JOYPUR, India — The indigenous Bodo people of the northeastern Indian state of Assam are appealing to the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) for prayer and support in the wake of ethnic clashes in recent months.
Violence broke out in Assam in July between Bodos — who are mostly Hindu or Christian — and Muslims, causing the deaths of at least 80 people and the displacement of more than 400,000 who fled their homes and are now living in Internally Displaced Peoples camps. More than 5,000 of their houses were razed.
Baptist World Aid (BWAid), the relief and development arm of the BWA, sent a grant of $10,000 for immediate relief. BWAid and the BWA division of freedom and justice are working on a joint response to the crisis.
The violence broke out July 10 after four local Bodo boys were hacked to death in Joypur, in Lower Assam, by a group of Bengali-speaking Muslims who are believed to be migrants from Bangladesh. This led to retaliatory arson and killings. The violence was brought under control by the Indian army over a period of three days.
Another BWA member body in the state, the North Bank Baptist Christian Association, has more than 70,000 members in almost 1,000 churches, about 70 percent of whom are Bodo. The Assam Baptist Convention, another BWA member in Assam, has approximately 30,000 members in 335 churches.
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