October 27, 2021 - Archbishop Cornelio's appeal comes as persecution spreads across the country amid political silence. A Catholic Church leader has sought the intervention of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain violence against minorities, especially Christians, amid reports of rising persecution. Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, based in the capital of central India's Madhya Pradesh state, wrote a letter to Modi asking him “to take effective steps to contain rising violence against Christians.” Christians make up 2.3 percent of India’s 1.3 billion population, who are mostly Hindus. Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supports the hardline idea of making India a nation of Hindu dominance, which Christian leaders say results in Hindu activists violently opposing religious minorities such as Christians and Muslims. The archbishop’s Oct. 26 letter came five days after civil rights groups released a fact-finding report on persecution that documented rising violence against Christians, especially from right-wing Hindu groups. Christians faced persecution in 21 of 28 Indian states, most of them ruled by Modi’s BJP party, the report said. Now even our prayer meetings are termed as religious conversion ceremonies and false cases are registered against the faithful “Very recently certain individuals and groups have stepped up a hate campaign against minority groups,