Congress politician and former chief of the state of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh, has launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after activists from two Hindu groups vandalised a Catholic school in the Vidisha district of the state.
The state is governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Congress is the main opposition party.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday, Singh wrote in Hindi saying: "Children were taking their exams, while Bajrang Dal activists were vandalising the school. The police were there as a silent spectator. PM Modi, how will you justify this hooliganism at the international level? What to expect from you director-general of police (DGP)?"
In another tweet, Singh said: "The Bajrang Dal activists resorted to hooliganism and despite the information given by the school administration, the police and the district administration didn't arrive at the scene on time".
"A probe should be conducted after suspending the entire police team from the Ganj Basoda area and transferring the district superintendent of police", he said.
On Monday, Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists vandalised a Catholic school in the Ganj Basoda area of the district, accusing the school authorities of religious conversion of students.
According to reports published in the Indian media, workers from Bajrang Dal and VHP, along with hundreds of locals, barged into the St. Joseph School and threw stones at the building.
The violence took place while Class 12 students were taking a math exam.
The Hindu groups targeted the educational institution alleging that as many as eight students had been converted by the school administration.
Refuting the allegations, school manager, Brother Antony, told the media: "A letter has been circulated stating that eight Hindu students were converted to Christianity. But they are not from our school. It (the conversion event) has been stated to have been organised on 31 October, which was a Sunday when no teacher or student comes to school. I informed the police yesterday, only two cops were here".
Soon after a video purportedly depicting the violence started making the rounds on social media, with many condemning the act.
A joint report by several civil society organisations has recently revealed that as many as 305 cases of attacks on members of the Christian community and their places of worship were reported in India between January and September.
The data is based on calls received on the United Christian Forum's helpline. As many as 1,362 calls were received on the Christian forum's helpline.