The Catholic Church in the western Indian Gujarat state has sought police protection after one of its schools was harassed by a right wing Hindu mob.
“We request you to take necessary action against such unruly elements and grant us police protection so that no untoward situation occurs in our premises or to any member of our institution,” read a letter by Father Teles Fernandes, secretary of the Gujarat Education Board of Catholic Institutions.
The February 20 letter also urged authorities to provide protection to St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School in Amreli, 245 km southwest of Ahmedabad, the state’s commercial capital.
A mob insisted on installing the pictures of Hindu deities in classrooms and the principal’s office on February 20.
“The crowd spent the whole day in the school campus insisting on their demand, however, did not unleash any violence,” said school principal Father Binu Kunnel.
The principal also added that the ruckus seemed to be part of a planned operation to tarnish the school’s image.
Father Fernandes’ letter said the “unruly large group” comprised members of the vishwa Hindu Parishad (world Hindu council) and Bajrang Dal (Brigade of Lord Hanuman).
He dismissed the allegations raised by the mob against the school management as “totally false.”
He said the mob demanded that the school put up photos of Saraswati Mata, Bharat Mata, and Vivekananda in the principal’s office and classrooms.
Such demands, he said, were “totally unacceptable in a democratic and secular country like India. We as a minority group, feel threatened and intimidated by such elements.”
