Tale of two districts: After Dangs, Surat is the target

Incidentally, the police had picked up 10 people on Thursday on charges of desecrating a temple in Dangs on Wednesday night.

Thursday’s incident was reportedlythe fallout of a recent altercation between a Christian tribal and a group of persons who allegedly made him say He Ram’ and, when he refused, beat him up and damaged his cycle. The group had also reportedly warned him that the prayer hall would be attacked.

Youth Congress leader Deven Kapdi, who visited the village along with senior leaders including Mandvi MP Chhitubhai Gamit and Surat District Congress Unit President Yusufbhai Sava, alleged that the villagers had been denied police protection despite asking for it after receiving the threat.

Kapdi said that Sava had, after Friday’s incident, contacted AICC treasurer Ahmed Patel in Delhi, who in turn contacted former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma and Union Home Secretary B P Singh. Copies of the FIR – which was filed in the evening – were faxed to Singh on his demand, the local leaders claimed.

District superintendent of Police B D Vaghela and officials from the Songadh Police Station were at Doswada village and could not be contacted. Districtcollector R M Shah and Surat Range IG O P Mathur were also not available for comment.

The violence in Doswadi was in stark contrast to the administration’s efforts to restore peace in Dangs. The physical healing – re-laying the tiles on a school roof – was backed by positive statements from district VHP president Pratip Patel and Hindu Jagaran Manch president Janubhai Pawar, who told S K Nanda, the government secretary in charge of the district who was part of the proceedings today, that they would not do anything to affect the peace process.

Patel said his organisation, which would cooperate in activities to speed up development work in the district, was not opposed to Christians but to conversions. Asked if the conversion issue had blown over, he said, “We have not come to discuss conversion but to discuss development.”

In fact, development was the watchword in Dangs. The kar seva began in Subir, at the Navjot High School – which had been set on fire on the night of December 25, when theconfrontation began. District officials, villagers of both faiths and a large number of students of the government high school put tiles on the school building. However, there weren’t too many village elders and Zilla Panchayat president Jaya Patel was also conspicuous by her absence.

Interestingly, leaders of the Church of North India were also not present. CNI’s Dangs district representative T V Gaikwad had earlier expressed his inability to attend due to a prior commitment, but even others were not present. When contacted, CNI leaders said they had waited for the official jeep to pick them up, but the vehicle had not come.

There was also a Sneh Milan function, where villagers were asked to speak about their problems. The officials doled out assurances, but more material assistance as well: The school received Rs 26,000 as compensation, and work began on three roads and a bus stand, to be built by the district panchayat under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana at a cost of Rs 2.4 lakh.

However, there was stilla degree of tension and apprehension. DDO D J Dharaiya’s appeal to forgive and forget met with a cautious response from Fr M V Anthony of Navjot. While praising the work of the district authorities, he said the fear was yet to dissipate.

“We are still apprehensive. Somebody is threatened almost every day. We will cooperate with the authorities but some culprits are still roaming scot-free and are not willing to reconcile.”

Fr C M Raphael of Jeevan Jyot School said peace was yet to be restored as the mood among VHP activists was still militant and the process of reconversion was still going on.