Christians stopped from building new church *Gujarat municipality to ban meat sale

India, April 21, 2012: Christians in a village in India have been prevented from building a new church on recently purchased land.

Pastor Sayam Chandran, who is supported by Gospel for Asia, bought the land in order to build a larger church to house his growing congregation.

His current church in the village, both of which cannot be named for security reasons, has room for up to 90 people during service time.

An additional 200 people in the village receive home visits from Pastor Chandran to make up for the fact that there is no room for them in the church.

Gospel for Asia said that anti-Christian residents in the village had stopped the construction of the church from going ahead.

Although he is facing strong opposition at present, Pastor Chandran has earned the respected title of a religious teacher in 10 neighbouring villages because of the many miracles that have reportedly happened through his prayers and dedicated ministry.

Gospel for Asia president, K P Yohannan, is inviting Christians to pray for Pastor Sayam, his flock and many other Christians facing similar obstacles in their ministry.

“We’re so grateful for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are praying for pastors like Sayam,” said Mr Yohannan.

“It is through these faithful prayers that God’s work is established.

– christian today

Gujarat municipality to ban meat sale

Gujarat, April 23, 2012: The decision is to appease the Jain community who has been demanding ban on sale of meat products, including eggs.

A municipality in an Ahmedabad town is mulling to ban sale of non-vegetarian food but said it would seek people’s view before implementation.

Palitana Municipal Committee passed a resolution in its general body meeting Friday to ban even eggs, within its territory.

However, the municipality said it would first ask its 100,000 residents among whom 40 percent are non-vegetarian.

The Bharatiya Janata Party rules the municipality and its president Pravinbhai Gadhvi told reporters that the decision to ban meat sale was taken following the demand of the Jain religious leaders.

He said that some Jain religious leaders led by Maharajsaheb Maitriprabhasagar in March had sat on a dharna demanding ban of meat.

He had threatened to self-immolate himself if his demand was not accepted.

Gadhvi, however, said that a recommendation for imposing ban would be made to the government only after consulting the residents.

BJP is in majority in the municipality, occupying 30 seats in a house of 36. Six Congress members led by Hidabhai Baloch, a Muslim, boycotted the resolution.

However, Baloch refused to make any comment when contacted.

Meanwhile, a government official, on condition of anonymity, said that Friday’s decision was taken by the municipality under political pressure as Jains were politically very influential in the state and contributed a lot to the BJP election coffers.

However, the official said that the decision for a ban was not as per constitutional provisions.

Besides the 25 percent Muslims, many Hindu communities like Kolis are also meat eaters and are opposing the decision.

Muslim residents of the town fear that if the ban is implemented, they would also not be allowed to slaughter animals during Baqr Id which is their religious duty.

They say that the decision is in favour of one community, overlooking the religious responsibilities of the other.

The Muslims have requested the administration not to buckle under the pressure of Jains who do not account for even five per cent of the town’s population.

Palitana is a well-known Jain pilgrim town, about 400 km from Ahmedabad.

– tcn