Tag: Hindu nationalism

Ahead of Obama’s visit, India’s Christians start hotline on Hindu harassment

January 27, 2015 India Barack Obama, Bihar, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Religious freedom, RSS, Tamil Nadu

President Modi welcomes President Barack Obama & Michelle Obama to India on 25 January 2015.Photo: narendramodi.in President Obama ended his visit to India with a speech referring to religious freedom which has been interpreted as an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s treatment of minority faiths, although Modi was . . . Read More

2014: A year of rising hostility toward Christians

January 7, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Asia, Boko Haram, Buddhist nationalism, Central African Republic, China, Communism, Converts, East Africa, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Latin America, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle Belt, Middle East, Narendra Modi, Nigeria, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, Syria

While the world’s eyes were riveted to Syria and Iraq in 2014, life for Christians worsened even more profoundly in Africa, according to an annual report on religious freedom. The situation deteriorated most rapidly in Sub-Saharan Africa, in countries where Islamic extremism is the main source of pressure upon Christians, . . . Read More

We meant what we said

December 30, 2014 India Bihar, Converts, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India

Between 30 and 40 recent Indian converts to Christianity have signed their names to a petition to re-affirm their decision and to seek police protection from intimidation by fundamentalist Hindu groups that want to bring the Dalits back to Hinduism. The petition claims that several nationalist groups have been intruding . . . Read More

Full Steam Ahead

December 29, 2014 India BJP, Ghar Wapsi, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, RSS, Sangh Parivar, Vishva Hindu Parishad

ANALYSIS By John Dayal There is an element of irony, which has not gone entirely unnoticed, in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that what the world knows as Christmas will henceforth be celebrated in India as “Good Governance Day.” A slew of activities in honour of the first Bharatiya . . . Read More

India Hindu leaders turn up ‘reconversion’ rhetoric

December 23, 2014 India BJP, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Narendra Modi, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in JammuVishal Dutta / Flickr / Creative Commons Ignoring paralyzing opposition in Parliament and private expressions of exasperation from their own political leader, the top leaders of India’s fundamentalist Hindu movement have mounted a vigorous defense of a campaign to bring Christian converts back to . . . Read More

Christmas repurposed in India

December 15, 2014 India Christmas, Dharm Jagran Samiti, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, India, RSS

In the lead up to Christmas, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development has asked all schools to observe 25 December as ‘Good Governance Day.’ It is marked to celebrate the birthdays of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a former Prime Minister of India, and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, a Hindu nationalist, educationist . . . Read More

Tension simmers following attack on Christians in troubled Bastar

November 3, 2014 India Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals

Man injured in the attackWorld Watch Monitor Scores of policemen are camping in a remote Indian village following an Oct. 25 attack on Christians by Hindu fundamentalists. Government officials characterize the violence in Madhota village, in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh state in central India, as a “clash between . . . Read More

Nepal PM promises religious freedom

October 28, 2014 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Hindu nationalism, India, Islamic extremism, Nepal, Sushil Koirala

Nepal Prime Minster Sushil Koirala says religious freedom will be guaranteed in the country’s new constitution, which the national political parties have promised to complete in January 2015. Koirala made his pledge Oct. 6 to an audience of Muslims, who make up about 4 percent of Nepal’s 26 million people. . . . 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

Nepali pastor leaves prison after 2 years for killing a cow

August 29, 2014 Nepal Beef, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Sushil Koirala

We will no longer sit and watch as cows are slaughtered in our sacred land’: Shrinevasacharya. John Hill / Creative Commons A Nepali pastor sentenced to 12 years in prison for slaughtering a cow has been released early after a court declared him not guilty on 17 July. Reverand . . . Read More

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