Hindu attacks on Christians in India have doubled in the past year as part of an unprecedented trend to portray Christians as acting against the state, its religious tolerance and national ethos, according to a newly released report. The country recorded 736 incidents of attacks against Christians in 2017 against 348 in 2016, according to data from Persecution Relief, an ecumenical forum that records Christian persecution in India and helps victims.

Most police complaints filed against victims accused them of crimes such as sedition, working against religious tolerance, discriminating against people, acting against national integration, defiling places of worship and insulting religions, the report revealed.

“It is a new trend to accuse Christians of serious crimes,” said Shibu Thomas, founder of Persecution Relief. If sedition charges are proved, the accused can get life terms in prison, he told ucanews.com.

Filing such complaints “is a clear indication that those opposed to Christians want to portray them as serious threats to the nation’s safety and security,” Thomas said.

Christian leaders say violence against their people increased after the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 with the support of Hindu groups who want to make India alone a Hindu state. These groups attempt to present religious minorities like Christians and Muslims as unpatriotic.

Christians suffered violence throughout India in the past year as violence was reported from 24 of its 29 states.

Most incidents were “daring physical attacks” on church leaders and members, the report said.

The four states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh accounted for 57 percent of incidents.

Uttar Pradesh in northern India, where the BJP came to power in 2017, recorded 69 attacks, up from 39 incidents in 2016 when the socialist Samajwadi Party was in power.

Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP has governed for 15 years, recorded 52 incidents, an increase of 54 percent from 2016, while Tamil Nadu recorded 48 incidents, up 60%.

Hindu hardliners have stepped up intimidation of Christian educational institutions in India, not least Catholic colleges. In one recent case, sheer numbers were used to break through a security cordon with the aim of performing a nationa- listic ritual.

Braving wintry early January winds, armed police guarded St Mary’s College in Vidisha of Madhya Pradesh State in central India. Some 800 young Hindu men entered the campus, some by scaling walls, but police managed to stop them performing a purportedly patriotic ritual in front of students.

The Bharat Mata Aarti ritual can entail a personification of Mother India represented by the Hindu goddess Durga.

However, Archbishop Leo Cornelio, head of the Catholic

Church in the troubled state, said the attempt really had nothing to do with patriotism. Attempts to discredit church insti- tutions were aimed at gaining control over them, he warned.

The archbishop noted that Catholic schools and colleges run on secular lines are allowed under the nation’s constitution. “No one can take that right from us,” Archbishop Cornelio said.

Catholic priests and nuns from 31 religious congregations have pledged to protect the secular and democratic ethos of Indian constitution amid calls from rightwing Hindu groups to make India a theocratic nation.

“There is an urgent need for us to wake up to the harsh realities of diluting the secular, socialistic and democratic ethos of our constitution and protect them,” said Father Jacob Peenickaparambil Feb. 19. He was speaking at the end of a three-day biennial convention of Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace in Ranchi, the capital of north- eastern Indian State of Jharkhand.

More than 60 men and women from Religious congregations discussed the theme “challenges to secular democracy in India today” – and felt the need to create awareness among the people to protect the constitution of India.

“Unless we propagate the values of our constitution, its secular, socialistic and democratic values, and the rights of minorities will not be safe in the country,” said Father Peenika- parambil, national convenor of the group and a member of Carmelite Mary Immaculate (CMI) congregation.

Several speakers at the meeting said pro-Hindu groups continue to clamor to make India a Hindus- alone state, with the government supporting them with discriminative policies that sideline Muslims, Christians, dalits, tribals and other social and ethnic minorities. “The discriminatory policies in force in the country have widened the gap between the rich and the poor,” said Sister Manju Kulapuram, national executive secretary of the forum. She cited the increasing cases of attacks against Christians and Muslims, including several cases of lynching in the past two years in the name of protection of cows taking place in the country.