Christians Increasingly Targeted in BJP-Controlled Odisha
11/13/2024 India (International Christian Concern) — Just six months after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in tribal-dominated Odisha state, the number of attacks against Christians has spiked.
In the past week alone, Christians were targeted three times in Odisha. Toward the end of October, a Hindu nationalist group known as Bajrang Dal disrupted a prayer and worship gathering in a village in the Nabarangpur district. Members of Bajrang Dal barged into the prayer gathering, stopped the service, and shouted slogans of their gods. The Hindus then called the police, who took the pastor into custody without a proper complaint and without verifying the facts of the case.
About 155 miles away, a pastor looks after a small village church among tribal members in the Malkangiri district. A few days ago, local tribals known as Adivasis evicted the pastor and his wife from the church and warned them not to return if they valued their life. Now, the church is without a pastor, and the pastor is without his church and a source of income. Some believe it is likely that area Hindu nationalists instructed the Adivasi people on how to control the pastor.
Elsewhere in the Malkangiri district, in the mountainous province where the Bonda tribal people live in extreme poverty, Christian missionaries are suddenly being targeted. For years, missionaries have taken food, clothing, and the gospel to the Bonda people. In the last week, a member of the Bonda community filed a complaint with the police stating that the missionaries are intruding on tribal land and destroying the Bonda culture. The complaint also demanded that the police stop the missionaries from entering Bonda territory. The missionaries have stated that the complaint likely came from Hindu nationalists who are influencing the Bonda people rather than the Bonda people themselves.
“These incidents cropped up only after the BJP came to power in Odisha,” Pastor Babaji said. “We know that it will continue in the days ahead. Only God can help us.”
