Christians Experience New Wave of Violence in India

In the last few weeks, the number of reported attacks against Christians across different denominations has escalated throughout the country.

By Kenneth Chan, Saturday, February 19, 2005

The recent wave of violence against Christians in India is part "of a plan led by fundamentalist groups," said Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India during a recent interview. In the last few weeks, the number of reported attacks against Christians across different denominations has escalated throughout the country.

"Practically all of these incidents of violence against Christians are masterminded by fundamentalist groups,” Bishop Percival Fernandez told Italy-based AsiaNews in an interview on Feb. 16.

The recent wave of violence began Jan. 30, when Hindu activists forced their way into a large Christian gathering after hundreds of worshippers had come from towns and villages in India’s Uttar Pradesh state to take part in a prayer rally.

According to AsiaNews, the activists charged that rallies such as the prayer rally were aimed at conversions and that Christians lure the people with gifts of land, money, food and clothes.

In another reported incident of violence, an evangelical pastor was found dead Feb. 11—killed in cold blood in a small town in Mysore district, Karnataka state.

In the most recent reported incident, six evangelical theology students were forcibly abducted and beaten on Feb. 13 in Kerala by activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—the armed wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist party that has been accused of being hostile to religious minorities.

There have also been a number of reported threats against believes in India and arrests by the police.

Following the defeat of the BJP in the May 2004 elections, the protection of Christian minorities was expected to improve.

“I feel that the central government that we have elected has the responsibility to help people live as brothers and sisters in this beautiful land of ours,” Fernandez told AsiaNews.

However, until that responsibility is fulfilled (and even after), Christian community should “respect others and live in love and harmony,” Fernandez said.

“The more we reflect Christ's message of love and peace so well spelt out in the Gospels, the less will these incidents occur.”