‘Two attacks a day’: Christians in India face tough time

Mary D'Souza | NT

Bengaluru/New Delhi: In India, anti-Christian violence is characterised by religiously motivated attacks against one of the country's minority communities.

Human Rights Watch has characterised violence against Christians in India as a strategic tool wielded by right-wing Sangh Parivar organisations to instigate and exploit communal strife for their political objectives.

These violent acts encompass a spectrum of atrocities, including church arson, forced conversions, physical assaults, sexual violence, homicides, rapes, and the vandalism of Christian educational and religious institutions.

In a report unveiled in December 2023, an advocacy group highlighted that Christians in India faced a distressing reality of enduring at least two attacks daily, exposing the gravity of violence targeting religious minorities in one of the world's most perilous nations for Christians.

The surge in violence coincided with the ascent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power, notably since assuming central governance in March 1998 and, more prominently, in 2014.

Organisations like the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have frequently come under scrutiny for their alleged role in fomenting violence.

The United Christian Forum (UCF), headquartered in Delhi, underscored a significant erosion of fundamental rights and protections for Indian Christians, particularly evident in the first 2.5 months of 2024 leading up to the general elections, during which 161 incidents of violence were recorded.

Karnataka witnessed a series of assaults against Christians in 2021, escalating following the introduction of an "anti-conversion" bill by the BJP government in September of that year.

Incidents of Hindutva activists affiliated to rightwing organisations such as the Bajrang Dal and Sri Rama Sene barging into churches and Christian prayer halls were reported across several places including Udupi, Chikballapur, Kodagu, Belagavi, Kanakapura and Arsikere.

Despite this, the controversial law was repealed by the Congress government in 2023. 

Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), faced criticism for his remarks insinuating that Mother Teresa's altruistic efforts were driven by a covert agenda of Christian conversion.

Several community leaders came forward to protest this claim, asserting that such statements should be condemned by the Prime Minister or those in positions of power.

Unfortunately, they noted that this condemnation often does not occur when remarks target minority communities.

Between January and November 2023, the UCF documented 687 incidents of violence against Christians across 23 Indian states, averaging over two incidents daily in a country purportedly secular and democratic.

Out of the total incidents, 531 occurred in four northern states governed by the BJP, indicating a concerning trend of targeted violence since the party's rise to federal power in 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The advocacy group lamented the escalating assaults on Christians across India, decrying the destruction of homes and churches, and the unjust harassment of personnel working in charitable institutions on spurious allegations of conversion.

• In April 2024, a Hindutva group shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' vandalised a Catholic school and assaulted a priest in Telangana’s Mancherial district.
• In February 2024, a Hindu group issued an ultimatum to Christian schools in Assam to remove all Christian symbols, including religious habits and cassocks.
• In 2023, a deadly ethnic conflict erupted in Manipur between the Hindu majority Meiteis and the Christian minority Kukizo, resulting in over 200 deaths, 70,000 displacements, and the destruction of approximately 400 churches.
• In August 2023, individuals disrupted a Christian prayer session at the Siyyon Prarthna Bhawan in Delhi by blaring proclamations of a ‘Hindu nation’ over loudspeakers.
• In 2021, a mob of around 250 people allegedly vandalised a prayer house in Roorkee, accusing Pentecostal evangelist Prio Sadhna Potter and attendees of illegal conversions.
• In December 2022, a man dressed as Santa Claus was assaulted by a Hindutva mob in Vadodara, Gujarat.
• Also in December 2022, a church in Karnataka’s Mysuru district was vandalized, with attackers damaging a statue of baby Jesus and stealing money from a donation box.
• Karnataka ranked third among states with the highest number of attacks on Christians and their places of worship in 2021.
• In 2021, Hindu right-wing groups allegedly set fire to Christian religious books in Karnataka’s Kolar dis