EU Should Press India to End Rights Abuses
(Brussels) – The European Union should press the government of India to immediately act to end serious human rights violations in the country, five organizations said today, ahead of the EU-India human rights dialogue scheduled for August 20, 2024. The Indian government should reverse its abusive and discriminatory laws and policies against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities; end restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; and free all human rights defenders, journalists, and others detained for exercising their basic human rights. The groups are Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), and CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide). The annual EU-India human rights dialogue is an important, though insufficient, opportunity for both the EU and India to articulate their concerns on human rights, the organizations said. The EU should call on the Indian government to uphold the rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, while the Indian government should raise concerns over increasing racist and xenophobic attacks in many parts of Europe, especially against migrants and minorities. In June, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to office for a third consecutive term. During the election campaign, Modi and several other BJP leaders repeatedly
Ways to end political isolation of Christians in India
Western-centric, religiously jingoistic, evangelical, insular, and apolitical are dominant constructs of Indian Christians. Often cocooned in the comfort of church pastoralism and doctrine, they are mostly active in community-centered social outreach, recreational activities and social relationships, and often responsive to societal concerns expressed through acts of charity, mercy and prayer. However, the 32.2 million Indian Christians (2024) who constitute India’s diverse national tapestry, and are spread across its vastly different geographic terrain are also heterogenous. Their diversity manifests in economic, social, cultural, and ethnic status, political engagement, and denominational membership. While conversion to Christianity accompanied the westernization in parts of 16th-century India, Christianity also encountered local cultural assertion, generating a unique mix of Indian-Christian practice marked by local socio-cultural traditions and sometimes religious syncretism. “The Christian community’s contribution to India’s socio-economic-political life is anchored in Gospel values,” says retired Auxiliary Bishop Allwyn D’Silva of Mumbai. According to him, the key Christian contributions are “compassionate outreach to the marginalized, providing quality education and ethics-based healthcare to all, promoting workplace rights and protections, upholding the dignity of the human person and human life, and caring for creation.” He said women “have played a prominent role, especially in healthcare, education, community-centered organization, and care for creation.” While “few individuals
Across Assam, Hindutva Group’s Posters Issue ‘Final Warnings’ to Christian Institutions
New Delhi: Following a recent call by a Hindutva group, Sanmilita Sanatan Samaj, to avoid all religious symbols and costumes in educational institutions in Assam, a number of top Christian institutions across the northeastern state have seen posters stuck on their premises, warning them against using their schools as religious institutions. The posters, printed by the group in Assamese, have said, “This is the final warning to stop using the school as a religious institution…stop anti-Bharat and unconstitutional activities or else…”. The minority institutions were asked to “remove” churches from within their school premises, along with all idols of Jesus and Mary. The posters also said, “Christian missionary educational institutions should stop ignoring the proposed New Education Policy (of the Narendra Modi government) and show respect to the Indian Parliament.” On February 18, authorities at the well-known Carmel School in Jorhat approached the local police after spotting such a poster on its boundary wall. “The application, written by school principal Sister Rose Fatima, said that her institution had ‘been very accommodating and respectful towards people of every religion and culture’ and maintained an ‘atmosphere of peace and tranquility’,” reported The Telegraph. The news report said that the police station had confirmed the development and was investigating the
pastor 9 others held for carrying out illegal conversion in uttar pradesh
Ten people, including a pastor, were arrested for allegedly indulging in illegal religious conversion in Nanpara area here, police said on Monday. Nanpara Deputy Superintendent of Police Rahul Pandey said pastor Baburam is accused of luring poor villagers to convert to Christianity in Siddhanpurwa village. Some other people assisted him in this work. Ten people, including Baburam, were arrested on Sunday after a case was registered against 19 people on charges of unlawful conversion. Efforts are on to arrest the remaining accused, Pandey said. It has been alleged that Baburam and his wife were luring the villagers to convert to Christianity by promising to cure their diseases, including cancer, police said. The article is published on deccanherald.com
