Indian Christians protest over persecution
At least 585 incidents targeting Christians were recorded between January and September this year, they say
Updated: October 29, 2024 03:52 AM GMT
Some 3,000 Christians from various denominations have demonstrated near the Indian parliament, expressing concern over rising incidents of persecution against their community across the country.
The Delhi-National Capital Region Christian Fellowship organized the demonstration on Oct. 26 at the Jantar Mantar — an area near parliament allotted for public rallies and protests in New Delhi.
“A staggering 585 incidents targeting Christians were recorded so far this year till September,” said Michael William, president of the United Christian Forum (UCF), a Christian rights group that tracks violence against Christians in the country.
The UCF recorded a total of 733 incidents of violence against Christians for the whole of 2023, an average of 61 incidents a month.
The UCF has not included atrocities against Christians in the northeastern state of Manipur, where tribal Christians have been at the receiving end of a 17-month-old communal violence that claimed over 230 lives, most of them Christians.
William said repeated pleas to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government departments, such as the Home Ministry and the national minority commission, have proved futile.
The demonstration aimed to attract government attention to Christians’ “deep anguish” over the “targeted violence,” the organizers’ statement said.
“The targeted violence and hostility appear to be suspiciously more in states ruled by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP),” the pro-Hindu party that supports Modi, the statement noted.
Minakshi Singh, general secretary of Unity in Compassion, told UCA News that Modi “speaks of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas [collective efforts for inclusive growth] but the rising incidence of violence against Christians is an unhappy situation.”
Singh’s Christian charity is based in Uttar Pradesh, where the pro-Hindu party has been in power since 2017.
India’s most populous state tops in violence against Christians with 156 incidents recorded till September this year.
The central state of Chhattisgarh, where mostly indigenous Christians are attacked for their faith, is second on the list with 127 incidents, according to UCF.
Eleven Indian states, most BJP-ruled, have enacted a sweeping anti-conversion law.
Nabore Ekka, who heads the Delhi regional unit of a national forum of indigenous people, said in typical attacks, pro-Hindu mobs, supported by police, barge into prayer services and attack the congregation, including priests and pastors.
The fringe elements enjoy “a sense of immunity as police and local media accompany them,” said A. C. Michael, president of the Federation of Catholic Associations of the Archdiocese of Delhi.
“On occasions, they are armed with deadly weapons,” Michael noted.
It is high time special laws are enacted to curb mob violence, Ekka demanded.
In July, a four-member delegation led by Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, met Modi and expressed concerns over increasing hostility against Christians.
Cases filed by Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore and others are pending in the Supreme Court of India, which complained of a link between anti-conversion law and the increasing attacks against Christians, who make up a mere 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.
