Bishop for probe into land dispute

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, DEC. 7. The Bishop of the Evangelical Church of India, Dr. Ezra Sargunam, today called for an ``impartial judicial inquiry'' into the controversy over the ownership of the land in Gujarat's Chhindia village, where an ECI church has been functioning since 1996.

The bishop, in a statement released from Surat, where he is on a protest fast, said Mr. Punyabhai, who now staked claim over the land, had agreed, along with seven others, to the transfer of the property seven years ago to build a church. Mr. Punyabhai had been set up by the Gujarat government as the sole beneficiary of the joint property as a ``cover to the evil design to convert the church into a Ram-Hanuman temple.''

Mr. Punyabhai, he said, had participated in the activities of the church as late as November 19. ``To our knowledge, he is still a member of the church,'' he added.

The Government had created a law and order situation in the area and prevented Adivasi Christians from offering prayers. Two weeks ago, there was no dispute regarding the property over which the church stood, he said.

In a separate statement from Chennai, the bishop's commissary, Dr. D. Sundar Singh, said the local VHP activists, with the help of the police, broke into the church on November 26, placed pictures of Hindu deities inside, removed the Cross on top of the church and hoisted a flag with the `Ohm' symbol.

The church had never been a house as claimed by the Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Mr. Haren Pandya. ``There is no question of the Bishop trying to instigate Christians in Chhindia village,'' he said.

Cong. claim

UNI reports from Gandhinagar:

The Congress has said it had asked Bishop Sargunam to leave the State in the interest of peace. The Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly and former Congress Chief Minister, Mr. Amarsinh Choudhary, said the issue was a simple dispute over land ownership.

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