Recant or Leave: Mobs Expel Christians in Central India
Hindu extremists in Chhattisgarh destroy churches and homes and attack tribal believers. Tribal Christians from three villages shelter in the Chhattisgarh town of Kondagaon on December 21, 2022 after they were forced to leave their villages. On New Year’s Day, a 500-person mob assembled in the village of Gorra, a small community in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, and summoned the town’s Christians. After about 15 people arrived, the Hindu extremist crowd attacked. “About 20 of us quickly rushed to the village to carry them to the hospital and met the mob on our way while entering the village. The mob caught us and began to assault us,” Dhruw said. While most of the young people outran the mob, Dhruw’s father Bahadur, along with three others, were tracked down. “They beat my father and three others with sticks, legs, fists, bricks, and stones until they all fell unconscious,” Dhruw said. While Dhruw and his friends managed to take the victims to the hospital, Dhruw had to release his father from the hospital the same night when two of the assailants identified him in the hospital and threatened to call the mob on them again. “We did not return to our village since that day,” Dhurw said. The
Indian school manager booked under conversion law
Hindu parents complain about Islamic texts being recited during morning prayers at Uttar Pradesh school People take part in a procession on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti in Noida in Uttar Pradesh on April 17 Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has booked the manager of a private school in Kanpur city under the anti-conversion law for hurting religious sentiments. According to media reports some Hindu parents complained on Aug. 2 about Islamic texts being recited during morning prayers at Florets International School. However, police said no arrests have been made till today. “I am very surprised that an incident like this has happened as there were no reports of such cases in our localities in the past,” said Father Louis Mascarenhas, diocesan administrator of Allahabad. He told UCA News that it was too early to say what forces are behind the case and provoked parents to lodge the complaint against the school. “We have to wait for the outcome of the investigation,” the priest said. Kanpur assistant commissioner of police Sisamau Nishank Sharma said a case has been lodged against school manager Sumit Makhija after a complaint about Islamic religious texts being recited during morning prayers, The father of a student alleged that the seeds
Significance of a global Indian Christian Day -July 3rd
IACONA (Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America) has compiled a list of 761 attacks with a large percentage of those being mob attacks. As a Christian in India today, there is an increasing possibility that while at Church practicing his/her ancient tradition and worshipping Jesus through prayers and songs and communion, a screaming mob of hundreds of angry young men, many armed with iron rods and other weapons could barge into the peaceful prayer hall thrashing worshippers and dragging them out of sanctuary while they smash everything in sight. This is not some fantasy but has become a reality in present-day India under the BJP rule. Indian Christian Community in the Tri-state area is getting ready to celebrate Indian Christian Day on July 3.It may also be a good time to revisit its relevance and related history. July 3 is observed as St. Thomas day, the world over. The New Testament reckons Thomas – who is also known as “Didymus” (meaning “Twin” in Greek) – as one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. He was born in Galilee, Israel, and died on December 21, 72 A.D. According to Christian tradition, Thomas was killed with a spear at
Indian Christian Day celebrated
Christians cutting across denominations came together at various parts of India July 3 to organize special programs to mark the 1950th martyrdom day of Saint Thomas the Apostle. Saint Thomas, one of the 12 disciples of India, is believed to have come to India in 52 AD and preached the Christian faith in the western and southern regions of the country. He was martyred 20 years later in Chennai, currently the capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Since 2021, the day is being observed as the Indian Christian Day to “love the neighbor, serve society, celebrate Jesus and bless India.” The ecumenical annual day helps Christians to remember and celebrate “the person and message of Lord Jesus Christ in India.” The also helps them preserve their identity with the Indian cultural heritage and promoting unity. The day, a people’s movement, saw Christians organizing festivities, cultural programs, community service, health and literacy camps, food and clothes drive, environmental cleanup and workshops. In the national capital, Christians came together in the downtown Constitution Club from 10 am to 1 pm, and at B M Gange School in Old Delhi’s Raj Niwas Marg, from 5 to 8 pm. A part of the celebrations was the play, “Rahi
