Five days after a mob of Hindus beat to death a Catholic man for suspected cow slaughter in India’s Jharkhand State, Christian and Muslim activists joined in New Delhi to protest about violence against minorities.

A mob attacked Prakash Lakra and three others on April 10 after suspecting them of slaughtering a cow in Jhurmu village in the Eastern State’s Gumla district. Lakra died from his injuries hours after the attack, church sources said. About 100 protesters gathered in front of the Jharkhand Bhawan building in New Delhi on April 15 to shout slogans against the state government run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Such violence is nothing but a strategy to terrorize minorities and polarize the country in the name of religion for votes,” said Christian leader A.C. Michael, a protest organizer.

Speakers said violence in the name of protecting cows, which are revered animals in Hinduism, has increased ever since the BJP came to power in New Delhi. Hindu groups stepped up violence against Christians and Muslims because they considered the BJP victory a mandate for them to push for their goal of establishing a Hindu-only nation, activists said.

“We had never heard of people killing in the name of religion in our area. We tribals here respect each other irrespective of our faith. It is very unfortunate and shocking,” said Father Cyprian Kullu, Vicar General of Gumla Diocese in Jharkhand.

He told ucanews.com that Lakra and his friends did not slaughter a cow. An aged ox slipped in a pit and died and villagers decided to take its skin to be used.

Senior police official M.L. Meena told the media on April 13 that the attackers were armed with iron bars and sticks and attacked the victims brutally. At least 139 people were also injured in these attacks. More than half of the attacks were based on rumours, it is said.

Ending the denial of social welfare benefits to Dalit Christians, who hail from a group formerly known as untouchables, is among the undertakings given during campaigning for India’s national parliamentary election.

For almost seven decades, political parties have ignored the demands of Christians of Dalit origin for welfare measures enjoyed by others, particularly Hindus. “This has been a long-pending demand of the Catholic Church and we are happy some political parties are now raising this issue and making this part of their election manifestos,” said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary-general of the Indian Bishops’ Conference.

“We are gathering information on the Kandhmal martyrs:” announced Msgr John Barwa, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, to Christians in Orissa during a meeting with clergy and religious. The prelate started the formal process to have the Christians killed during the pogroms unleashed by the Hindu radicals in 2008 known as “martyrs of the faith.”

The meeting took place at the Kandhamal pastoral centre on 3 March, where over 60 diocesan priests and leaders presented various reports on financial aspects and land issues. The archbishop expressed the desire to strengthen the laity through education, both religious and secular, and to improve the socio-economic conditions of the district’s population. He said, “people are disadvantaged due to lack of higher education and professional training. We must encourage and strengthen them.”

Msgr Barwa participated in a retreat for the clergy, in which “the preacher emphasized that the Eucharist is at the heart of priestly spirituality, and invited prelates to devote more time to Eucharistic adoration and prayer.”

“I told our clergy and religious – he concludes – that it is our task to gather all the evidence and material, so that I can advocate [the cause] in the Vatican, in the first phase of the beatification process. Everyone – lay faithful, consecrated and priests – must share the documents in their possession. It is a joy for us.”

Fears of India evolving into a Hindu theocratic nation loom large as the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeks a second term by placating Hindu sentiment ahead of the April-May parliamentary election.

Secular and liberal political groups say the poll will be crucial in forging the future identity of the country, which defined itself as a secular-democratic nation after British rule ended in 1947.

“Hindu pride is the plat-form on which voters are being courted, which is a big concern,” said Alok Verma, a rights activist in the Northern State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The April 11 to May 19 elections will see 900 million eligible voters select 543 parliamentarians. The party with the most seats will govern the country for the next five years. The BJP, in office since 2014, again finds itself pitted against the Congress party, its nemes is. But critics like Verma worry it is stoking religious intolerance and hate as a ploy to win over more Hindus.

The Federation of Telugu Churches has urged Christians in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to vote for candidates who promote India’s secular and pluralistic character and foster communal harmony and peace.

Vote for those “who strive for social justice and equality of the marginalized like the Adivasis/Tribals and Dalits, especially for equal status for the Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims, and who protect and promote the rights of the minorities,” says a pastoral letter from the federation, the apex forum of various Churches in the two Southern Indian States that use Telugu as their common language.

The April 1 statement says the Church’s political service and political apostolate are the need of the hour.

“Hence, as bishops/Heads of Churches we encourage our members to opt for political vocation and to take up political service. FTC urges Christians, especially the youth, to take up leadership roles in public and political life,” the pastoral letter says.

Bimal Das is no more a street child, nor is he Christian. But the 30-year-old stood inside a New Delhi church and wept as he joined funeral prayers for Salesian Father Antony Thaiparambil.

Das flew in from Kolkata to attend the funeral of Father Thaiparambil, who rescued him from a street in the eastern Indian city when he was barely six years old.

“I have not seen God, nor have I seen my parents. But if God is there, I am sure he looks like this man,” he said after the ceremony.

The priest helped at least 80,000 children like Das to leave the streets and secure a decent life, Salesian officials said.

Father Thaiparambil began his work with street children in Kolkata, three decades ago in 1985. Das was one of the initial beneficiaries of his mission.

The 84-year-old priest died in New Delhi of an age-related illness on March 19. About 500 people including former street children attended his funeral officiated by Arch-bishop Anil Couto of Delhi and retired Archbishop Vincent Cocessao of Delhi.

Veteran Kerala politician and Catholic K.M. Mani, who never lost any Assembly election since 1967, died on April 9 evening at a private hospital here, doctors said. The 86-year-old was undergoing treatment for a lung ailment— Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease.

He was admitted to Lakeshore Hospital in Ernakulam. The end came on April 9 evening. Mani’s party is the biggest ally of the Congress in the United Democratic Front.

Ahead of the general elections in India in April, Church officials have issued pastoral guidelines asking Catholics to reject candidates who espouse certain ideologies and vote for guardians of secularism and democracy.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, joined other regional bishops in issuing a set of guidelines. The latest comes from the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, a regional forum of bishops in southern India, favouring candidates who respect the country’s secular constitution and related institutions.

It is due to be read out in all Catholic parishes in Kerala on March 31. While it offers guidance and advice, it also stresses that the Church does not favour any specific political party or ideology.

The circular, printed in the local Malayalam language, entreats parishioners to support candidates who are committed “to the values of secularism and democracy” and who will work for the “integral development and unity of the nation.”

The message comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is seeking a second term by placating Hindu voters and sensibilities.

Critics say the BJP leaders plan to amend India’s secular constitution to align it with Hindu nationalism and create a Hindu nation if voted into power, even though the party fielded two former Christian pastors for the state elections in November.