Church prayers halted: Centre swats away charges of 'polarization', places complete faith in Yogi Govt.

Jammu [India], Apr. 8 (ANI): Downplaying charges of attempts at polarization following a Church prayer service being halted by the right-wing Hindu Yuva Vahini in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre has expressed its complete faith in the Yogi Adityanath-led Government in maintaining the law and order situation in the state. The youth group, set up by Adityanath in 2002, interrupted the prayer service alleging that religious conversion was being carried out and filed a complaint against Yohannan Adam, the pastor of the church, accusing him of converting Hindus to Christianity, which was flatly denied by the latter. "As far as BJP is concerned, there is no attempt to polarize and have never been so. We stand vindicated after the results in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, where it was being alleged that the BJP is trying to polarize communities. If that were true, then the BJP would not have received such an overwhelming mandate, which means people voted for BJP across the caste and religion lines," Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh told the media here. Further asserting that the Uttar Pradesh Government is capable of dealing with the situation in a fair manner, Singh highlighted his faith in the Chief Minister's capability and decisiveness. The service, which was being attended by more than 150 people including foreign tourists, was interrupted by the youth group who barged into the hall and created a ruckus. The tourists were let go after their passports were throroughly checked, and the Christian group has flatly denied that it was carrying out conversions and asserted that it was a simple prayer service. "The police personnel even climbed onto our holy altar and took away our bible and song books. They even questioned all those who came to attend the prayer." Pastor Adam told ANI. This is not the first such instance has come to light, as earlier this year the Hindu Yuva Vahini had attacked the Full Gospel Church in Gorakhpur over similar allegations. The Hindu right wing has continuously and vociferously alleged that Christian missionaries are converting people through coercion. (ANI)