RSS and its frontal organizations have been leveling this charge against the missionaries for not less than 50 years. This has been the most preferred tactics of the Sangh to gain ground in Jharkhand. During the days of united Bihar, the Sangh had also set up a number of organizations, like Vanvasi Parishad, to take on the missionaries.

Once again Das has resorted to this nasty tactics. The Das government has in fact amended the land tenancy laws to allow agricultural land to be used for non-agricultural purposes. It is an open secret that he has been under obligation to provide huge tracts of land to the corporate sector, particularly to Adanis. On their part, the tribals have also been adamant to foil this move. Since the state government was finding it tough to resort to ruthless measures to silence them, Das has been pursuing this mechanism.

On September 16, six persons were arrested for allegedly trying to convert Sarna tribals in Simdega district. What is of interest is that the incident took place within a month of enacting the Jharkhand Freedom of Religion Act 2017 that prohibits conversion. Interestingly the police came to know of this from a complaint filed by the Gram Pradhan. The SP, however, said that this was the first such instance in his three years in Simdega.

This is seen as an attempt to pit Sarnas (non-Hindu, non-Christian tribal people) against Christians. The chief minister has been resorting to this tactics to terrorise and harass the Christian tribals, who are educated and have been raising awareness amongst the common tribals against his government’s land-grab efforts. Even the government put an ad quoting Mahatma Gandhi: “the tribal people were “mute and simple, like cows” and converted “not for Jesus but for rice”. The government got scared of the nature of the recent protests by the tribals and the Adivasi Diwas celebrations on August 9. Das was using the tactics of “divide and rule”.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops Council of India (CBCI), the apex body of Roman Catholic Christians, on September 13 appealed to the Prime Minister to "curb the spread of hatred by CM Raghubar Das". CBCI’s secretary-general Theodore Mascarenhas said he was compelled to write to Modi as he was disturbed over the politics of hate unleashed in Jharkhand.
The Hindu organizations have already thrown their weight behind Das and advised him not to budge. This has simply aggravated the situation. CBCI has made it categorically clear; “If the chief minister is unable to control his ideological hatred, then it is time for him to go". In fact Hindu Jagran Manch had burnt the effigy of Ranchi archbishop Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo last week. Mascarenhas expressed apprehension that this hatred being spread against Christians could soon "turn into physical violence". It is a sad commentary on the performance of Modi who only on Independence Day had promised to the countrymen that violence couldn't be allowed in the name of faith.

The cleric said;"We are not speaking about ourselves, we are speaking about the people of Jharkhand". He questioned the vilification campaign launched by Das against the Christians of Jharkhand. Mascarenhas also questioned if there was any hidden logic behind Jharkhand's new land acquisition amendment bill that was passed with the religion bill on the same day "in record time, practically without discussion". He wondered if the hatred-filled advertisement and the Freedom of Religion Bill were smokescreens for the real act of amendment to the land acquisition Act.

The electoral compulsions are so acute that even BJP chief Amit Shah heaped praise on Raghubar Das for his actions. According to Shah, Jharkhand is poised to become a BJP bastion at a time when the chief minister has come in for severe criticism from the Church for the enactment of an anti-conversion law that it believes is creating a divide among tribals. Instead of coming clean and putting things straight in the public domain he defended the introduction of Jharkhand Freedom of Religion Act-2017 and Jharkhand Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Act-2017.

Meanwhile, All Churches Committee Ranchi (ACCR), an umbrella organisation of churches in the state, claimed that the Christian population in Jharkhand and across India is almost static and challenged the Das government to prove that forcible mass conversions were taking place.

According to ACCR chairman Reverend A.K. Ekka, the Census figures show that the Christian population in Jharkhand was 4.10 per cent of the total population in 2001, after the state was born, and 4.30 in 2011. Across India, Christians comprised 2.34 per cent of the total population in 2001 and 2.30 per cent in 2011. Ekka sought to know; "If these are the kind of growth figures, where are the forcible conversions that the government alleges missionaries to have conducted?" Ekka, who led a six-member delegation to President Ram Nath Kovind also sought to know; "When the CM and his government are saying that the missionaries are forcibly converting tribals, why can't they show figures to prove their point?"

The intellectuals and academics along with political leaders nurse the view that the religion bill and the land bill were aimed at driving a wedge between the Christian and Sarna followers in the tribal society and dilute tribal rights to land. Ekka also pointed to "genuinely frightening figures of displacement" that the government did not speak about. Around 60 million people have been displaced in the country so far in the name of development, of which 10 million are adivasis alone. In Jharkhand, 1.5 million people, mostly adivasis and Dalits, were displaced but merely one-fourth of them were somehow rehabilitated. Many displaced adivasis lost their identity, culture and traditions. (IPA Service)