Tag: BJP

India: 10 churches closed, Hindu nationalists seek closure of 20 more

November 7, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, BJP, Churches, Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals, RSS, Tamil Nadu

Preparations for an Hindu festival. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Ten Protestant churches in Coimbatore district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have been ordered to stop their worship meetings, while Hindu nationalists want another 20 churches to be closed. They claim the Christian places of worship have not been authorised by the Collector’s Office, the district’s magistrate . . . Read More

Indian Christians beaten ‘with rods and sticks’

October 17, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Telangana

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”, . . . Read More

Indian children ordered to hail ‘the land of the Hindus’

September 21, 2017 India Bhopal, BJP, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh

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 . . . Read More

India: senior Church leaders call on Modi to help ‘control ideological hatred’ in Jharkhand

September 15, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Dalits, Himachal Pradesh, India, Jharkhand, Narendra Modi, Ram Nath Kovind, RSS

Hindu radicals burn a dummy replica of local Jharkhand Archbishop, Cardinal Telephore Toppo of Ranchi. (Photo: Catholic Bishops' Conference of India)

In a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) called on him to intervene and “curb the spread of hate created by the BJP chief minister” of Jharkhand state. The letter follows the burning of a dummy replica of local Jharkhand . . . Read More

India: cautious response to appointment of first Christian to Modi’s cabinet

September 6, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, India, Jharkhand, Kerala, Narendra Modi

Alphons Kannanthanam was sworn in on 3 September at the Presidential Palace in New Del

Church officials in India’s Christian heartland of Kerala are cautiously optimistic following the appointment of a first Christian MP to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, amid heated political debate. Modi’s past three years at the head of a Hindu nationalist government (the BJP) have seen a rise in radical extremism . . . Read More

Modi accused of hypocrisy after BJP bulldozes through India’s latest ‘anti-conversion law’

August 17, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Gujarat, Hindu nationalism, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Rajasthan

Church leaders in India have joined the chorus of protest against the BJP-led government, known for espousing a Hindu nationalist agenda, hurrying through an “anti-conversion law” in the eastern state of Jharkhand. The Freedom of Religion Bill, which was introduced and passed on the same day (12 August) in the . . . Read More

Indian bishop: Hindu nationalists fear ‘another 1947’

August 10, 2017 India BJP, Dharm Jagran Samiti, Hindu nationalism, India, Pakistan

Church in central India destroyed by Hindu extremists (2015). They fear that if Christians grow in number and influence, there will be another Pakistan. (Photo: Open Doors International)

It is concern for the unity and integrity of India and the overwhelming fear of another split like the 1947 partition of Pakistan and India that drives the agenda of the Hindu nationalist movement in India, says Bishop Joseph D’Souza. The bishop, founding president of the ecumenical All India Christian . . . Read More

Indian Christians faced almost as many attacks in first half of 2017 as all of 2016

August 8, 2017 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, RSS

In the first six months of 2017, Indian Christians were harassed, threatened or attacked for their faith in 410 reported incidents (248 in the first quarter) – almost as many as the total for the whole of 2016 (441). This is according to figures compiled by partners of Open Doors, . . . Read More

India: Cross desecrations continue in Goa, despite arrest of Catholic ‘culprit’

July 28, 2017 India BJP, Crosses, Goa, Hindu nationalism, India

Crosses continue to be desecrated in the Indian state of Goa, despite the police claiming to have captured the ‘culprit’, a 50-year-old Catholic who, from what police say, appears to be mentally ill. Francis Pereira was arrested on 14 July, but the desecrations have continued, most recently on 27 July . . . Read More

BJP candidate favourite to win India’s presidential election

July 17, 2017 India Beef, BJP, Dalits, India, Ram Nath Kovind, RSS

Ram Nath Kovind (L), the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments's candidate for the upcoming presidential election, gestures as he leaves an NDA meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) and top Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani (C) in New Delhi on June 23, 2017.

Today (17 July) Indian lawmakers are expected to elect Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the nation’s next president in a move that will strengthen the position of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. According to Reuters the victory of the candidate put forward by Modi’s ruling . . . Read More

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