In Indore, a desecrated church is rebuilt by the real bhakts

K.S. Shaini September 03, 2001 00:00 IST In Indore, a desecrated church is rebuilt by the real bhakts -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

After the Babri masjid was razed to the ground by the ‘Jai Shri Ram brigade’, then prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had promised that the mosque would be rebuilt. But till date, it remains just that: a promise.

The storyline’s been a lot different at Indore in Madhya Pradesh. What an all-powerful prime minister of India could not accomplish has been done by the trustees of a Bajrangbali temple here. They have rebuilt a church wrecked by fanatics. "They only call themselves Bajrangis, but we are the real bhakts of Bajrang Bali," says Onkarlal Lakhiwal, president of the Nandanagar Hanuman temple trust, which undertook the rebuilding work. On the other side, Father L. Meena, Bishop of the Bhopal Diocese, says, "We are extremely happy. Such initiatives send a strong and positive message to the people".

On May 11 last year, on the eve of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to Indore, around 15 motorcycle-borne miscreants attacked three churches in different parts of Indore. One of them was the St Paul’s Church. The church, located in Bajrangnagar—a lower...