Chief Minister of right wing Hindu Bha-ratiya Janata Party ruling northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh had words of apprecia-tion and praise for a group of Catholic Church leaders visiting him on July 17. In his official Facebook post Chief Minister Pema Khandu said, “blessed to receive a call-on from Bishop Benny Edathittayel of Itanagar, Bishop George Palliparambil of Miao and the members of the Arunachal Pradesh Catholic Association, led by President Shri Taw Tebin Ji.”
“Their tireless efforts in promoting peace, education, and social welfare in our state are truly commendable,” he wrote. Serving a second term as Chief Minister Khandu did not hesitate to place on record the contribution of the Church stating, “I deeply appreciate the Catholic community’s dedication to raising awareness on critical issues like corruption, drug abuse, and the money culture in elections, contributing to a more informed and respon-sible society.” In concluding the post the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh state which introduced the anti-Christian legislation – Freedom of Religion Act in 1978 – did not hesitate to say, “Thank you for your selfless service and commitment to the betterment of Arunachal Pradesh.” Pema Khandu born on August 21, 1979 is the son of former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh late Shri Dorjee Khandu. Several states in India, including Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha, have implemented anti-conversion laws. Anti-conversion laws are legislative measures aimed at preventing or prohibiting religious conversions. These laws can be used to discourage individuals from leaving a particular faith or to restrict religious groups from actively seeking new members from other religious backgrounds. The specific provisions and enforcement of anti-conversion laws differ across jurisdictions, and they may involve both criminal and civil penalties. Christian leaders content that the implementation of these laws have the potential to favour domi-nant religions or suppress minority faiths

Church leaders have met the top leader of Sikhism after Sikhs objected to being called “crusaders” by unidentified pastors in a northern Indian Punjab state. The pastors alle-gedly called Sikh community members “crusaders” following a spate of attacks on the state’s Christians, who were accused of forced conversions. Christians account for 10 percent of Punjab’s population.
“Some unknown pastors have allegedly used the word ‘crusaders’ for them [Sikhs]. It is painful and unfortunate,” Bishop Agnelo Rufino Gracias, apostolic administrator of Jullundur diocese in Punjab state, told. The prelate added that they have had a “good rapport with the Sikhs” for years and hardly “faced any issues.” A delegation from Jullundur (Jalandhar) diocese in northern Punjab met Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh of the Akal Takht (the seat of power of the Sikh religion) on July 15. The Sikhs form the majority of Punjab’s 28 million population the Jathedar is the head of the Sikh religion. The meeting took place in Amritsar, where the Jathedar is based. The delegation, led by Father John Grewal, the diocese’s director of interreligious dialogue, handed Singh a letter titled “Masih Maha Sabha” (Christian General Assembly) and promised cooperation to address the contentious issue of religious conversion.

A family in Odisha now thanks a Catholic nun for rescuing them from bonded labour in the southern Indian state. “I can finally breathe freely. I thank Sister Sujata pro-fusely,” says Deepthi Singh, who was held in bondage along with her husband in a brick kiln in Karnataka state’s Mallur district. The 22-year-old pregnant woman told Matters India July 17 that they had spent “countless nights crying out for help, feeling bitter about my circumstances and even blaming my parents.” Sister Sujata Jena’s initiative has helped Deepti, her husband, father, mother and stepmother to return to Gandhinagar, their village in Odisha’s Gajapati district, on July 11 after toiling in the Karnataka brick kiln for a total of nine years. Sister Jena, a lawyer and a mem-ber of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, said she heard about the family on July 3 during her visit to villa-ges in Gajapati district to conduct awareness programs for migrant workers. One of the participants of an awareness program was Deepti’s mother Subasini Singh, who told the nun how her family – husband, daughter, son in law and another member – was held in bondage in Karnataka. On her return to Bhubaneswar, Odisha capital, five days later, Sister Jeana appealed to the Labour Commissioner of Karnataka to get the family released from the illegal bondage. “The family’s rescue highlights the demeaning conditions of migrant labourers in India,” Sister Jena, who has worked among migrants for more than five years, told.

