India’s draconian anti-conversion laws face new challenge
‘Love Jihad’ myth causes violence, intimidation of minorities by police and non-state actors, Supreme Court told India’s draconian anti-conversion laws face new challenge India’s top court is likely to examine the constitutionality of nine of 11 provincial anti-conversion laws after their validity was challenged amid demands for a federal law to contain alleged rampant fraudulent religious conversions. The Supreme Court on Feb. 3 served notices on the federal government and five provincial governments — Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka — on a fresh petition filed by a group called Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) challenging the constitutionality of their anti-conversion laws. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed them to file their counter affidavits within three weeks and set March. 17 for the hearing. Earlier, the court issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand about a similar petition against their anti-conversion laws. The CJP said in a statement that it is fighting a ‘Love Jihad’ myth that has led to violence and intimidation by police and non-state actors (against minority communities especially Muslims). “The ‘Love Jihad’ laws legitimize un-constitutional, anti-minority and misogynistic beliefs, and help further the hateful, communal agenda of extremists”, it said. "The top court is hearing
Indian hardliners ask to stop welfare benefits to tribal Christians
Hindu nationalist body wants tribals who converted to Christianity to be left out of the nation's affirmative action program A radical Hindu group has demanded to stop the benefits of India’s affirmative action program to tribal Christians ahead of state polls in two Christian-majority states in the northeast region. A pro-Hinud forum for protecting indigenous faith and culture, called Janajati Dharma-Sanskriti Suraksha Manch, said they want the government to remove tribal people who converted to Christianity or Islam from the official list of Scheduled Tribes (STs). Those on the list are eligible for social welfare benefits meant for indigenous and social groups designated as socio-economically disadvantaged. Forum members told media that they plan a demonstration before the state secretariat in Guwahati on Feb. 12 and march to the capital city of Dispur demanding both the federal and state governments make constitutional amendments to prevent tribal Christians from drawing government benefits. Binud Kumbang, a forum leader in the northeastern state of Assam, said tribal Christians are drawing double benefits by getting their children admitted to Christian schools and also seeking scholarships and jobs quotas under the government’s welfare policy. Socially poor Dalit people are denied welfare benefits on the ground that their religion does not practice the
Press Release: FIACONA Launched 2023 Annual Report
PRESS RELEASE Washington DC. January 30, The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations launched its 2023 Annual Report on India on January 30 at an event held at Washington Hilton, ahead of the IRF Summit. The 2023 Report is unique in several aspects. For the first time, the Report calls for accountability from the government of India for its institutional failures to safeguard the lives and properties of Christians. The Report has recorded 1198 confirmed and verified incidents of violence against the Christian community across India. All these attacks were carried out by groups affiliated with or controlled by the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, and its parent organization, the RSS. Most of these attacks took place in states with some Anti-Conversion Laws. The attackers used perceived conversion, restricted by those laws, as a cover to attack the prayer meetings and churches. The police had joined the attackers in many instances. The Report estimates around 100 million US Dollars as a net loss caused by the violence against Christians in these 1198 incidents. FIACONA calls on the government of India to form an independent committee to calculate the financial damage caused to each individual family affected. FIACONA is asking the US Congress to pass legislation
Assam: RSS-affiliate JDSSM demands removal of Christians from ST list
Over 1 lakh members of the JDSSM will be staging a demonstration at Janata Bhawan on February 12 under its “Challo Dispur” programme RSS-affiliate demands removal of Christians from ST list, amendment of Article 342A Guwahati: Ahead of the assembly elections in Christian-majority Meghalaya and Nagaland, an RSS-backed organisation called Janajati Dharma- Sanskriti Suraksha Manch (JDSSM) has decided to intensify its agitation demanding to delist tribals who have undergone a religious conversion from the Schedule Tribe (ST) status that entitles them for reservation in jobs. Over 1 lakh members of the JDSSM will be staging a demonstration at Janata Bhawan on February 12 under its “Challo Dispur” programme, demanding both the Central and the State governments to amend Article 342A of the Constitution of India. The organisation will also submit separate memorandums to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of its demand. The organisation is pushing a demand that was first raised by Congress MP Karthik Oraon in the sixties, who had flagged the issue claiming that ST converts were getting a major chunk of reservation benefits. In 1968, a joint parliamentary committee was formed to examine the issue. “The people who have adopted foreign religions like Christianity and Islam are getting
Press Release
FIACONA Launched the 2023 Annual Report on India The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations launched its 2023 Annual Report on India on January 30 at an event held at Washington Hilton, ahead of the IRF Summit. The 2023 Report is unique in several aspects. For the first time, the Report calls for accountability from the government of India for its institutional failures to safeguard the lives and properties of Christians. The Report has recorded 1198 confirmed and verified incidents of violence against the Christian community across India. All these attacks were carried out by groups affiliated with or controlled by the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, and its parent organization, the RSS. Most of these attacks took place in states with some Anti-Conversion Laws. The attackers used perceived conversion, restricted by those laws, as a cover to attack the prayer meetings and churches. The police had joined the attackers in many instances. The Report estimates around 100 million US Dollars as a net loss caused by the violence against Christians in these 1198 incidents. FIACONA calls on the government of India to form an independent committee to calculate the financial damage caused to each individual family affected. FIACONA is asking the US Congress to
India’s new path to social equality disregards justice
The Indian constitution has been amended to accord special quotas for the poor among upper-caste people in an unjust manner In the past eight years during which the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in power, the Supreme Court has mostly supported the government policies, leaving political observers worried and perplexed about the political and social road map India is traversing. They point to various legal victories the ruling party scored in India’s highest court, often the final arbitration point for vexatious and long-drawn legal cases, which have tremendous implications in a complex country like India. One such case that hits Christians in India coming from Dalit backgrounds was a legal challenge to the government denying them welfare benefits meant for all Dalit people, the socially poor across India. Dalit people among Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs get these benefits, but not Christians and Muslims because, according to the government, their religions do not follow caste. After some five decades of legal wrangling, and several commissions asserting that Dalit people among Christians and Muslims deserve these benefits because conversions failed to change their social status, India’s Supreme Court sought the government’s view on the subject last year. The government asked
