THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT HAS BEEN SIGNED BY CLOSE TO 200 PEOPLE INCLUDING : Tushar Gandhi, Annie Raja, Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal, Prakash Louis, Pamela Philipose, Brinelle D’souza, Aloysius Irudayam, Shabnam Hashmi, Lisa Pires, Minakshi Singh , Abha Bhaiya, and Vinod Pande.

The persecution of Christians in India has been a growing concern over the past few years. According to various reports, there has been a significant increase in violence and harassment against Christians, particularly in rural areas.

One of the main reasons attributed to this alarming rise in persecution is the resurgence of Hindutva nationalism, which has led to an increase in anti-minorities sentiment, specially targeting Christians and Muslims. Many religious nationalist groups, such as the Bajrang Dal and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), have been accused of inciting violence against Christians across many states.

According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), there were 327 incidents of violence against Christians in 2021 alone.

In 2022, over 300 attacks against Christians were reported across the country, with many incidents going unreported . The United Christian Forum (UCF) reported 486 incidents of anti-Christian violence in 2022, including 115 incidents of physical violence and 357 incidents of intimidation and harassment. The UCF monitored trend listed 127 incidents in the year 2014, when the Modi government took over power.

Presently, January 2024 to November 2024, India has recorded 745 incidents of Christian citizens being attacked for their faith.

Churches and Christian institutions have been specifically targeted in many incidents. In 2021, at least 15 churches were vandalized or set on fire across India . In 2022, several churches were attacked, including a church in Delhi that was vandalized by a group of Hindu extremists. The May 3rd Manipur riots witnessed the destruction of over 200 churches and countless lives lost.

These incidents of anti-Christian violence have been linked to Hindu nationalist groups, which have been accused of receiving support from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ¹. The Indian government has been criticized for not doing enough to protect the rights of Christians and other minority groups.

The persecution of Christians in India has raised concerns internationally. In 2021, at least 17 human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, cosponsored a Congressional briefing to request the US Government to take action against the growing persecution of Christians in India .

In 2021, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed India on its “Countries of Particular Concern” list, citing the country’s “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” persecution of religious minorities .

Simultaneously, 13 state governments have now enacted anti-conversion bills, which are being blatantly abused to wreak havoc on the lives of Christian citizens.

It’s surprising that despite the growing persecution of Christians, prominent members of the Christian hierarchy have chosen to engage with Prime Minister Modi, who has been criticized for his inaction in protecting the rights of Christians. Mr Modi has been seen in recent days with members of the hierarchy at Christmas programmes. He is being invited on 23 December 2024 by the CBCI at a Christmas celebration in New Delhi.

We see this as an attempt by senior institutional leaders of the Christian community to legitimise the government’s inaction on Christian persecution.

We call upon the Christian leadership to voice these concerns and hold the prime minister as head of the government  accountable for the protection of Christians in India. Symbolic gestures do little to address the issue hatred generated against the community, and the resultant targeted violence, harassment,  arrests, and incidents of ostracization in several parts of the country.

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Greetings of peace, love, joy and hope- to each one of you, as you prepare to celebrate my birth once again!

I have just come across an invitation, that some of you are planning to celebrate my birthday on 23 December 2024, in Delhi.A great idea indeed – congrats!! My birth as the Saviour of the world must be celebrated! Do go ahead and enjoy yourselves. However, I must confess that your choice of Chief Guest at my birthday party, confuses me tremendously; in fact, I am aghast! Obviously, you will point fingers to me and say to me that during my life on this earth, I was wining and dining with tax- collectors and prostitutes and damned sinners of every hue on the horizon. I have absolutely no doubt that you would conveniently say this to me. Besides, you would also take me on my own words, unhesitatingly quoting me, “I have come for the sinner…!”

