Indigenous people in Manipur have sought the support of India’s new opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, to end a 14-month-old sectarian strife in their northeastern state, where tribal Christians are pitted against dominant Hindus. Gandhi visited the violence-hit state on July 8 after being elected opposition leader on June 26. “We appreciate Rahul visiting us and taking stock of our plight,” a Christian leader, who sought anonymity, told. The constitutional post had remained vacant for a decade in the Indian parliament, which was dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. However, Modi’s party lost the majority in the just concluded general election and formed a coalition government. Gandhi was elected the leader of the opposition. “During previous visits, Gandhi was merely a parliamentarian. But now he is the opposition leader,” the Church leader observed. “Everything is in bad shape” in Manipur, noted the leader based in the sectarian strife-hit northeastern Indian state bordering civil war-affected Myanmar. A delegation from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) called on Gandhi to seek his help to settle the sectarian violence that began on May 3 last year after a court move to confer tribal status on the prosperous Hindu Meitei community. The tribal status would help the Meiteis avail themselves of benefits under India’s affirmation action, something the tribal people from the state opposed. Gandhi visited several places, including relief camps in the worst-affected Churachandpur district, where the communal conflict originated. Visiting Manipur for a third time within 14 months, Gandhi lamented the plight of the displaced people, pegged at more than 50,000, and met family members of those killed, numbering more than 220. However, Prime Minister Modi has not visited the state, which is also ruled by his party. “What is of paramount importance at the moment is the restoration of peace,” Gandhi said and countered Modi’s claim in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament), that normalcy was returning to Manipur.

Christian leaders in India have hailed three US lawmakers’ demand for an independent probe into the situation that led to the death of Jesuit activist Father Stan Swamy as a prisoner three years ago. Representative from California Juan Vargas, along with lawmakers Jim McGovern and Andre Carson, on July 6 introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives on the third anniversary of Father Swamy’s death. The 84-year-old Swamy died in a private hospital in Mumbai, in western Maharashtra state, as an under-trial prisoner on July 5, 2021.  He was accused of associating with terrorists aiming to destabilize the nation and being part of a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The US lawmakers are justified in their demand” for an independent investigation into the situation that led to the death of the priest, said Father Jacob G Palakkappilly, spokesperson of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, a regional body based in southern Kerala. Father Palakkappilliy told that the allegations against the priest must be probed to clear his name. Christian leaders say the aged priest was arrested to silence his criticism that the policies of the Modi government ignored the welfare of tribal and poor in the country.   Swamy opposed a move to amend India’s stringent Forest Act, which safeguards the interests of forest dwellers. He accused the government led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of amending the law to help industrialists. According to the US resolution, Swamy worked to raise awareness among Adivasi (tribal) people about their rights. “Father Stan dedicated his life to giving a voice to the voiceless. He was a tireless advocate for the rights of the indigenous Adivasi people,” Vargas noted in the resolution. “Yes, there should be a probe into the allegations against Father Swamy,” stressed Sister Helen Tresa, a lawyer in the high court in Jharkhand. Swamy, based in Jharkhand, filed several cases to protect the rights of tribal people, who were illegally jailed after labeling them as sympathizers of outlawed Maoist rebels.

Consumption of spurious liquor led to the death of 57 people, most of them daily wage laborers, and left 150 others battling for life in a hospital in a southern Indian state. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) expressed its “profound sorrow and condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives after consuming methanol-mixed liquor in Tamil Nadu [state].” Many of those who died were Dalits or formerly untouchables from Kallakuruchi town and its nearby villages who worked as daily labourers. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during this heartbreaking time,” the CBCI said in a June 21 statement. The Catholic bishops also sought action against those involved in the illicit liquor trade that led to the tragedy. The state police’s crime investigation department has arrested seven suspects so far since the tragedy on June 19. The victims, among them two women and a transgender person, consumed the spurious liquor in the evening after a hard day’s work. “Among the dead are a few Protestant Christians,” said a Catholic priest in the Arch-diocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore which covers the Kallakuruchi town and its surrounding area. However, the exact number of Christians who died or are in serious condition could not be ascertained due to the highly tense situation, he said. “It is still ex-plosive despite heightened security,” the priest who wished to be anonymous told.

As many as 20 young people from seven Indian states have committed to becoming lay missionaries through the Communio missionary training programme. The commitment ceremony took place on June 23 at St. Francis Assisi Church at Tallur, Udupi diocese, Karnataka. The second batch of the missionary training programme organized by Communio in collaboration with the Youth Commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India was inaugurated by Father Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General, CCBI, and the Director of Communio. Earlier in March 2024, the Youth Commission trained 30 youth for their missionary journey. The Communio Missionary Training Programme that began on June 22 will conclude on June 27 when the trainees take the missionary pledge before Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo of Udupi. The selected volunteers, chosen for their diverse linguistic, cultural, and environmental backgrounds, are being immersed in the local culture by staying with twenty families from St. Francis Assisi parish.

