As Christmas is approaching, there is a growing sense of fear among Christians because of the ongoing religious persecution in the country. According to International Christian Concern (ICC), over half a dozen incidents of violence against Christians were recorded in just a week in December. As a consequence of these incidents, several churches were shut down, at least 10 Christians were arrested and booked with criminal charges, and 25 Christians families faced social boycott where they were denied clean drinking water. Though the increasing intolerance is not new for Christians in the country, these incidents are affecting the sentiments of the community and preventing them from celebrating the holidays freely. Pastor Raja Bhovi, head pastor of His Grace Church in Karnataka, told ICC that they have canceled all their Christmas events, including carols, cottage meetings and pre-Christmas events in Banni Mardatti village. "There is a fear of being attacked by Hindu radicals," the pastor said. In the first week of December, a mob of radical Hindus attacked pastor Bhovi's church community and beat the Christians. "We were small in number at the police station compared to mob of Hindu radicals," Pastor Bhovi explained. "All of the 25 Christian families were present at the police station to lodge a complaint,

In a video message to the people of the country, Congress President Sonia Gandhi condemned the BJP govt for suppressing people’s voices using brute force. She said it is unacceptable in a democracy Congress President Sonia Gandhi said in a video message that the BJP government has shown utter disregard for people's voices, used brute force to suppress dissent. It is unacceptable in a democracy. In a democracy, people have the right to raise their voice against wrong decisions and policies of the govt and register their concern. Congress condemns actions of BJP govt, expresses its solidarity with students and citizens in their just struggle, she said. Criticising the new Citizenship Amendment Act, Sonia Gandhi said that the Act is discriminatory, and proposed nationwide NRC will particularly hurt poor, vulnerable. Emphasising the values the Congress has stood for, she said, “Congress is fully committed to defend the fundamental rights of people and uphold foundational values of Constitution.”

There is no harm in backtracking if the government thinks it has erred in amending citizenship laws, says Cardinal Oswald Gracias, head of the Catholic Church in India. “Religion should never be made a dividing factor,” asserted the cardinal when asked about the political turmoil in India over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) and the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). However, the prelate disapproved people indulging in violence to get their voices heard. “Violence is not right. A continuous discussion must take place,” the Bombay archbishop told friends and well-wishers who on December 24 greeted him on his 75th birthday. Cardinal Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and an adviser of Pope Francis, says he is “very keen” on inter-religious dialogue between people of different faiths. “This will knock off any prejudices and eventually help to understand and appreciate each other. I want the Catholic community to be at the forefront of this… to build bridges,” he added. The Indian Church leader termed the love for the nation as an important trait of citizens. “If we truly feel strongly about India, then we must work for the country, to the point of being ready to sacrifice

 After weeks of silence, leaders of the Catholic Church have commented on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and countrywide protests against it. On December 27, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said the ongoing controversy and demonstrations and counter demonstrations against the new law is a cause of “great anxiety” for all as they would harm the country. “There is a danger that there could be a polarization of our peoples along religious lines, which is very harmful for the country,” warned the cardinal, who turned 75 on December 24. The cardinal, the archbishop of Bombay and one of the six advisers of Pope Francis, says religion should never become the criterion for citizenship of a country. “Nor is violence a solution when there is a difference of opinion,” he said in a press release. He urged the government to dialogue with those opposing the Act, and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness. “There is no harm in backtracking: changing course if this is necessary for the good of the country and our people,” the cardinal repeated what he had told his friends and admirers who had come to celebrate his birthday in

Under the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), approximately 100,000 Tamil Sri Lankan refugees, an ethnic minority in India, may not be eligible for citizenship, which may force them to leave the country and return to the island nation they escaped during the civil war. Civil war in Sri Lanka lasted for almost three decades and finally ended in May 2009. Thousands of innocent people were killed during the war and thousands fled to neighbouring states in India. Majority of the refugees settled in Tamil Nadu. Refugees in Tamil Nadu get free education, rations and healthcare but are not eligible to receive official documents and have limited job allowance. After the CAA was passed, many refugees may be forced into a place where they have no homes to return to. According to one of the state government officials, Home Minister Amit Shah had promised Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami that he would consider excluding Tamil refugees from the CAA. S. Velayutham, an advocacy officer at the non-profit Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation in Chennai said that most of these refugees are Christians or Hindus, whose forefathers were born in India. "Many were sent by the British as indentured labourers on Sri Lankan tea plantations, and hoped