Having said this, I would like to state clearly, strongly and unambiguously:

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest…the small farmer/s. You are aware of the suffering that they have been subject to. Their lands have been snatched away from them; they are given a raw deal for the crops they produce; they are being denied a just Minimum Support Price(MSP). Remember the four anti- small farmer laws which are currently in cold storage, designed to help the big corporates who have already built huge granaries? Even today several small farmers are fasting, they want their voice to be heard. I would have been delighted if you had invited one of them for my birthday and given them a voice to express woes, just listened to them. You seem to forget that the first to be invited to celebrate my birthday were the Shepherds. they were the Chief Guests- poor and simple, excluded and exploited, living on the peripheries.They came in haste to worship me! Mummy Mary and Papa Joseph had time for them and received them with the warmth, love and joy which so profoundly defined that first Christmas night.

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest…the Human Rights Defender/ s. Umar Khalid, Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and others. My Father had a clear plan, he chose the Magi, the ones who were relentlessly pursuing the truth; the ones who had the courage to follow the Star, despite all odds. The Magi took a stand against the wiles of Herod and refused to toe his line and fall into the trap of his machinations. They took a visible and vocal stand for truth and justice, as they took a calculated decision to go home by another route. There are so many Human Rights defenders who are silenced, hounded and harassed, incarcerated and even killed. Remember our beloved late Fr Stan Swamy? How nice if one of these, who so meaningfully epitomise the spirit of the Gospel, wasaccorded the pride of place at my birthday party!

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest …a peacemaker; someone who has the courage to internalise and actualise peace, justice, harmony, joy and fraternity. There are millions of them in India today – simple, ordinary, voiceless, sensitive people who have a genuine concern for others. who reach out to others. That first Christmas night, the angels sang in one voice, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests” On his first Christmas as the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis referred to thesong of the angels as “a song that unites heaven and earth.”. He invited everyone to join in this little song. He called it “a song for every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty.” Pope Francis said, “the song of the angels gives praise and glory to heaven, while at the same time promising peace to earth and all its people.” It is indeed, a song of peace.

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest, …the ‘other’! Remember the people of Egypt? Theyprovided me, my Mum and my Dad with shelter, safety and security. They accorded us a warm welcome. They treated us as one like them, integrated us in their society, gave us all that we needed. It was not easy being refugees, strangers/ foreigners from a distant land. Today we tend to discard these very people so easily. They are discriminated against, their houses are bull-dozed and the most derogatory language is being used against them. My mother always wore a hijab – it was an integral part of her culture and tradition. Today we have reached the lowest rung of pettiness as we determine what one should wear and eat, see and read. It would be an excellent choice to have one of them as the Chief Guest at my birthday party!

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest …a tribal/ an Adivasi. The indigenous peoples are the soul of a nation. The natives – the original inhabitants of the land. Their jal, jungle, jameen – all their natural resources are being snatched away from them. Their identity is being destroyed. Actually, having a Kuki-zo tribal from Manipur, would be ideal. Since early May 2023, they have been bruised brutalised and battered; most of them have lost everything. Many are dead, others just surviving in make-shift refugee camps. Their plight is terrible, unbelievable – a classic case of man’s inhumanity to man. Imagine how wonderful it would be if one of them was invited to be the Chief Guest!

For my birthday, you are organising in my name, INVITE as Chief Guest …the poor and the vulnerable: there are so many of them in the country today: the casual labourers, the migrant workers, the fisher folk and other indigenous coastal people, the vegetable vendors and slum- dwellers, the ones who are trafficked,the unemployed, the Dalits, the OBCs, the women and those from the LGBTQIA+ community, the bonded persons and abused children. the list is endless indeed. Besides you forget that I am born a Palestinian – wow it would have been terrific to have a Palestinian as the Chief Guest and take a stand against the ruthlessness of the Israeli fascists

Sadly, you seem to miss the spirit and message of Christmas – as you concentrate on power, privilege, position, possessions and pride. One can never invite someone as Chief guest, who has tried to destroy the sanctity of the Constitution, prevented people from freely practising and propagation one’s religion and even suffocated freedom of speech and expression. Lies, corruption, hate and violence are mainstreamed in the country today.Minorities and other vulnerable sections of society are at the receiving end of a brutal regime. Don’t fool yourselves; this is neither dialogue nor meaningful interactions.

