Madhya Pradesh: People climbed a ‘church’ in Jhabua, raised slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and hoisted the saffron flag

On Sunday, January 21, in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, some people climbed the top of a church shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and hoisted the saffron flag. In a viral video, some people can be seen climbing the building and placing a flag on the Christian cross (Jhabua Church). The picture of Ayodhya Ram temple and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is written on the saffron flag. This incident took place on Sunday, January 21, a day before the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

He said, “It happened around 3 pm when we had completed our Sunday prayers. These people came from somewhere shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. There were at least 25 men there, and some of them climbed to the top of the church with flags.”

This church is in Dabatlai village of Ranapur in Jhabua district. The priest said that he recognized those people because they were from the neighboring village.

He said, “I recognized him. I even know the names of some of them. I tried to explain to them that this was not right. I told them that we are just people here praying and not to disturb us, but they refused to listen, I did not understand what was happening, this had never happened before.”

‘No complaint has been registered yet’: Police

Speaking to The Quint, Jhabua Superintendent of Police (SP) Agam Jain said that no FIR has been registered yet. They said that:

“Our team visited the site on Sunday evening. We asked what happened. This was a man’s house, which he used for prayer, it is not a church. Therefore, we took cognizance and did not register an FIR. The person did not want to file a complaint, so no complaint has been filed yet.”

However, the pastor denied that this was his house. He said, “This is a church that I started in 2016. Every Sunday, 30-40 people come here for prayers. This is a place of worship. My house is different.”

However, he agreed that he had not filed the complaint yet. He said, “They later apologized to me. So I have not yet decided whether I should file a complaint or not. I will discuss with the sarpanch of my village and then take a decision.”