Raipur attack: RSS outfit denies role

Amitabh Tiwari / TNN / Jan 18, 2008, 01:59 IST

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At least a dozen people were injured when more than 200 workers of Dharmasena, a front outfit of the RSS, attacked a missionary camp in Dhamtari district.

RAIPUR: At least a dozen people were injured when more than 200 workers of Dharmasena, a front outfit of the RSS, attacked a missionary camp in Dhamtari district. When contacted, Dharmasena state unit chief Kishore Kothari told TOI, "Our members weren’t involved. The villagers told us about the health camp when we were holding a meeting in the village.I told them that our activists can’t intervene in such cases."
Kothari then added, "I later learnt that the villagers themselves attacked the health camp. The missionaries are fooling innocent people on the pretext of curing them of their ailments. The government should immediately ban such camps since these promote religious conversions."
Raipur range IG Y K S Thakur said, "A resident of Dhamtari has been arrested. We are interrogating the accused." Late last year, Dharmasena activists blackened a pastor’s face and garlanded him with shoes.
In September 2007, the Hindu activists had stopped four St Xavier’s School buses, asked the children to get off, sand then burnt the vehicles. In April 2007, an American resident of Raipur was assaulted on mere suspicion that he was involved in missionary activity. He was merely married to a woman from Raipur and had nothing to do with conversion. Raipur’s Christians are unwilling to speak out against the Dharmasena as they fear any such "provocation" would adversely affect their educational and other service institutions.
Meanwhile, the National Commission of Minorities has accused the Orissa government of being "negligent" in dealing with the recent violence against the Christians. "The government and local officials had been warned of trouble as early as on December 22. But they did not take any action," said a member of the NCM delegation.

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