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The All India Christian Council (AICC), a forum of lay Christian leaders, warned of the grave risks of dialogue with fundamentalists, pointing out on March 31 that these groups had created "a climate of hate and violence against Indian Christians by spreading the lie of the 'Videshi [foreign] church.'" The AICC was referring to Hindu fundamentalist claims that the Catholic Church here is merely an arm of the Vatican, and to Hindu proposals that Indian churches cut all ties with churches and agencies abroad.

Another Christian organization, the All India United Christian Voice, based in Bangalore, in southern India, declared on April 1 that "there should be no dialogue with the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh—National Volunteer Corps] or any fundamentalist outfit which is intolerant or fascist in nature."

However, the nation's main inter-church organization, the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), has decided to respond "positively" to a proposal for dialogue between Christians and Hindu groups to ease tensions and remove misunderstandings following widespread propaganda against Christianity and a series of attacks on Christians carried out by Hindu fundamentalists.

At the same time, a Catholic archbishop has pointed out that the fundamentalists do not represent mainstream Hindus in India, where about 82 percent of the population of 1 billion are Hindu.

The NCCI response came after the autonomous National Commission for Minorities (NCM) held a two-hour meeting in New Delhi on 26 March between the NCM members and 40 church representatives attending an executive meeting of the NCCI , which represents 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches.

"The only point repeatedly raised by the commission during the meeting was asking us to hold dialogue with those [Hindu] groups," Ipe Joseph, NCCI general secretary, told ENI. "We have made clear to them that we are prepared for dialogue. It [relations with Hindus] is a serious matter that concerns the entire Christian community. So, we need to talk to the Catholics [who are not represented in the NCCI] for their opinion, and to decide on the modalities of holding dialogue."

NCM's first bid to initiate dialogue among Christians and Hindu groups last year was widely criticized when the commission announced the dates for dialogue with Hindu groups without first consulting the NCCI and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), which represents the nation's 143 Catholic dioceses.

When churches questioned this, Hindu groups accused them of "running away" from dialogue.

This led to criticism that the NCM was in fact playing a "partisan" role while claiming to "bringing about communal harmony through dialogue."

Christian activists have recorded nearly 400 attacks on churches, church personnel and institutions in the past few years. Hindu fundamentalist groups are often said to be linked to the sudden growth of anti-Christian violence.

The NCCI general secretary told ENI he was happy that "all the members of the commission had been present at the meeting." A dozen members from the NCCI delegation raised Christian concerns.

NCM, which was set up to safeguard the interests of the religious minorities, has seven members, representing Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and Hindus. The NCM is autonomous and is funded by the federal government.

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April (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45