Right-wing activists disrupt Christian dance at school

JHABUA:The The rightwing activists said songs and dances in praise of Jesus could prompt those in the audience to convert to Christianity.

SCHOOL OFFICIAL

Jhabua district education department has sought a detailed report into the disruption of a Christian dance performance by right-wing activists at a government school in Madrani village earlier this week.

Although the incident occurred on Monday, police caught wind of the issue only after a video clip of the alleged attack went viral four days later.

Two students — Ishaq, 10, and Deepak, 11 — were dancing to a song in praise of Jesus Christ when some people from the crowd allegedly stepped onto the stage and demanded that they stop the performance.

“The right-wing activists said songs and dances in praise of Jesus could prompt those in the audience to convert to ChristianRan ity. We stopped the performance to prevent any untoward incident,” a school official said on the condition of anonymity.

“The boys were sent home before things could get chaotic.”

Although the school management is yet to file a formal complaint in this regard, Jhabua diocese PRO Rocky Shah termed the incident as an “unfortunate” one that goes against the constitutional right to freely practice one’s religion.

Singh and Badu Singh – the parents of Ishaq and Deepak — said their children did not deserve to be disappointed in this manner after all the effort they had put into rehearsing for the dance performance.

Meghnagar block education officer BN Sharma said he had sought a detailed report on the issue from the school management.

“I will decide on the course of action after that,” he said.

This is not the first instance of Christians being targeted by right-wing activists in Jhabua.

Recently, members of a local Hindu group allegedly assaulted some carol singers and accused them of conducting forced conversions.

Last week, police arrested over a dozen right-wing activists to prevent them from conducting a ‘Bharat Mata aarti’ at a Christian school.