Although anti-Christian rhetoric was rampant and a CD was circulated calling on Hindus to kill Christians, there were no reports of violence at the Shabri Kumbh festival in Gujarat, India, February 11-13.
“It was an obvious answer to prayer,” said Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan. Before the festival, K.P. called on Christians around the world to pray and fast in support of the believers, who were under the threat of forced conversion, physical harm, and even death.
The turnout for the festival, which was organized for the purpose of forcing tribal Christians to convert to Hinduism, was much smaller than anticipated. While the radical Hindu organizers had hoped to attract more than half a million people to the event, only about 150,000 attended. But to the estimated 8,000 tribal Christians in the area, that is still an intimidating number.
GFA’s Gugarat state leader said that statements made by the Hindu speakers “polluted the minds of the tribals and ordinary people against the missionaries.”
Leaders of the Sangh, the nationalism religious movement that equates being Indian with being Hindu, called on their followers to “awaken” to the cause of “religion, culture and nationalism,” and to “stop people who are indulging in conversions” of the poor.
“We cannot be mute spectators to what the missionaries are doing,” one leader said.
GFA leader M.A. Lalachan has called for prayer for the churches of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Orissa, where, he says, “More persecution is reported against the Church and missionary activities.”