I took a stand against the Caesars, Pilates and Herods of my time. Can you learn from me? You forget that my birth took place in a stable. I am aware that you will do absolutely nothing to change things. That is the tragedy! Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in  ‘God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas’ reminds us, “Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honour, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”

Finally, enjoy yourself! Sorry, in conscience, I will NOT be in your midst! But of course, you will NOT even invite me for the birthday bash you are organising in my name! No problem! I prefer to be with those, I have truly come for- the least, the lost and the last! Happy Christmas!

Your brother, friend and Saviour,

Jesus Christ

December 21, 2024

(The author is a renowned human rights, reconciliation and peace activist and writer.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

Note: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Christmas celebrations hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) at its headquarters in the national capital on Monday, according to a release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Sunday.

This event marks the first time a prime minister will participate in a programme at the headquarters of the Catholic Church in India, the release noted.

The post For my birthday, ‘you are organising in my name,’ a point of order: Christmas invite to PM Modi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Member of Parliament (MP) from the Rajya Sabha, Saket Gokhale has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging clear violations Modi for using an Indian Air Force helicopter to attend an election rally in AC 96-Chilakaluripet in Palnadu, Andhra Pradesh yesterday.

He has stated in his public disclosure on ‘X’ (formerly twitter) that the ECI’s own statutory laws and rules say so.

Complaint against PM Modi with ECI for violating code of conduct

Filed a complaint with the Election Commission against Modi for using an Indian Air Force helicopter to attend an election rally in AC 96-Chilakaluripet in Palnadu, Andhra Pradesh yesterday

EC rules prohibit… pic.twitter.com/vHp8ooE32Z

— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) March 18, 2024

Narendra Modi, prime minister, used an Indian Air Force helicopter to attend an election rally in AC 96-Chilakaluripet in Palnadu, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday March 17. ECI rules prohibit use of state machinery for campaigning and as Gokhale says in his complaint, former PM Indira Gandhi was disqualified in 1975 for this very reason. He then asks if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) paid for renting of the IAF helicopter and if so, the ECI should respond to the public and explain the ground of why an IAF chopper was essential. (CMs and Other Z+ protectees use normal VVIP choppers which also have security features)’

Finally, he points out recent announcements of the ECI that state that any code of conduct violations will be dealt with strictly.

“Let us see if ECI initiates any probe or any action against PM Modi for using an IAF chopper for election campaigning” for himself and his party!

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When Balbir Singh Sr, breathed his last on Monday, May 25, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi left immediately tweeted his condolences to the family of the deceased and his well-wishers. After all, Singh was a towering field hockey icon. A triple Olympic gold medalist, he was awarded with Padma Shree, the fourth highest civilian award of the Indian republic for his contribution to the field of sports.

Singh died at a Mohali hospital in Punjab. Some of his close relatives live in British Columbia and he had a huge following in Canada. Singh had a home in Burnaby. The North Delta MLA and a former field hockey player Ravi Kahlon is one of those in Sikh diaspora who were influenced by him.  

What was ironic about Modi’s message was that Singh had faced discrimination for being a member of a minority community in Hindu-majority India. This was despite the fact that he brought many laurels to the country. His supporters have always believed that he deserved the highest civilian award of Bharat Ratna considering his performance, but he was neglected allegedly because of his religious background in a country where polarization has grown ever since Modi came to power in 2014.

Modi is the leader of currently ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is known for its anti-minority prejudices. A book on Singh, authored by a Canadian journalist Patrick Blennerhassett looks much deeper into this question. Titled as “A Forgotten Legend: Balbir Singh Sr, Triple Olympic Gold and Modi’s New India”, the biography goes into the history of India and links it with the present where attacks on religious minorities have grown under BJP government. Published in 2016, the book reveals how Singh also felt the pain of being constantly ignored. 

Although Modi cannot be singled out for what happened with Singh as the country has long been ruled by Congress party that claims to be secular, he had enough time to at least get him the highest civilian honour during the past six years. This can be partly blamed on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the mainstream Sikh regional party of Punjab which is an alliance partner of the BJP.  