The accused were charged with protesting against laws that expropriated their lands. Hemant Soren defeated the incumbent administration led by the Bharatiya Janata Party in recent elections. For local Catholic sources, his victory hails a new dawn for the Indian state. Jharkhand’s new Chief Minister, Hemant Soren, has dropped charges of sedition against tribals in his cabinet’s first decision following the swearing-in ceremony yesterday. In 2017, charges were laid against some 10,000 people for opposing state legislation by the then ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which would have led to the expropriation of land and forest resources held by tribal communities for centuries. Soren, who was elected last week, formed a coalition government that includes the Congress party and two regional parties: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), based in Jharkhand, and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), whose stronghold is Bihar. The in-coming chief minister beat the incumbent, Raghubar Das (BJP), with his coalition taking 47 seats out of a total of 81. The BJP won 25. For experts, the decision by the new head of the state government highlights his sensitivity to the suffering of tribal people, who had taken to the streets to assert their rights. Catholic sources told AsiaNews that his election represents a new dawn for Jharkhand, where the

The alleged leader of the attack, Kanai Lal Das, is the husband of a BJP functionary of the local gram panchayat Three persons were arrested on Sunday night for an alleged attack on a community hall dedicated to Jesus Christ in an East Midnapore village on Saturday afternoon when around 800 people from 28 villages gathered for the inauguration of the building. Police have said the three arrested men are BJP activists. An FIR was filed by pastor Anup Kumar Ghosh, the organiser of the event at Uttar Shibrampur village near Bhagabanpur. The alleged leader of the attack, Kanai Lal Das, is the husband of a BJP functionary of the local gram panchayat. East Midnapore police chief V. Solomon Nesakumar said the preliminary probe revealed that “people affiliated to the BJP and the RSS” had carried out the attack. The complainant said throughout the attack — allegedly with bombs and sticks — the mob of 20 men raised Jai Shri Ram slogans. They allegedly planted triangular saffron flags with “Om” written on them at the 1,200sqft single-storey community hall, called Jishu’r Aradhona Griho (Jesus’s Prayer Home). “Four people, including two children, suffered injuries,” said Ghosh, a resident of Jadavpur in Calcutta. “Of the 800 people who

Law on unregistered medical practice invoked for healing prayer. Christians arrested in central India after Hindu nationalist, tribal villagers disrupted their worship service spent Christmas in jail before they were released on bail after 11 days – accused of illegally practicing medicine. Pastor Mukam Kiraad, 35, along with two members of his church, 40-year-old Lalsingh Tomar and 38-year-old Nanliya Rawat, were shocked to learn that they were charged under a Madhya Pradesh state law prohibiting unregistered medical practice, punishable by up to three years in prison. Their attorney, Rahul Parihar, said he also was stunned. “Their next hearing is Jan. 8,” Parihar told Morning Star News. “They will have to come for each hearing, which might fall once every 15 days, and the case may prolong for many years.” The three Christians were initially arrested after more than a dozen tribal villagers radicalized by Hindu nationalists in Vadi village, near Alirajpur, intruded into their house-church worship service on Dec. 10 wearing blankets that concealed guns and locally-made sharp weapons, Pastor Kiraad said. “Some of them began to film the worship service while others went out and locked us in from outside, so that we would not escape,” Kiraad said. “They disrupted the service and

A leading Christian activist in India is warning about a “heightened intolerance towards the Christian faith” after anti-Christian incidents in the country in late December. On Dec. 28, several men were arrested after being accused of posing for a photograph with their Bibles outside a Hindu temple in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, while on the same day in Bengal, a Christian church was vandalized. “Two anti-Christian incidents in India on the same day, in two Indian states, on the last few days of the year, are indicative of the heightened intolerance towards the Christians faith,” said Sajan K. George, the President of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), a Bangalore-based Christian advocacy group. The four people arrested in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh, were reading the Bible at a park close to the Mallikarjuna Temple, a popular tourist destination. The state police charged them with violating a 2007 law forbidding the propagation of other religions in places of worship or prayer. According to local news reports, the four men were spotted by security guards opening the Bible and posing with it for photographs. The guards then brought the men to the local police station. After appearing in court, they were released on bail.Father

Protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) continues across India as the country welcomed New Year Yesterday. Activists and students in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, challenged the government by marching and reading out India's Constitution in the cold evening. The new law passed by the BJP government provides citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian and Parsi refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, the law intentionally omits Muslims from the illegal immigrants list. Since the bill was passed in December, several protests have erupted across the nation. In major cities like New Delhi, Hyderabad and Lucknow, many protesters have been injured and killed because of the violent response from authorities. Many claim that religious intolerance and persecution against religious minorities in the country has soared after the BJP government came to power in 2014. Incidents of violence against Christians in the country has more than doubled under the pro-Hindu government. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), there were 147 incidents of violence documented against Christians in 2014. Within four years of BJP rule, the number of incidents went up to 315 in 2018. Looking at the increasing violence in the name of religion, as many claim, it can only be hoped that 2020 will be a