India Continues to See Escalation of Violence Against Christians
Following the recent escalation of violence against believers in the last couple weeks, persecution watch dogs have attributed a Hindu nationalist grassroots effort for the increase in harassment.
While last year’s international religious freedom report credited the Indian government for generally respecting the human rights of its citizens, following the recent escalation of violence against believers in the last couple weeks, persecution watch dogs have attributed a Hindu nationalist grassroots effort for the increase in harassment.
According to reports, 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. The activists reportedly 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, the body of 25-year-old Pastor Narayan was found on Feb. 11 in a small town in Mysore district, Karnataka state. Sajan K. George, national convener of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told Compass News that the official report of the autopsy suggested it was a case of suicide. However, George suspects Hindu extremists were responsible for Narayan’s death and that their sympathizers are engaged in a cover-up.
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“The body was taken for autopsy and before the official report was produced, the doctors said he was obviously brutally murdered,” George told Compass. “The body had broken ribs and teeth and injuries in the naval area.”
However, George said, “by the time the report came out, the body had already been cremated.”
During an interview last week with AsiaNews, Bishop Percival Fernandez—Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India—said the recent wave of violence against Christians in India is part "of a plan led by fundamentalist groups."
"Practically all of these incidents of violence against Christians are masterminded by fundamentalist groups,” Fernandez told the Italy-based news agency on Feb. 16.
Meanwhile, Voice of the Martyrs-Canada's Glenn Penner attributed a Hindu nationalist grassroots effort for the increase in harassment—a sobering conclusion, considering the optimism born out of the elections last year.
"We had real hopes with the election of the Congress Party in the spring that we would see a shift away from persecution which we had seen so much in the last five years when the BJP was elected to power," Penner told Mission Network News (MNN).
But, the VOM Communications Director said he didn't think that the persecution would slow down evangelism in any way. "Some denominations are claiming to plant a new church every day,” Penner said. “I don't think you're going to see a slow down in evangelism, but I think what you will have is increasing incidents of persecution, and you're going to have more states that try to enforce or institute anti-conversion legislation."
Although the 2004 U.S. State Department report on human rights credited the Indian government for generally respecting the human rights of its citizens, it did also show a list of commonly occurring infringements.
