ON Friday, Holy Child Auxilium School in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi was ransacked and CCTVs destroyed. This is the sixth such incident of attack on Christian institutions and churches. Five days prior to the Delhi elections, St Alphonsa’s church in Vasant Kunj was vandalised. Previously, a Catholic Church in Vikaspuri was attacked, the Christmas Crib at Rohini’s Church of Resurrection was burnt, the windows of an Okhla Church were broken. The worst incident was the one where the St Sebastian Church in Dilshad Garden was gutted in a fire. These are not random acts but a series of well orchestrated attacks that appear to be the handiwork of the fringe elements of the Sangh Parivar, the intensity of which has increased after the BJP came to power. It was perhaps one of the reasons for the BJP’s poor performance in the Delhi elections and if this continues the BJP is sure to be voted out in 2019.
There appears to be a wide berth between the BJP and the Sangh Parivar with the former doing and saying things which are repeatedly embarrassing the prime minister, Narendra Modi. It is good that Mr Modi has broken his silence and given very precise instructions to the Delhi Police Chief to nab the culprits involved in these acts of vandalism on churches and institutions and also to make the national capital safe for women and girls. Before this Mr Modi was silent on these attacks and it is this stunning silence which has hurt the sentiments of minorities including the large constituency of moderate Hindus. It is now for the Delhi Police to swing into action and arrest the vandals. It reflects poorly on the policing system of Delhi that churches and educational institutions can be so blatantly attacked and that the criminals can walk away unscathed. Indeed law and order seem to be on a downswing in Delhi. Earlier the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh who met representatives of churches had assured then that action would be taken to secure places of worship of the minority community. It remains to be seen whether these acts stop forthwith or whether it will be business as usual in Delhi.
