Since the Hindu nationalist BJP came to power in 2014, radical Hinduism has increased steadily. Several states outlaw proselytism, and there have been efforts to impose such so-called “anti-conversion laws” at a national level. The violence of radical Hindu groups or angry mobs of villagers is often allowed by local, state and national authorities dominated by the BJP. This means the Hindu radicals can act with increasing impunity.
India ‘not a country for Christians’ but Minister says they’re ‘safe under Modi’
India is “not a country for Christians” and other non-Hindu faiths – “they have their own countries” – according to an editorial in the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP’s “press organ”, Saamana. The editorial came on the back of remarks by Mohn Bhagwat, head of fellow Hindu nationalist group RSS, at […]
India: Kandhamal victims wait, a year on, for government to obey Supreme Court
In northeast India, local Christian leaders are calling on the Odisha state government to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that the compensation paid to victims of the 2008 Kandhamal violence, which left about 100 Christians dead, was “not enough”, reports Asia News. The August 2016 ruling ordered that Odisha should […]
Indian Christians beaten ‘with rods and sticks’
A Christian man involved in church work across ten villages in the southern Indian state of Telangana was severely beaten earlier this month, a source told World Watch Monitor. The victim, known as Pastor Seviya, “was attacked by five Hindu extremists with rods and thick sticks … until he became unconscious”, […]
India: ‘Kandhamal seven’ appeal hearings postponed
Seven “innocent” Christians serving prison sentences for the 2008 murder of a Hindu leader in India’s eastern Odisha state have had their appeal hearings “once again” postponed, according to a Catholic journalist campaigning for their release. The seven men, who are from the Kandhamal district of Odisha, were convicted in […]
India: Punjab police ‘not serious’ about murdered Christian
Police in India’s north-western state of Punjab dealing with the July murder of church leader Sultan Masih “are not taking the case seriously”, according to his son, Alisha. “Three months have passed since the incident and they have yet to find any concrete leads. In the name of interrogation, we […]
India: Kerala Christians welcome home kidnapped priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil
Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, recently released from 18 months’ captivity in Yemen, received a rousing welcome as he arrived home to the southern state of Kerala, a Christian stronghold, yesterday morning (1 October). Over a dozen senior political leaders from a range of parties, and dozens of media personnel, […]
India: yoga centre accused of forcibly reconverting women and girls to Hinduism
Police in the south-western Indian state of Kerala have launched an investigation into a complaint by a woman in her twenties who says she was detained and harassed for 22 days at a yoga centre because she had married a Christian, according to The Times of India. A case was […]
India: Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil welcomed home with flowers and tears
Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who has been the focus of world media attention after his 12 September release from 18 months’ captivity in Yemen, was given a rousing welcome as he landed in New Delhi yesterday morning (28 September). Dozens of journalists jostled for photos and videos as he […]
India: church fire attack in Karnataka
A church that opened three years ago in the south-west Indian state of Karnataka has been broken into and its contents destroyed in an intentional fire, reports Global Christian News. The leader of the Shalom Assembly of God Church, Pastor Vaddar Nagaraja, said that all the items in the church, […]
Indian children ordered to hail ‘the land of the Hindus’
An Indian Catholic bishop has voiced concern at an edict from a state education minister that schoolchildren should be forced to adopt a slogan praising India as the land of the Hindus. Kunwar Vijay Shah, education minister of the central state of Madhya Pradesh, has ordered pupils at state schools […]