IN India, with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Hindutva inspired Modi-led BJP government since 1914, protecting faith and freedom for the followers of religions other than Hinduism, especially the Muslims and Christians, has become a question of life and death. The RSS advocates that the Hindutva concept does not accept Hindus’ conversion to other religions. Hence, since the BJP came to power in India in 1914, the Hindu nationalist organisations, the RSS and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), implicitly supported by the BJP, have started Ghar Wapsi Movement in India (Hindi, meaning “Returning Home”), that is to reconvert the Muslims and Christians back to Hinduism. According to the proponents of Hindutva, the Ghar Wapsi process is called “reconversion” of Christians and Muslims who were previously converted, during the olden Muslim rule and British rule of India and those who had converted even after independence of India since1947 through preaching by the Muslim scholars and the Christian missionaries. The fundamentalist Hindu organizations view the Ghar Wapsi as “purification” since they state that through Ghar Wapsi, people from the other religions are returning to their “true” religion. Apart from preventing conversion to other religions from Hinduism, the Ghar Wapsi Movement is also being pursued intensely during

Nepal (International Christian Concern) –  ICC has released a report outlining the declining state of religious freedom in Nepal. Through a combination of legally repressive laws and social norms that sideline minority communities, Nepal is a difficult place to live for those outside of the Hindu faith.   Christians and other religious minorities face the combined threat of social attack and legal ostracization in a system that fails to treat them as equal members of society.    In August and September 2023, a series of attacks against Christian pastors and churches swept through the country, deepening rifts between religious groups and creating questions about how the government responds to violence against minorities.   Nepal’s General Code contains strict prohibitions against proselytization, an act punishable by up to six years imprisonment and deportation in the case of a foreigner. The National Penal Code of 2017 similarly criminalizes the sharing of one’s faith, and the Nepalese Constitution says that “no person shall … convert a person of one religion to another religion” or “disturb the religion of other people.”   Despite the social and legal pressure against them, religious and civil society organizations in Nepal actively work with friendly government officials to advance religious freedom in the country. In June 2023, a coalition

Jaipur: The Christian community in poll-bound Rajasthan complained of neglect from the political parties contesting Assembly polls. No political party has fielded any candidate from the community considering their smaller numbers. The community leaders, mostly religious, said that they are witnessing political apartheid as even candidates don't peep into areas seeking votes. They feel that their concerns and demands don't fit into the priorities of any political party. An octogenarian, Michael Castelino, contested Assembly polls in 2013 from Civil Lines and got 500 votes which is way below his community vote in the seat. He is the only candidate to have contested polls in recent years to raise the community's concerns but failed to evoke any response. "The community has been demanding small pieces of land for graveyards in some districts from the government. The demand is not a privilege, as they have been granting land to other religious communities. It is not being heard by the government which filled us with pain," said Castelino. The community has been raising the issue of protecting its institutes-schools, colleges, and hospitals. Also, a quota within the budget was granted to the minorities department. They have 210 schools and 10 hospitals being run in the state. The oldest school

The number is inflated to be in the good books of the pro-Hindu government in Uttar Pradesh, they allege Christian leaders have refuted a Hindu group's claim that it converted more than 300 Christians to Hinduism in northern Uttar Pradesh state, where a sweeping anti-conversion law is in force.   According to Panchjanya, the mouthpiece of the pro-Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) helped 310 Christians from 36 families to reconvert to Hinduism in Sarsara village in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh on Nov. 5.   Hindus who once came under pressure or greed to become Christians are now back to the Sanatan Dharma (Hindu religion), the weekly quoted the Hindu council as saying. Uttar Pradesh-based Pastor Dinesh Kumar said they are "aware of the reconversion in Jaunpur but the number given by the group is not correct. They have exaggerated it to get the attention of the government."   The actual number is less than 30, Kumar told UCA News on Nov. 9.   The Hindu groups' claim that those who attended the ceremony converted to Christianity decades ago also is not correct because "there are no official documents to prove that,” the pastor observed.   According to the Panchjanya,  the Christians opted for the “homecoming” and went through the “purification” process before they recanted their faith. Uttar Pradesh-based

India (MNN) — The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church was this past Sunday, November 5th. In India, Christian persecution comes from different avenues, but one of the most damaging is persecution from your own family. Yet, persecuted Indian believers are sharing their faith and standing for Christ! One woman, Mandavi, started attending Mission India’s Adult Literacy Class and began following Jesus. From there, Regan Miller with Mission India says, “She then came down with an infection in her right leg. Really, her only family were her two brothers, and because she was a Christian, they refused to help her. “So she was dealing with this leg infection and everything that was causing struggles within her life — alone.” Mission India put out a prayer request for Mandavi in their daily email, India Intercessor. “Our intercessors in the US came around Mandavi in prayer, and they just prayed for a change in the situation.” Eventually, Miller says, “Her brothers changed their minds about their opinion on her faith! They began to visit her and they started covering her medical expenses so she is on a journey to healing. She’s almost completely healed! “We’re so excited for her, and this actually opened the door so that she could start

