷണി ഉയരുന്നതായാണ് പ്രതിപക്ഷ പാര്‍ട്ടികൾ ആരോപിക്കുന്നത്. സംഭവത്തില്‍ വൈദികര്‍ പരാതി നല്‍കുന്ന കാര്യത്തില്‍ ഇതുവരെ തീരുമാനമായിട്ടില്ല. മതപരിവര്‍ത്തനം ആരോപിച്ച് മലയാളി വൈദികരടങ്ങുന്ന സംഘം ജലേശ്വറില്ലാണ് ഇന്നലെ ആക്രമിക്കപ്പെട്ടത്.

മതപരിവര്‍ത്തനം ആരോപിച്ച് രണ്ട് മലയാളി വൈദികരെയും രണ്ട് മലയാളി കന്യാസ്ത്രീകളെയും കയ്യേറ്റം ചെയ്തതായാണ് പരാതി. 70 പേരടങ്ങുന്ന ബജ്‍രംഗ്ദള്‍ പ്രവര്‍ത്തകരാണ് കയ്യേറ്റം ചെയ്തതെന്നാണ് ആരോപണം. അതിക്രമത്തിന് ഇരയായ രണ്ടു വൈദികരും രണ്ടു കന്യാസ്ത്രീകളും മലയാളികളാണ്. മതപരിവര്‍ത്തനം ആരോപിച്ച് പ്രവര്‍ത്തകര്‍ സ്ഥലത്തെത്തി കയ്യേറ്റം ചെയ്യുകയായിരുന്നുവെന്നാണ് പരാതി.

ഒരു വൈദികന്‍റെ ഫോണ്‍ അക്രമികള്‍ കൊണ്ടുപോയി. സ്ഥലത്തുണ്ടായിരുന്ന പ്രദേശവാസികള്‍ക്കുനേരെയും കയ്യേറ്റമുണ്ടായി. സംഭവത്തിന്‍റെ ദൃശ്യങ്ങളും പുറത്തുവന്നു. ജലശ്വേറിലെ ഗ്രാമത്തിൽ പ്രാര്‍ത്ഥനാ ചടങ്ങിലെത്തിയതായിരുന്നു മലയാളി വൈദികരും കന്യാസ്ത്രീകളും. ഇവിടേക്ക് ബ‍ജ്രംഗ്ദള്‍ പ്രവര്‍ത്തകരെത്തുകയായിരുന്നു. ഇവര്‍ സഞ്ചരിച്ചിരുന്ന വാഹനം തടഞ്ഞായിരുന്നു കയ്യേറ്റം. 45 മിനുട്ടോളം സ്ഥലത്ത് ഭീകരാന്തരീക്ഷം ഉണ്ടാക്കിയെന്നാണ് ആരോപണം.
Sources:azchavattomonline.com

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A mob of Bajrang Dal activists has assaulted two Catholic priests, two nuns and a catechist at a mission state of Balasore diocese in Odisha, an eastern Indian state.

The Hindu radical outfit accused the Catholic group of indulging in religious conversion.

The incident occurred on August 6 at Gangadhar mission station of Jaleswar parish where a requiem Mass marking the second death anniversary of two local Catholic men was celebrated by parish priest Father Lijo Nirappel and Father V Jojo of neighboring Joda parish.

Two nuns and a catechist accompanied the priests to the mission state at around 5 pm.

After the Mass and a fellowship meal, the villagers, all farmers, left for their homes at around 9 pm.

Father Nirappel said some 70 men lay in wait for the visitors at a narrow-forested stretch of road, hardly half a km away from the mission station.

“They first targeted our catechist who was on a motorcycle. They beat him mercilessly, dismantled his bike, drained the fuel, and threw it aside.”

The attackers then stopped the priests’ vehicle.

“They physically attacked us—pushing, pulling, and beating us badly. They punched us, snatched our mobile phones, and kept shouting that we were trying to make them Americans—converting them by force,” Father Nirappel said. He said the attackers said, “The BJD days are over, now it’s BJP’s rule—you cannot make Christians anymore.”

BJD, or the Biju Janata Dal (Biju People’s Party), is a regional party that had ruled Odisha during 2000-2024

The women from the mission station pleaded with the attackers to spare the visiting team that was invited to a prayer service.

The priests alleged that the group hurled communal slurs and accused them of conversions in front of media persons who had accompanied the Bajrang Dal members.

“It was a planned ambush,” Father Nirappel asserted. “They brought their own media to fabricate a narrative.”

About 45 minutes into the ordeal, a team of police officers—including a female constable and two male officers—arrived on the scene.

However, even in the presence of the police, the mob continued its tirade. Father Nirappel informed the police that their mobile phones had been forcibly taken by the assailants, but no one in the mob admitted to having them or returned them.

“The police then told the mob they would take us to the station for inquiry, but in reality, they were just rescuing us from further violence.”

Father Nirappel, former director of Balasore Social Service Society, the social wing of the diocese, expressed deep anguish over the incident.

“I never imagined something like this could happen in the Jaleswar area. We were simply performing a prayer service for grieving families. We were attacked and humiliated on baseless allegations,” he said.

He lamented the growing trend of vilifying Christians with fabricated charges of forced conversions. “Even media houses are complicit,” he alleged. “They don’t verify facts—they just amplify what the mob says. That false narrative must be replaced with the truth.”

Father Nirappel also confirmed that no First Information Report had been registered until August morning. He said they were awaiting the visit of their Bishop Varghese Thottamkara.

Father Jojo, the visiting priest, sounded shocked. “I had come simply to offer a prayer service. I never imagined such hostility for doing something so peaceful and sacred,” he said.

The incident has sent shockwaves through the local Christians and raised serious concerns over rising religious intolerance and mob violence in Odisha.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India condemned the attack on the priests and nuns. The conference also expressed concern over the increasing attacks against minority communities in BJP-ruled India.

The attack took place within two weeks after the arrest of two nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh, Odisha’s northwestern neighbor, over alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion. Sisters Preethy Mary and Vandana Francis of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate were released from Durg jail on August 2 after a special NIA court granted them bail holding that the case was based on mere suspicion.

The arrest of the nuns sparked off a political slugfest with the Congress and CPI(M) criticising the police action and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai accusing them of politicizing the issue.

Three young women from Narayanpur, who were allegedly being trafficked, submitted a complaint at the office of the Superintendent of Police seeking to register an FIR against Bajrang Dal activists for allegedly assaulting them and forcing them to give false statements against the nuns.
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