NEW DELHI, March 9: Police in the western Indian state of Gujarat have been collecting information about Christian families and institutions, a news report said on Sunday.

Policemen have been asking questions about the number of Christians in certain areas and details of their jobs in the past days. They have also asked Christian institutions for details about foreign funding, the Hindustan Times newspaper said.

The All-India Christian Council has submitted a memorandum to the head of the state’s police force and plans to file a petition in the high court next week.

Father Cedric Prakash of the United Christian Forum for Human Rights said, “This survey may be a build up to the anti-conversion bill the government wants to introduce.”

Some Christians were apparently asked whether they were converts, and if it was voluntary.

Community leaders alleged that policemen have been visiting homes in Ahmedabad city and the districts of Sabarkantha, Banaskantha and Kutch over the last few days and have been asking questions about the sizes of Christian families.

Police also visited at least 25 Christian institutions. Bishop Gregory of Rajkot city said, “I was asked about the number of Christians and institutions here,” the Hindustan Times reported.

Director General of Police K. Chakravarthy denied a statewide survey had been ordered. He said police officers in some districts may have asked for certain people to be checked.

An official in the state’s home department told the Hindustan Times, “It may be a survey about foreign funds and its use, but that is applicable for institutions of all communities.”

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governs Gujarat. The BJP is closely linked to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council), a radical group that campaigns for a Hindu ‘rashtra’ or nation.

The VHP ensured a victory for the BJP in state elections in Gujarat last year after an aggressive Hindu nationalist campaign.

Groups like the VHP have in the past accused Christian missionaries of proselytising those from economically and socially disadvantaged communities, by offering them financial incentives.

Since December 1998, Christians have been targeted by Hindu fundamentalists, after churches were set ablaze in Gujarat’s Dangs district.

In a 37-page report entitled “Politics By Other Means: Attacks Against Christians In India”, published in 1999, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that attacks against Christians throughout the country had increased significantly since the BJP assumed power in 1998.

HRW said the Hindu organisations mainly responsible for the attacks, which included the killing of priests, rapes of nuns and the destruction of Christian institutions such as schools, churches, colleges and cemeteries, were the RSS, Bajrang Dal and VHP.

Christians form 2.4 per cent of Indian’s population, 82 per cent of which is Hindu and 12 per cent Muslim.—dpa