Thousands of majority believers lost homes and churches in India's worst ethnic conflict this year. Yet they feel "overlooked and despised" by both sides. On May 3 of this year, Koireng (identified only by his first name) first heard reports that an unidentified group had lit a famous war memorial on fire. As a Meitei pastor in Churachandpur, a district in the Indian state of Manipur, Koireng grew alarmed by the news that the arson had escalated into widescale property destruction. Tensions had been steadily increasing for weeks between the Kuki-Zo, a predominantly Christian tribal community, and the Meitei, Manipur’s biggest and largely Hindu ethnic group. Over the next couple of weeks, mobs burned down dozens of homes, sending hundreds of Churachandpur residents into the forest for refuge, and retaliatory attacks killed two civilians on the first day of violence. (The current total death toll is at least 180, after six months of intermittent violence.) At the beginning of the year, a number of different communities, including Christian Meiteis, Hindu Meitis, and Kuki-Zo Christians, resided in Churachandpur, which was also home to 21 Meitei churches, said Koireng, the pastor of Evangelical Free Church of India (EFCI) in Churachandpur. Koireng had heard that Kuki-Zo mobs spared churches, though not Meitei Christian

Christian families living in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh have been told that they are banned from burying their dead until they pay fines issued to them for refusing to take part in Hindu festivals and rituals. According to Alliance Defending Freedom India, three separate incidents occurred across the districts of Bastar and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh which involved Christians being prohibited from holding burial ceremonies for their loved ones until they paid "restitution" for not partaking in their village's Hindu festivals. ADF India said: "It is a terrible and unimaginable thing to be denied an opportunity to grieve the loss of a loved one with dignity." ADF added that there have been "fifteen such confirmed incidents in these districts since 2019." In response, the religious freedom group raised the situation with the police officer in charge of the concerned district. The group was happy to report that upon their intervention, "the Christians were provided police protection, and in some cases even provided land by the government, for the burials to take place." Now, in order to stop this happening again in the future, Christians leaders in the state plan on submitting a memorandum to the government and will possibly even lodge a petition with the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur. The coronavirus pandemic has

Since May, the deaths and clashes between the Maitei Hindu community, close to Modi's government, and that of the Kuki Protestant Christian minority in the north-eastern Indian state have not stopped. The Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Thrissur in nearby Kerala denounces the silence and connivance of the government party's politics with the Maitei community. The Catholic newspaper Catholicasabha, voice of the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Thrissur in Indian Kerala, has frontally criticized the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), the party led since 2014 by the current Prime Minister of the country Narendra Modi and the parliamentarian - and star of cinema - Suresh Gopi, for "apathy" in the management of the situation in Manipur, a powder keg for the continuation of the clash between the Hindu community of the Maitei, close to Modi's government, with that of the Protestant Kuki. A full-page article in the Catholic newspaper headlines: "I will not forget Manipur": "With the Lok Sabha elections - the lower house of the Indian Parliament - approaching, the government party is trying to hide the Manipur issue." Thus begins the long article in Catholicasabha in which it is stated that the population who believes in democracy could understand the reason for Prime Minister Modi's silence

Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian religious group whose prayer meeting in Kochi was marred by devastating bomb blasts a week ago, on Sunday resumed physical prayer meetings after holding online gatherings following the shocking incident that claimed the lives of three persons and injured over 50 others. The religious group decided to return to physical prayer meetings to remove any fear from its members’ minds following the blasts. The Jehovah’s Witnesses traces its origins to 19th century America. The group in Kalamassery faced a major shock when one of its estranged members — Dominic Martin — carried out multiple blasts at one of its conventions last Sunday by using an improvised explosive device (IED). Prior to surrendering before the police, Martin released a video stating that the group’s preachings were “seditious” and that they did not heed his warnings to change their ways, and that is why he carried out the attack. Three people, including a 12-year-old girl, lost their lives and over 50 were injured in the incident. Presently, according to a Health Department release, 20 persons are under treatment with 10 of them in intensive care and two in critical condition. The remaining eight persons are in the wards, it said. Subsequently, prayer meetings, usually held twice

Narayanpur, which will vote on November 7, has emerged as the epicentre of the BJP's claims of "forced conversions" by missionaries in the tribal regions of the state. Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh): On November 2, 13-year-old Sunita from the Brehebeda village of Chhattisgarh died of typhoid at the district hospital in Narayanpur. When her body was brought home, a large number of villagers arrived and stopped the family from burying the teenager’s body on the village land using Christian rituals. Instead, they insisted that the family bury the body using traditional Adivasi customs and traditions. “We are Adivasis just like them, but they (villagers) don’t want us to go to church or follow the church’s ways. They want us to abide by the traditional [Adivasi] rules and customs. They said that if we leave Christianity, they will allow us to bury her. This problem is rampant in every village here now,” Manupotai, 18, Sunita’s elder brother told The Wire.  Sunita was finally buried late on Thursday evening (November 2), far away from her village at a burial ground near the Narayanpur district centre. The Brehebeda village is located about 10 kilometres away from the district centre, which is deep inside a forest. Just like Manupotai and Sunita, many people