The Madhya Pradesh Catholic Diocesan Schools’ Association has moved the High Court and sought protection for its educational institutions, The Indian Express reported on Monday. The association has alleged that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student body associated to the Bharatiya Janata Party, wanted to incite communal tension in the state.
Secretary-General of Catholic Bishops Conference of India Theodore Mascarenhas said the ABVP was targeting schools and colleges run by Christians. The association decided to move the High Court following a rise in communal incidents over the last few months.
On January 4, hundreds of ABVP activists had created a ruckus outside St Mary’s PG College in Vidisha after they were not allowed to enter the institution to recite the “Bharat Mata aarti”. Mascarenhas said that the right-wing student body had used WhatsApp to tell its members to forcibly enter the college and chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
In December 2017, more than 30 priests and seminarians singing carols were detained in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna town for allegedly trying to convert villagers to Christianity.
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