Interestingly, the Modi establishment conferred Bharat Ratna on a highly controversial political figure Nanaji Deshmukh last year. Deshmukh was the leader of a Hindu supremacist organization, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh of which BJP is a political wing. He had justified the Sikh Genocide in one of his writings.   

Thousands of Sikhs were murdered all over India in the first week of November, 1984 following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards who were seeking revenge for military invasion on the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar in June that year. The ill-conceived army operation had left many pilgrims dead and historical buildings heavily destroyed. This act of sacrilege which the government boasted was aimed to deal with armed militants, who had stockpiled arms inside the shrine that was used as a hideout for insurgency that saw the murders of innocent Hindus in Punjab, had enraged Sikhs across the globe. For many in the community, it was designed to attract majority Hindu votes in the impending general election while other reasonable measures could have been adopted to prevent the conflict.

The mobs led by the slain leader’s Congress party with the help of police targeted Sikhs in different parts of India. The BJP supporters also allegedly participated in the killings to avenge the murders of Hindus in Punjab that were blamed on Sikh extremists. This explains why BJP lost the election that followed and Congress got a huge mandate. It was a clear indication of the shift of BJP’s hardcore Hindu vote bank to Congress in the aftermath of Sikh massacre.  
 
Singh himself survived the 1984 violence, as he was in Delhi at that time. Blennerhassett mentions in detail about this whole episode in his book and its impact on the sensitive mind of Singh who felt as an alien in his own home country. While we celebrate Singh’s legacy, we must also recognize the challenges faced by our heroes from minority groups and marginalized sections in a society that is unevenly divided with some more equal than others. 

The post Remembering Balbir Singh Sr appeared first on SabrangIndia.

According to “The Economist”, India’s growth falling from 8% in the middle of last year to 5% year-on-year in the most recent quarter “might not sound too bad”, as “other emerging economies are also suffering”. However, it warns, “The slowdown looks less like a dip than a prolonged cold shower.”

The top periodical says, “Some banks and many other lenders are in crisis, with a $200bn mountain of bad debts. In the six months ending in September, the total flow of financing to businesses fell by 88%.” It adds, “Five successive rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India … have failed to pull down commercial lending rates, and in any case firms are not investing.”
 

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In the stream, the Hindu Samaj Party member criticised BJP leaders such as Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not doing enough for the “Hindu” cause. Calling them “pigs” and “dogs”, he accused BJP leaders for coddling Muslims who he called terrorists. He also vocalised his concerns over how Hindu leaders like Kamlesh Tiwari, who he claimed have done so much for this nation, are being murdered in their own homes. He asked his viewers to wake up to this reality, and show their support or that he, Raja Singh, Updesh Rana, or Deepak Sharma might be the next to die.

At the time of writing this post, the video had 2.6 million views and has been shared 18,225 times. The video can be found here.

The post Decoding Hate: Hindu Samaj Party Member spews hatred, asks for support to extremist leaders: Kamlesh Tiwari killing appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: newslaundry.com

Many truths emerged in a divisive, hatred-filled communal war that took place on Twitter yesterday. When right-wing warriors and their Twitter army set out on the Twitter Kurukshetra to avenge Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder, they resorted to the lowest form of warfare – spewing communal hate by trending a hashtag that called for the absolute boycott of all Muslims.

While, it took more than 24 hours for the complicit social media site in addressing the open hatemongering and abiding by their own hate policy to intervene and stop the hashtag from trending; what was more surprising was that the right-wing outfits and Hindutva warriors were found to be followed by India’s Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.

Not just him, BJP’s top brass – Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Railways and Commerce; Baijayant Jay Panda, the VP & Spokesperson of the BJO; Bhupendra Chaubey, news anchor and Kapil Mishra, a BJP party member too follow the people who grab every opportunity to spread communal hate.

One such example is attached below.