A delegation of Christian leaders has urged India’s federal government to ask 11 states to repeal the sweeping anti-conversion laws, which they say target Christians.
“The anti-conversion law has been weaponized to target religious minorities,” an eight-member delegation from the United Christian Forum (UCF) told federal minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju. The delegation met the minister in his office on July 20 and asked him to “issue an advisory to the state governments to repeal the anti-conversion law.” Stringent laws that criminalize conver-sion have been enacted in 11 states, most of them ruled by the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Christian forum monitors anti-Christian violence in the country and its delegation presented a memorandum to the minister highlighting the rising persecution against Christians. “The minister agreed to look into our grievances,” said A C Michael, a delegation member. Michael told on July 22 that they would discuss the issue further with the federal government and the provincial states concerned. The memoran-dum has the details of persecution, including murder, false cases, social boycotts, and denial of burial grounds. There were 727 incidents of violence against Christians in 2023, the memorandum said, and termed them “as a disturbing trend.” In the current year till June-end, “a staggering 361 incidents of targeted attacks” against Christians were reported, it said. The central Indian state of Chhattisgarh tops the list with 96 incidents, followed by northern Uttar Pradesh, which has 92 cases. Both the states are ruled by the BJP and have the anti-conversion law in force, which bans religious conversion by using force or allurement. “The primary reason for these attacks “was the false allegations of fraudu-lent [religious] conversions,” the memorandum noted. The memorandum said that “police collude with the right-wing groups” to target Christians, who make up a mere 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people. The delegation also told the minister that Christians were mercilessly beaten to death for their faith even when the Indian constitution guarantees religious freedom.

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.

A delegation of Church lead-ers met with Indian Prime Mi-nister Narendra Modi on July 12, a month after he was elected to power for the third consecutive term, and expressed concerns about the increasing hostility Christians face in the country. Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, led the four-member delegation along with federal minister Suresh Gopi, a parliamentarian elected from southern Kerala state and a mem-ber of Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party. The 45-minute meeting at the prime minister’s office “was cordial, and the prime minister gave us a good hearing,” Thazhath told the media at the bishops’ conference office in New Delhi. The delegation submitted a me-morandum expressing anxiety over the increasing attacks on Christians, the false allegations of forced conversions, and the misuse of anti-conversion laws, Thazhath said. The leaders wanted Modi’s intervention to stop the atrocities on minorities and hara-ssment of Christians. The memo-randum also sought for Christians of Dalit origin the special benefits meant for socially poor Dalit peo-ple. These concessions are denied to them on the ground that Chri-stianity does not follow the caste system.
The memorandum said Dalit Christians face double discrimination as society discriminates them as lower caste, and the government excludes them from welfare measures. The Church delegation wanted governmental steps to extend reservation bene-fits to Dalit Christians.

The top court in a central Indian state has granted bail to a woman school principal but denied it to a Protestant bishop, a Catholic priest, and 12 others accused of charging exorbitant school fees.
A single bench of Justice Maninder S Bhatti of Jabalpur High Court of Madhya Pradesh state has ordered the release of Soma George, principal of a Catholic school in Jabalpur. It also granted anticipatory bail to a Catholic priest named in the complaint but not arrested. This consideration, however, was not extended to Bishop Ajay Umesh Kumar James of Jabalpur Diocese of the Church of North India (CNI) and Fr Abraham Thazhathedathu of the Catholic Diocese of Jabalpur. Bail pleas of the bishop, the priest and the others were rejected because they were part of the decision-making process as members of the school management. “We are disappointed with the top court order,” said Fr Davis George, vicar general of Jabalpur diocese. The priest denied that diocesan schools were charging extra money from students. “We will file an appeal,” he told. A total of 22 persons from different institutions were arrested on May 27 after they were accused of charging exorbitant school fees. The state police cracked down on the schools following an allegation of charging excessive fees. The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party runs the state government. Eleven private schools, including seven run by the Church, have faced the wrath of the district administration. The police registered cases against 51 persons, including the textbook seller, accused of selling books at outrageous prices.

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.