Tag: BJP

India minister says no special caste status for Christians

October 27, 2014 India BJP, Caste, Converts, Dalits, Haryana, Maharashtra

Winnowing grain in a Dalit village near Madurai, Tamil Nadu. 2006 photo.Matteo / Flickr / Creative Commons India should not extend government job and education assistance to the country’s poorest Christians, India’s social justice minister, Thavar Chand Gehlot, said this month. For one thing, he said, there are no . . . Read More

Indian Christian man forced to separate from Hindu wife by right-wing activists

October 3, 2014 India Barack Obama, BJP, Gujarat, Narendra Modi, Seventh-day Adventists, Uttar Pradesh

Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat state, at a BJP rally in 2009.Flickr / Al Jazeera English / Creative Commons An Indian couple who married Sept. 26 had their marriage annulled five days later by police under pressure from Hindu nationalists. The couple, Joseph Pawar and Ayushi Wani, were . . . Read More

An old story under India’s new government

September 7, 2014 India BJP, Converts, Elections, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, Seventh-day Adventists, Uttar Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, is the political home to India’s Hindu nationalist movement. Following rallies such as this one in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, in May, the BJP rolled to landslide victories in national parliamentary elections.Narendra Modi / Flickr / Creative Commons More than 600 attacks on minority . . . Read More

Indian villages outlaw Christian practices

July 17, 2014 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Converts, Hindutva, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Several villages in central India have outlawed the open practice of Christianity – a move of questionable legality yet one that worries church leaders who say it already has encouraged anti-Christian violence. “The situation is becoming worse. The anti-Christian propaganda is becoming stronger,” Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, . . . Read More

India’s government has to limit Hindu extremists

May 15, 2014 India BJP, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Narendra Modi, Women

India’s nationalist “Bharatiya Janata Party” (BJP) has won the election and its leader Narendra Modi, announced “a new era for India, free from corruption and a strong economic recovery”. Indian citizens are hoping for a prosperous future, but according to the Global Council of Indian Christians in order for this . . . Read More

Trouble in the south

March 4, 2014 India Andhra Pradesh, BJP, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, India

Church leaders in India are alarmed over a dramatic increase in attacks on Christians in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where in recent weeks one pastor has been murdered, others beaten, and churches demolished. The All India Christian Council documented 72 incidents of anti-Christian violence and hostility in Andhra Pradesh . . . Read More

Pressure on Christians grew in 2013

January 8, 2014 International Afghanistan, African Union, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, BJP, Buddhist nationalism, Central African Republic, Colombia, Eritrea, FARC, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan, Middle East, Nigeria, North Africa, North Korea, Pakistan, Peshawar, Religious freedom, Sadad, Sharia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, UN, Yemen

More than ever, some of the hardest places for Christians to live are fragile or failed states where militant Islamist movements flourish, according to an annual report on Christian religious freedom. Pressure on Christians intensified worldwide in 2013, according to Open Doors International, a charity that provides support to Christians . . . Read More

Madhya Pradesh awaits decision on stricter ‘anti-conversion law’

August 1, 2013 India Anti-conversion law, Bhopal, BJP, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindutva, Madhya Pradesh

Protesters gather in Jhabua, a town in the west of Madhya Pradesh, on July 24.World Watch Monitor Madhya Pradesh state in central India awaits the outcome of proposed amendments to its ‘anti-conversion law’, which would lengthen prison time and fines for anyone convicted of forcing someone to change their . . . Read More

In India, a familiar pattern of pressure on Christians

July 29, 2013 India Andhra Pradesh, Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Hindutva, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Pentecostals, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh

In vast and diverse India, Christians often live freely. Yet India ranks among the 50 countries where life as a Christian is most difficult, according to Open Doors International, a global ministry that serves Christians who are pressured because of their faith. The country is No. 31 on Open Doors’ . . . Read More

Hindu nationalists harass villages for weeks, injure 4

June 28, 2013 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, Odisha

Three months of intimidation and assaults in two villages in eastern India has left four Christians hospitalised and others injured, two houses damaged, and the entire Christian community unable to do business or draw water from the town well, church leaders say. The boycott of the Christians of Dangarguda village, . . . Read More

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