A group of unruly men chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’. climbed on top of a church in Madhya Pradesh’s Jhabua and planted saffron flags, ahead of the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony. In a video, now viral, the men can be seen climbing the building, and attaching a flag on the Christian cross. The saffron flag had a picture of the Ayodhya Ram Temple and ‘Jai Sri Ram’ inscribed on it. The incident took place on Sunday, 21 January, a day before the ‘pran pratishtha’ ceremony.
Police officials in Jhabua claimed that it was not a Church. This ist he house of a priest and it was being used as prayer space. Since the resident was not ready to lodge aqny complaint, no action has been taken so far.
Talking to media perosns, the pastor of the church, Narbu Amaliyar, said that the group of men arrived yelling the slogans right after the Sunday prayer had completed. The church is in village Dabtalai in Ranapur, in Jhabua district.
Amaliyar said he recognised the men, as they are from a neighboring village.
“I recognised them. I even know some of their names. I tried to tell them that this is not right. I told them that we are just worshipers here and they should not trouble us, but they refused to listen,” Amaliyar said. “I di not understand what was happening, this has never happened before," he added.