Christian groups in the strife-torn Manipur state in northeast India have jointly appealed to Indian President Droupadi Murmu to stop the violence against a tiny group of Christians who live among native Hindu Meitei people. An estimated 35,000 Meitei Christians face “total cleansing and obliteration” in all the valley districts of the hilly state, according to their memorandum submitted to Murmu on June 26. The All Manipur Christian Organization (AMCO), a forum of all Christian groups in the state cutting across denomi-national differences, said Meitei Christians are facing violence from people of their ethnicity.
The Meitei people make up 53 percent of Manipur’s 3.2 million population. They are mostly Hindus, but some have followed various Christian denominations for decades. How-ever, they became the target of Meitei violence after a riot broke out 14 months ago between Meitei people and predominantly Christian Kuki tribal people, the Church leader told. “Since the mayhem and violence started, more than 360 Christian churches have either been razed to the ground, demo-lished or vandalized, out of which 249 churches belong to the Meitei minority Christian com-munity,” said the memorandum. “What is extremely saddening and heart-wrenching is the fact that all the displaced Meitei Christians are still not allowed to practice Christianity as their faith,” it said.
“The Meitei Christians, who are being threatened and harassed, are not allowed to practice their faith,” the memorandum said. It stressed that freedom of religion is “a guaranteed fundamental right of each citizen of our secular nation.” The Meitei Christians should be given “the necessary protection and assurance by the government of India and state government that they would no longer be disturbed from any angle in practicing the faith they choose,” it said. The memorandum also appealed to Murmu to take immediate action to “rebuild the places of worship, fostering healing and restoring the fabric of unity among the people.” It said that the reconstruction of these churches will serve as a symbol of resilience and reaffirm our commitment to diversity and harmony.

Catholics in India expressed optimism following the Supreme Court’s recent co-mments that a draconian anti-conversion law may be found to violate the Indian Constitution. During a May 16 hearing concerning the anti-conversion law in northern Uttar Pradesh state, the Supreme Court noted that “some parts [of the law] may seem to be violative of the fundamental right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution.”
“This Supreme Court observation gives us great hope,” Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore in southern Karnataka state told CNA. “The court observation highlights the primacy of the fundamental right of freedom of conscience,” he said.
“The Supreme Court remark is a pleasant surprise and gives hope to us,” A.C. Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of the ecumenical United Christian Forum (UCF), told CNA. Appeals against the laws are pending in as many as nine states, Michael added. UCF has been monitoring incidents of anti-Christian violence and extending support to persecuted Christians, most of whom were arrested on fraudulent conversion charges. Michael point-ed out that anti-conversion laws, which were enacted mostly by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments, are being abused to target Christians. The Supreme Court made its observation while hearing a petition seeking the quashing of a conversion case registered against officials of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Tech-nology, and Sciences (a Christian university) in Uttar Pradesh. “The Supreme Court on Thursday orally commented that the Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion law [Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021] in some parts may seem to be violative of the fundamental right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution,” the Institute of Legal and Management Studies reported.
Article 25 (1) of the Indian Constitution, which is known as the Magna Carta of religious freedom or “freedom of conscience” in India, guarantees: “Subject to public order, morality, and health and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion.”

An Indian Church official has welcomed an order of the Delhi High Court allowing educational institutions run by minority communities to appoint their staff without government approval. “This is a great order,” said Father Maria Charles Antonysamy, the secretary of the Indian bishops’ Office of Education and Culture, indicating that government-funded minority institutions across the country experienced a lack of freedom in appointing staff members. Delhi High Court, in its May 28 order, said, “So long as the principals and teachers, who are appointed possess the prescribed qualifications and experience, there can be no restriction whatsoever on the right of the petitioner [a minority institution] to make appointments to fill in the vacancies in the schools run by it.” “No prior permission from the government is required for this purpose,” observed Justice C. Hari Shankar, ruling in favor of the petitioner Delhi Tamil Education Association, which runs seven senior secondary schools in India’s national capital region for the Tamil linguistic minority. Indian constitution allows linguistic and religious minorities to establish and run educational institutions to serve their communities. The government also pays for the salaries and maintenance of several such institutions as they contribute to the state’s educational service.
However, state governments increasingly began controlling staff appointments, and “because of this difficulty, in some cases, Church-run aided schools were closed down,” the priest said. The court’s order “definitely will help us to maintain our ethos and standards. Only when we have the freedom to appoint principals and teachers of our choice can we maintain our values for a better society,” said the Catholic priest. The New Delhi court’s order applies only to Delhi state, but the priest said it could be used as a guiding principle in asserting the rights of minority institutions across the country. “The order will help us to appoint staff members who understand us. It will make a big difference in our functioning. Appointing a vested interested person will lead to a clash of interest,” Father Antonysamy added. The priest said, “The high court order is a big relief not only in Delhi but also in other states where state-aided minority educational institutions faced similar problems. They can refer to this order in those states for relief.”

