India, Aug. 17 -- A Knock at Noon It was a little past noon on August 3 when a stranger in saffron robes entered Divine Mercy Church in Bamanpukur, North 24 Parganas. Calling himself Swami Shivananda Maharaj, he was followed by fifteen men. They entered forcibly, demanded to see parish priest Fr Pradip Dari, accused him of converting poor villagers and told the parish's roughly 100 Catholic families, most of them Dalit and tribal, to abandon Christianity and "return" to Sanatan Dharma. He claimed to represent the Vishva Hindu Parishad.

This was not an isolated incident. On July 31, sixty-odd kilometres away in Nazat, Claretian missionaries were ordered by self-declared Hindu activists to shut their mission and tell Christians to return ...