Team News Riveting
Jagdalpur, January 5
Bastar bandh called by the tribal community over the alleged forced religious conversion evoked massive response on Thursday.
Shops and business establishments across the region remained closed as the Chamber of Commerce supported the bandh call given by the Sarv Adivasi Samaj. The simmering differences between the tribal and Christian communities in the interior areas of Narayanpur district took an ugly twist on Monday when people vandalized a Church and attacked the police party in which Superintendent of Police Sadanand Kumar was seriously injured.
The tribal community had called for Narayanpur bandh on Monday to protest against the attack on its members by a group of Christians. The villagers have been opposing the converted Christians and forced conversion that flared up tension in the villages. Subsequently, the resentment of villagers spilled out in the open, culminating into Monday’s incident.
While additional forces have been deployed in the district headquarters, Narayanpur has been turned into a cantonment. The police have arrested 10 persons including the BJP District President, Roop Sai Salam in connection with the violence.
To protest against the police action and release of its members, the Sarv Adivasi Samaj had called for Bastar bandh on Thursday. Sources said the bandh was total and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the region. Though Narayanpur was exempted from bandh given the tense situation, traders spontaneously responded and did not open the shutters.
Sources said in all the seven districts of Bastar, the bandh evoked massive response. The Chamber of Commerce had asked its members to put the shutters down till 3 pm. In Kanker, a few shop keepers opened the establishment but closed when the activists of Adivasi samaj appealed.
