Tag: Nagaland

Christian missionaries a ‘threat’ to India’s unity, says MP

April 23, 2018 India BJP, Converts, India, Meghalaya, Missionaries, Nagaland

Houses were vandalised during an attack on four Christian families in Katholi village, Chhattisgarh state, while members of the ruling Hindu nationalist party seek to "sow discord among religious communities". (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2016)

Christian missionaries are a threat to India’s unity, a Hindu-nationalist parliamentarian told reporters on Saturday (21 April). “Christian missionaries control the Congress,” said Bharat Singh, an MP for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Sonia Gandhi, the mother of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, works on the directions of these missionaries. . . . Read More

Good Friday holiday reinstated in Christian-majority Indian state after protests

March 29, 2018 India BJP, Christmas, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Gujarat, Hindu nationalism, India, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Religious freedom

Widespread protests have forced the government in Christian-majority Meghalaya State in north-east India to restore the Good Friday holiday. The coalition government, to which the Hindu nationalist BJP is a partner, had declared in a circular that Good Friday would be a normal “working day”, but the move was withdrawn . . . Read More

Pro-Hindu BJP wins over Christian voters in northeast India

March 16, 2018 India Beef, Bihar, BJP, Catholics, Elections, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh

Christians gather for the general assembly of the National Council of Churches in India in Shillong, capital of the Christian-majority state of Meghalaya in the north-east. (May 2008)

India’s pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now the governing party in two Christian-dominated states in the northeast, following recent election successes in Nagaland and Meghalaya. But to do so, it had to betray its core values of Hindutva, according to John Dayal, former National President of the All India . . . Read More

India: Catholic bishops warn against Hindu nationalism as religious hate crimes rise

February 15, 2018 India Bangalore, Baptists, BJP, Catholics, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh

An acknowledgement by India’s BJP-led government that there has been a rise in religion-based hate crime has coincided with a warning from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) about the dangers to the country of a Hindu-nationalist agenda. Statistics revealed in India’s parliament on 6 February confirmed a long-standing . . . Read More

India’s president says religious diversity should be ‘cherished’

December 5, 2017 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, India, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Ram Nath Kovind, Religious freedom

India’s president, Ram Nath Kovind, has urged his countrymen to “preserve” and “cherish” ethnic and religious diversity, during his first visit to the north-eastern Christian-majority state of Mizoram on 29 November. “We see a huge variety of ethnic and religious identities, and so many languages, cultures and customs, modes of . . . Read More

India’s Christian leaders distance themselves from ruling Hindu nationalists

June 19, 2017 India Beef, BJP, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Narendra Modi

The leaders of India’s Christian minority – 2.3 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population – have distanced themselves from rumours of increasingly close ties with the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP. The latest rumours began following a meeting between senior Catholic Church leaders and the BJP’s national president, Amit Shah, . . . Read More

Indian Christians protest at Good Friday launch of ‘Digital India Day’

April 19, 2017 India Arunachal Pradesh, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Narendra Modi

Ignoring protests from Christians, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, launched Digital India Day on 14 April – Good Friday – as part of his government’s campaign to promote widespread use of electronic products and services. India’s Christians said they felt marginalised by the move because it fell on an . . . Read More

NE India – Manipur violence sparks fears of religious conflict

September 14, 2015 India Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Hindu nationalism, India, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Naga, Nagaland, Tripura

India’s north-east corner consists of seven states* linked to the rest of the country by a narrow strip of land: tribal peoples there perceive themselves to be very different – in culture, identity, and even looks – from the rest of India. One state, Manipur, on the Myanmar border and . . . Read More

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