Tag: BJP

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling

January 24, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Telangana, Vishva Hindu Parishad

K.A. Swamy.World Watch Monitor An Indian Christian has suffered a brain haemorrhage after he was interrogated by police about his role in distributing Bibles and other Christian literature in the city where he works as a professor of engineering. K.A. Swamy, 47, was marched to the police station at . . . Read More

Nationalism in Asia, Islamic extremism in Africa – the 2017 World Watch List

January 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Bhutan, BJP, Ethiopia, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Libya, Narendra Modi, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Yemen

One of the greatest increases in animosity towards Christians last year took place in India as a result of religiously motivated nationalism, according to the latest annual survey of the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to live as a Christian. Since the rise to power of Narendra . . . Read More

India: Christian grandmother murdered for ‘disturbing the peace’

December 9, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, Naxalites, Telangana

Samari Kasabi’s son, Sukura (left), and his family outside their village home in Dokawaya, Chhattisgarh.Courtesy Open Doors International An Indian grandmother was stripped naked, beaten to death and her body burned, apparently because her Christian faith was “disturbing the peace” in her village. The incident, in the central Indian . . . Read More

What next for India’s beleaguered Christian minority?

September 12, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

Fifty religious leaders from the Christian and Muslim minorities in India met together last week to discuss the religious freedom challenges facing both groups under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Christians are “facing physical, symbolic and structural violence” from Hindu extremists across the country, said Father Z. Devasagaya Raj at . . . Read More

India: Naxalites to blame for latest murder

August 3, 2016 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, India, Maoists, Naxalites, Telangana

Another Indian pastor has been killed, but this time Hindu extremism was not to blame. Instead, the murder of Yohan Maria Kumar in Telangana on 29 July came reportedly at the hands of a Maoist group, the Naxalites – another group that has been . He leaves a wife and four . . . Read More

Anti-Christian violence in India at an ‘alarming level’

August 2, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals

A message is held aloft at a protest march against anti-Christian violence – in Bangalore in February 2015.World Watch Monitor The leader of a Christian advocacy group in India says that incidents of anti-Christian violence in the country have reached an “alarming level”, with more than 30 incidents a . . . Read More

India: Chhattisgarh Christians attacked by mob

July 21, 2016 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India

Three Christians were attacked on Sunday (17 July) by a mob of more than 50 suspected Hindu extremists in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, . Umesh Patel, a student, his father, Sudhama, and a family friend, Kiran Vishwakarma, were seriously injured after Umesh had been questioned about his Christian . . . Read More

Repeal of Indian law banning ‘extremists’ in government

July 13, 2016 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, India, Islamic extremism, Jamaat-e-Islami, Narendra Modi, RSS

Catholic leaders in India are calling for a over an that prevents central government employees belonging to specific Hindu and Muslim groups. The faith-based law, dating back to 1966, bans membership of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jamaat-e-Islami. Membership of , Narendra Modi, was not permitted for employees in central . . . Read More

US religious-freedom report urges government to add 7 countries to worst-offenders list

May 2, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Iraq, Middle East, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Taliban, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

What is happening? The primary US government agency on global religious freedom issued its annual report 2 May. It says “religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault” during the past year, and says America should add seven countries to its list of worst offenders: Central African Republic . . . Read More

Indian pastor and pregnant wife attacked by militant Hindus

April 21, 2016 India Bajrang Dal, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals, Raipur

An Indian pastor and his pregnant wife were assaulted and their church set on fire on Sunday evening (17 April) after they refused to praise a Hindu god. Pastor Dinbanhu Sameli, 30, and his wife, Meena, 26, seven months pregnant, lead a church in the troubled Bastar district of the . . . Read More

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