MUMBAI, India – A group of around 50 Hindu nationalists forced their way into a Catholic school in India and demanded Christian statues were removed.
The activists were associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – All India Students’ Council – the student body of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in India.
They forced their way into St Peter Higher Secondary School in Jaora, in the Jhabua diocese, which is located in Madhya Pradesh state.
They demanded the Catholic school remove statues of St Peter and the Virgin Mary and installed portraits of the goddess Saraswati, who is considered the patron of knowledge under Hinduism, and Bharat Mata (Mother India) on the school’s premises.