Catholic bishops in a south-ern Indian state have expressed their condolences to the families of 49 expatriate workers, most of them Indians, killed in a fire mishap in Kuwait. A major fire broke out in a six-story building in the Mafreg area in southern Kuwait on June 12. Nearly 150 people were living in the block when the fire broke out on the ground floor. The cause of the fire is unknown but the presence of more than 20 cooking gas cy-linders in the overcrowded build-ing caused it to spread quickly. Kuwait’s interior ministry has reported 49 deaths. Among them, 42 are Indians and others are from Egypt, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Most victims died due to suffocation while 50 others sustained injuries. “Twenty-four of them were from Kerala state and many of them are Christians,” Fr Jacob Palakkappilly, spokes-person of the regional Kerala Ca-tholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), told on June 13. “It is really heartbreaking,” the KCBC said in a statement on June 13. The loss their families suffered is be-yond words, the bishops observed. “The Catholic Church shares the grief of the family members,” added the bishops. They were the breadwinners of their families, said Fr Palakkappilly, and added that we are waiting for more details. The Kerala government has announced compensation to each family and has sent its health minister Veena George to Kuwait. The Indian government has rushed federal minister Kirti Vardhan Singh to Kuwait. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condo-lences and announced compen-sation for the victim’s families. “My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured re-cover at the earliest,” he said. Low-paid, blue-collar workers from Asian nations live in over-crowded accommodations in the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) nations. Kuwait relies hea-vily on foreign labor in industries like construction. Kerala is known for migrant workers. Among its 33 million people, close to 3 million people are expatriates, according to reports.

Catholic bishops have appealed to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make his new term “inclusive” by treating all citizens equally and upholding the country’s constitutional values. Modi was sworn in for another five-year term on June 9 after his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the help of allies, se-cured 293 seats in the Indian parliament. The coalition government was formed after the BJP, accused of following a Hindu-first policy, failed to win the required simple majority of 272 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha (lower house). The seven-phased national polls ended on June 1, and results were declared on June 4. The bishops appealed to the coalition government “to work diligently towards upholding constitutional values, ensuring justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity for all citizens.” “It is imperative that the government remains inclusive and committed to the welfare of all sections of society, particularly the marginalized and vulnerable,” said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in a statement on June 9. The bishops said the elections highlighted “the strength of India’s democratic ethos.” The opposition accused Modi, who came to power in 2014, of following policies to turn India into a theocratic Hindu nation in his third term. India witnessed 147 incidents of violence against Christians in 2014, and the number of such incidents spiraled to 599 by 2022, according to records of Christian leaders. Most opposition political parties cobbled together a loose coalition with a slogan to “save constitution” that stresses secularism. But they could win only 234 seats, 38 less than the required number to form a government. The bishops acknowledged “the spirited participation of all political parties” in the elections, which they said exhibited the vibrancy of Indian democracy. “In the ultimate analysis, it is the triumph of Indian democracy. It’s the victory of faceless Indian voters,” said analyst Ashutosh Talukdar from northeast India’s Assam state. In three Christian-majority states in the northeast – Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizo-ram – BJP’s allies were humbled.

The Indian government has drawn up a plan to bring peace to the volatile northeastern region housing the nation’s only three Christian-majority states after the mammoth national elections end early next month. “Peace in the northeastern states, including Manipur, and end of various conflicts, is a priority,” said an official with India’s internal security ministry. People in Myanmar’s Christian-majority Chin state have family relations with people in the Christian-dominated Indian state of Mizoram. India is planning to seal the Myanmar-India border and end the free movement of people. The Indian government has termed the ethnic violence in Manipur as part of narco-terrorism. However, tribal Christians have accused the pro-Hindu government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of supporting Hindus. “The government is taking stock of the situation in Manipur and Mizoram,” the official told. “Ethnic clashes cannot be checked by force,” he admitted. On May 17, led by a Church group, warring tribal Christians and Hindus in Manipur met for the first time to end the one-year-old sectarian strife. Over a dozen influential leaders from the Meitei Hindu and Kuki Christian communities attended the first-ever meeting held at Bosco Reach Out, a Salesian house in Guwahati, Assam, the largest northeastern state bordering Bangladesh. According to a senior Mizo-ram government official, a fresh batch of 1,430 refugees from Myanmar have taken shelter in the state since May 17 after fighting between the army and armed rebels escalated in the military-ruled neighboring nation. The cash-starved Mizoram government has sought financial aid from the federal government to settle the migration crisis. In Mizoram, which shares borders between Bangladesh and Myanmar, Christians form close to 90% of the state’s 1.1 million people. Nagaland has witnessed many armed struggles over the years with demands for separation from India. The Naga rebellion reached its zenith in 1956 and the state has reported massacres throughout years of struggle. People in 6 districts of the Christian-majority Nagaland refused to vote in the ongoing national election to stress their demand for a separate state. Christians account for 87% of Nagaland’s 2.2 million people.