Tag: Dalits

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

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

India: another state expected to pass ‘anti-conversion law’

August 3, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Protestants

The north-east Indian state of Jharkhand has cleared the draft of an “anti-conversion bill” that could mean four-year prison sentences and 100,000 rupee fines (US$1,500) for those found to have forced another person to change religions, reports The New Indian Express. If what has been dubbed the “Religious Freedom Bill . . . 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

Indians take to the streets in protest against religious violence

July 7, 2017 India Assam, Bangalore, Beef, BJP, Dalits, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Narendra Modi

Thousands of people, including church groups and representatives of civil society, have gathered in cities across India over the past ten days to protest against mounting religious intolerance and to express solidarity with the victims of the violence, under the banner “Not in My Name”. The protests in Kolkata, Hyderabad, . . . Read More

India’s religious freedom failings ‘enshrined in constitution’

February 16, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Dalits, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, Religious freedom

Religious freedom in India will never be achieved unless the country is willing to make substantial amendments to its constitution and legal framework, says a new report. It also asks the US to put human rights at the heart of trade and diplomatic interactions with India. A tide of religiously . . . Read More

Police rapes, acquittals and false accusations highlight Christians’ vulnerability in India

January 12, 2017 India Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Raipur, Rape, Women

The acquittal of two suspects in the gang rape of a Catholic nun, and a series of rapes by security forces in remote areas of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh have highlighted the vulnerability of women from marginalised communities. “If you are a woman tribal or from a minority, . . . Read More

Indian Catholic bishops vow to end marginalisation of Dalits in Church

December 20, 2016 India Catholics, Dalits, Manipur

People threshing in a Dalit village near Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 2006Creative Commons Christian Dalits, who make up two-thirds of India’s Christians, are discriminated against twice over in India – firstly for being from the caste known as ‘untouchable’, and secondly for not being Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist. Christian and . . . Read More

India: Kerala chief minister calls for fresh probe into Kandhamal deaths

December 16, 2016 India Dalits, Hindu nationalism, Kandhamal, Odisha

The chief minister of the south Indian state of Kerala has called for a fresh probe into the 2008 murder of a Hindu leader, which sparked months of rioting, in which almost 100 Christians were killed. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was speaking on Tuesday (13 Dec.) at the launch of . . . Read More

Nepal Christians attacked while trying to help

August 18, 2016 Nepal Constitution, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, Kathmandu

Eight Christians are still awaiting the outcome of their trial, after they became the first people to be charged under Nepal’s new rules on religious freedom. Their crime? Distributing pamphlets about Jesus during a trauma seminar in a Christian school, following last year’s devastating earthquake (see video below). But they . . . Read More

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