HALDIBARI, India — Adherents of a Bodo tribal religion in Assam, a state in northeast India, forced nine families from their homes Nov. 14 for converting to Christianity. The villagers destroyed six of the nine families’ homes, forcing the Christians to take shelter in a primary school. The nine families live in four villages in the Kokrajhar district of Assam.
Their ordeal began when a Pentecostal meeting held in Haldibari village Nov. 13 infuriated the Bodo tribal people, who organized their own religious gathering the next day. As some of the tribal people of Haldibari are sympathizers of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, they resolved at their meeting to force the Christian families out. That afternoon, 25 Bodo villagers attacked the homes of three Christian families in Haldibari and the violence soon spread to the neighboring villages of Moflabari, Jamduguri and Basdari.
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