A Catholic archbishop in southern India’s Karnataka state condemned the attacks on churches and the demolition of religious statues in the area, calling it “systematic and ill-conceived.”
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore said the demolitions in his archdiocese are being pursued “with dogged determination by the government and its machinery.”
He said the government move violated a court order, adding that the land dispute where the statue stood was pending before the High Court.
Authorities in Kolar district in Karnataka demolished a 20-foot tall statue in the village of Gokunte on February 15 despite the opposition of the local Christian community.
Archbishop Machado lamented that although the Church has documents of the land where the structures are located, local authorities considered these as incomplete.
The prelate said the archdiocese was not even served a written notice for the demolition.
“Assuming that the structures were not fully authorized, the government agencies could have had the magnanimity to regularize these structures, which were in place for over 25 years,” said Archbishop Machado.
The prelate denounced the demolition as “discriminatory,” asking whether there were “pressures from fundamentalist groups “who are bent on the demolition of these Christian structures.”
“Does the government have any control over such fringe elements?” said the archbishop.
The statue of Jesus has stood on a hill overlooking Gokunte near the parish of St Francis Xavier since 2004.
The village has a population of up to 600 people, most of whom are Catholic. The church in the area is one of the oldest in the Kolar district.
The parish runs a home for poor children, a pilgrim’s house, and other social sevices, including vocational training centers for women and an English school for children.
Archbishop Machado also decried the continued attacks on churches across the state.
“In the last two years, we have seen demolitions occurring at six such places on the hills, and systematic attacks on the churches across the state,” said the prelate.
“Notwithstanding these ill-conceived acts, we still hope and pray that the government will protect our places of worship, religious symbols and sacred structures, and that it does not continue to hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian minority,” he said.
The ecumenical United Christian Forum earlier said Karnataka recorded the highest incidents of anti-Christian violence in southern India. It comes third in the number of violence against Christians after Uttar Pradesh in the north and Chhattisgarh in the center. – with a report from Vatican News