Christians there believe that hardline Hindu groups are carrying out a concerted campaign against them. Some Hindu groups have accused Christians of using job offers and money to persuade poor Hindus to convert. This weekend, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited the area and made fresh calls for religious tolerance. But he also called for a national debate on conversions. In one Gujarat village, a Christian church was burned down and is now protected by police.
People there say they are braced for further trouble and even willing to die for their faith.
The local pastor, who was slashed with an axe, claims that behind such attacks are Hindu nationalists who incite people by saying that Christianity is a foreign religion and Christians must be thrown out before the whole country is converted. Christian missionaries have been working in this impoverished tribal area for the best part of a century and some of their schools have come under threat. Those on the extreme end of the Hindu nationalist movement say that education and medicine are used by missionaries as an inducement to conversion. This is denied at one Catholic school by Father Jose Maria Navarro, who came to India from Spain 52 years ago. He says the number of converts is often exaggerated by Hindu groups and by some churches.