Dr Ashwathnarayan CN, a minister in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's cabinet, on Tuesday, 14 December, invalidated the communally motivated attacks against the Christian community being documented in Karnataka since September.
In an interview with NDTV, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka pronounced that there was no "question of attacking churches or Christians" as Karnataka was the most peaceful state.
Reacting to the fact that videos capturing these assaults have routinely surfaced online, the minister went on to allege that they "might be fabricated," NDTV reported.
A slew of attacks on churches and the Christian community have been documented in the state ahead of the Karnataka Assembly Winter Session, where a Bill preventing religious conversions is listed to be tabled.
The attacks are often carried out by Hindu right-wing outfits on mere suspicion of "forced religious conversions".
The 'anti-conversion' bill has been opposed by Opposition parties and minority religious groups, especially the Christian community. Speaking to The Quint, The Metropolitan Archbishop of Bengaluru, Peter Machado, had earlier said that the Christian identity will come under threat if the community's religious congregations are scrutinised with malice.
Further, as per to a fact-finding report documented by the United Christians Forum, Association for Protection of Civil Rights and United Against Hate, six attacks on Christian establishments have been documented between October and December.
Additionally, in a report released on 13 December, the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) documented 37 alleged attacks that took place between January and December 2021 on the Christian community in BJP-ruled Karnataka.
Most recently, a man was caught on CCTV camera, entering church premises in Belagavi with a machete and chasing the church-in-charge.
Terming the recurrent assaults on churches as 'baseless', Dr Ashwathnarayan alleged that 'some people may have created it to create this kind of perception.'
(With inputs from NDTV.)
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