India church: 50,000 flee anti-Christian clashes*

Dozens of 'sacrificial lambs' killed in violence blamed on Hindu hard-liners

Indian Christians and human rights activists protest in New Delhi on
September 26 following a series of violent clashes with Hindus in Orissa
and Karnatka states.

updated 8:33 a.m. PT, Tues., Oct. 14, 2008

NEW DELHI - Indian church leaders said Tuesday that Christians killed in
recent clashes were "sacrificial lambs" targeted by hard-line Hindus
seeking an advantage in upcoming national elections.

The All India Christian Council said the toll after nearly two months of
sporadic violence has reached 59 dead and 50,000 displaced. Officials in
the eastern state of Orissa, site of the worst violence, say 34 people
have been killed.

The recent violence began after Hindu activists blamed Christians for
the slaying of a Hindu leader killed in Orissa on Aug. 23. Retaliatory
attacks left scores dead, dozens of churches destroyed and thousands of
people homeless, despite the government's claim that Maoists killed the
Hindu leader.

"A frenzied and well-armed band of political criminals has threatened
our community as perhaps it has never been in its 2,000 year-old history
in India," said John Dayal, secretary-general of the All India Christian
Council.

There is a long history of tension between the religious groups in
Orissa because Hindu leaders accuse Christian missionaries of forcing
low-caste Hindus to convert, charges denied by Christian leaders.

Leaders from the council on Tuesday said the violence was led by
hard-line Hindu parties preparing for national elections, expected early
next year, by whipping up religious fervor.

"The sole motive is to gain political advantage in coming national
elections," said Dayal. "We have been made sacrificial lambs."

The Christian leaders blamed the violence on radical Hindu groups,
including the Bajrang Dal and the World Hindu Council, organizations
loosely affiliated with the hard-line Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP
rules Orissa and Karnataka, the two states that have seen anti-Christian
violence, and is looking to challenge the ruling Congress Party for
power in New Delhi.

Roughly 2.5 percent of India's 1.1 billion people are Christians, while
more than 80 percent are Hindu. India is officially a secular nation.

The Christian leaders called Tuesday for a federal probe into the violence.