Christian ‘Love Jihad’ in Bihar’s Seemanchal region

• Hundreds of Hindu girls converted, along with their families

• Christianisation of many villages

Patliputra (Bihar) – Many Christian boys are luring Hindu girls into their love traps in many Districts of Bihar. They are using similar tactics like ‘Love Jihad’ used by religious fanatic Muslims and converting Hindu girls, followed by converting their families. This information has been brought forth through a ‘sting’ operation carried out by a national-level Hindi newspaper.

Araria, Katihar, Kishanganj, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Madhepura and Begusarai Districts are being targeted. The level of literacy is very low in these Districts; therefore, it becomes easy for the missionaries to mislead Hindus and they have mainly targeted these Districts. The number of churches increased on a large scale in many villages in these Districts during the period 1999 to 2005. Their focus has been primarily on villages rather than cities. The Christian population in many villages of Madhepura has reached up to 40%-60%. Tinkonwa village in the Murliganj area is its example, which is 260 km from Patliputra, with 1,400 houses. It is very backward as regards education. The population of the village is 60,000. The number of churches increased astonishingly in this village. There is only one missionary school, having classes till the eighth standard. The only hospital in the village is also run by Christians.

Converting Hindus to Christianity is a silent murder of the nation – VHP

Vivek Kumar, the local leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) stated that the incidents of Hindu girls adopting Christianity have gone up, but VHP has brought back 2,500 Hindus under ‘Ghar-wapasi’ in the last three years. Jawahar Jha, a senior Vice President of ‘International Hindu Parishad, Bihar’ said that the conversion of Hindus is a silent murder of this country. Its reason is that incidents of conversions are never reported as news, and it is done without fanfare. Christian missionaries mainly target poor Hindu families.

How conversions are carried out –

A woman named Sunita was lured by a Christian boy named John when she was only 17 years old. She was trapped in such a way that she never came out of it. She eloped and married him, only to get converted by his family.

A scarier example is Maya, who was trapped by a Christian man in his love. He married her and after her bearing his two children, he left her.

There are several similar incidents in the Seemanchal region where Hindu girls were trapped in a ploy like ‘Love Jihad’.

The people working in schools and health centres operated in various villages, and rural areas in the State are mostly Christians who are converting Hindus. They slowly inculcate the importance of Christianity in people and convert them. The number of churches also increased in those villages.

R Hambram and his wife Lalita, originally a Hindu, have the responsibility of converting Tinkonwa village. Lalita said in this context that many Christian boys have married Hindu girls after converting them. People are encouraged to adopt Christianity through the medium of prayer meetings and music.