Pastor John Samuel, a Christian worker, serving the Lord Jesus in Bhatinda for the last six years, organised a Christian Revival Convention from 26 to 28 October at Seth Bhanamal Trust Dharamsala, Street No. 6 Nai Basti, Bhatinda. The hall was booked two months earlier and all necessary permissions were taken from the authorities. M K Babu, New Delhi, T.S, Sam, Dehradun and I were to speak in these meetings.

It was a heartbreaking scene when we reached the convention site at 6 p.m. on 26th. The chairs were broken, the stage was destroyed and the two brothers who were present were threatened by a group of people claiming themselves to be Bajrang Dal and BJP Yuva Morcha activists. These anti-social elements were also staging a dharna and shouting anti-Christian slogans. When we tried to talk to them, they yelled that Christians had no right to conduct any such public meeting in the city. They also 'ordered' Christians to quit India, stating that this was a Hindu nation.

As the incident was a clear sign of hostility to Christians, the District Administration was requested for protection. District Superintendent of Police, Bhatinda, arrived immediately with a police team. Reporters from all news papers and Zee news also arrived.. The DSP asked the organisers to continue with the meeting while he and his men provided tight security. The fanatics outside were threatening us with dire consequences. They also blocked the roads and stopped people from entering into the hall. With the help of the policemen, only about 200 people could get in. As I was preaching, they were shouting "jai sriram' through a microphone. As soon as the meeting was over, we were led outside by the commandos deployed for our security.

The next day, although the fundamentalists repeated their previous evening' performance, the administration helped us conduct the meeting. The SDM and ASP, with more than 50 policemen and 10 commandos armed sten guns were deputed to protect us. The fire brigade was also called to tackle any untoward incident . The Bajrang Dal too brought more of their activists from outside of the city to stage dharna. Threatening slogans and abusive words were hurled on those attending the meeting.

I preached in the meetings on 26th and 27th and then left for Delhi.

There was a meeting on 28 as well, but on the request of the SDM, it was shifted from the Dharamshala to the Zilla Parishad hall to ensure security. Br. T.S. Sam preached in that meeting. The fanatics came there too and staged the same drama. The hindutva propagators of Bhatinda threatened that they would not allow Christians to conduct any public meeting in the city in the future.

M K Babu
Publisher and Editor
PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
Christian monthly Newspaper