In this case, a twitter user personally tagged the BJP authorities, with proof, requesting them to un-follow the person for taking part in this shameful trend and sending a wrong message to the society.

At the time of publishing this, none of the authorities had done so. If hatemongering, divisive politics and radical extremism by the majority is supported by the highest authorities themselves, will the minorities ever feel safe in their own country?
 
Related:
Hate Watch: How Hate Trends On Twitter—A Look into Communal Echo Chambers
Decoding Hate: Murder of local ‘Hindutva’ leader, followers spew communal venom
Like Bashirhat, boy circulates derogatory content on Prophet Muhammad but Birbhum saved from burning
Who was behind the #Gandhi Jayanti vs #Godse_Amar_Rahe: India’s Twitter War?
 

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During a September 2018 nuns’ protest against Malakkal in Kochi

Pointing towards the reason, NCR quotes Jesuit Fr Stanislaus Alla, theologian and professor at the Vidyajyoti College of Theology in Delhi, to say  that the Church in India is “paying the price for standing up for human rights.” Alla said this on a recent trip to the United States to present a paper on public health in South Asia.

At the same time, the top Christian media site notes, “The Catholic community in India is also besieged by internal issues that have rocked the church in the past few years”, citing the public protest by nuns in Kerala against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun.

The Missionaries of Jesus “flouted” the country’s anti-rape laws and publicly released the picture of the survivor, causing a massive public uproar. The church was criticized for its inaction against Mulakkal, despite a “written complaint by the survivor”.

Regretting that though many within the Church consider such issues as “internal matters” and choose to resolve it without going to the police, Alla says, “We also suffer from ‘minority persecution syndrome.’ Since we are a minority in India, we tend to not let issues blow up. And that has backfired badly.”
 

Fr Alla

Asserting that it’s this attitude that has “caused problems” for the Church, the report says, “When India’s Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, declared victory for the second time in the general elections this year, a sense of unease engulfed the country’s minority communities, who make up 18.2% of the country’s population. Since 2014, under Modi’s watch, religious persecution rose.

“Christians in India have been active contributors to its education system. But in an atmosphere of growing right-wing fundamentalism, Catholic educational institutions have come under attack. They often face criticism and are accused of proselytism”, Salvadore believes.

“State level anti-conversion laws have been enacted to regulate conversions to other religions. These laws are now used to harass Christians, and divide and polarize people”, the report says, adding, “Studies have shown that the number of Christians in India has gone down from 2.5% to 2.3%. There is absolutely no truth to the claim of forced proselytization.” It claims, “Some people convert on their own accord, but there’s no forced proselytization.”

According to the report, “In the past few years, Christians in the country’s Hindi heartland have been facing a series of attacks from Hindu extremists. More recently, outright violence has taken a backseat, and coordinated efforts are in place to shut down institutions.”

“A recent example is the police raid conducted at the home of Jesuit Fr Stan Swamy, a prominent human rights activist. Swamy, a critic of the government, has been an advocate of indigenous people undergoing trials who he said were falsely accused and imprisoned for protesting violations of their constitutional rights”, it underlines.

However, Salvadore quotes Alla to dismiss the idea that the current BJP government is particularly harsh on Christian minorities. “To be fair, Christians have suffered under other political parties as well. And it’s not just this government BJP.” Citing examples of missionaries being deported from India during the 1960s and 1970s under “secular” Congress, Alla adds, however, that the present situation is a lot “different and difficult.”

“With the BJP government’s implicit support of its fringe elements, lynchings against minorities in India, especially Muslims, have increased drastically since Modi came into power for the second time. Data shows that 90% of religious hate crimes in India in the past decade have occurred under the Modi government. In most cases, despite overwhelming evidence, the accused have walked free”, the article says.

Lamenting that Church leaders have been “measured in their response”, Salvadore says, “They’ve often reached out to Modi in an effort to build bridges”, even though BJP has been accusing the Church for being anti-Modi and encouraging Catholics to vote along communal lines. “Though the church is supposed to be apolitical, there are times when priests do make their political leanings public.”

Courtesy: Counter View

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