Tag: Hindu nationalism

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

India: bishop ‘shocked’ after Assam attack

June 27, 2016 India Assam, Bajrang Dal, Hindu nationalism, Hyderabad, India, Minorities, Mumbai, Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh

A bishop in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam has spoken of his “shock” after a local priest was attacked with a machete on 19 June. Bishop Michael Akasius Toppo of Tezpur it was “the first ever incident like this in our region”. (Assam is one of , linked to . . . Read More

Hindu nationalist training video goes viral

June 2, 2016 India Bajrang Dal, Beef, Hindu nationalism, India, Maharashtra, Minorities, Uttar Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

A video showing members of a Hindu nationalist group receiving firearms training has gone viral on social media in India. The video depicting Bajrang Dal members in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has been criticised as “coercing young people towards violence and encouraging violence against minorities”, . Other videos . . . Read More

Nepal: amending conversion law ‘not enough’

May 17, 2016 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Converts, Hindu nationalism, Nepal

In Nepal, a campaign to reduce official penalties for religious conversion doesn’t go far enough, . Father Silas Bogati, vicar general of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal, criticised a campaign that last week delivered 40,000 letters from the public asking Parliament to reduce penalties for converting someone from another religion. . . . 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

76 Christians reconverted to Hinduism in India

February 11, 2016 India Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Odisha, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seventy-six Christians from 21 poor tribal families have been forcibly reconverted to Hinduism in the Indian state of Odisha, local sources told World Watch Monitor. Attacks on Indian Christians were in 2015. These included the arrest of hundreds who were charged with attempting to forcibly convert Hindus. Y. Raghavulu, national . . . Read More

India: fines for saying ‘Christian’ prayers

February 8, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh

Four people have received fines for practising Christianity from a village council in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the men, Shankar Singh, that they were fined 5,000 rupees (US$75) each. The arrests followed accusations by a Hindu group that the people at the gathering were attempting to . . . Read More

In India, one case of anti-Christian violence every day

January 21, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chennai, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Madhya Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Rahul Nayak, 25, the eldest son of Dhubaleswar and Bhubudi Nayak, a Christian couple shot dead in Odisha in July 2015.World Watch Monitor Attacks on Christians in India were reported on an almost daily basis in 2015, according to a Christian advocacy group. “The country saw 355 incidents of . . . Read More

2016 World Watch List drawn from world headlines

January 13, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Bibles, BJP, Boko Haram, Central Asia, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kenya, Libya, Middle East, Mosul, Niger, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, North Korea, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months, from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea is . . . Read More

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