Rights activists in India have called for more united and coordinated work to ensure the rights of religious minorities, tribal and Dalit people.

Activists, lawyers and civil society met in New Delhi to honour Soni Sori, a tribal activist who was chosen by Ireland-based rights organization Front Line Defenders for an award this year.

“Sori has become an inspiration to fight for rights violations in India at a time when the nation is witnessing orchestrated violence against minorities,” Supreme Court lawyer and activist Colin Gonsalves told.

“We all can learn from her that if we are firm and united no forces can deny our rights.”

Sori was arrested in 2011 on charges of helping Maoist insurgents. While in custody, she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Chhattisgarh State police. By April 2013, she had been acquitted of six of eight cases against her due to lack of evidence. In 2016, unidentified men threw acid on her face.

Since her release from jail in 2014, Soni has been at the fore- front of protests against abuses committed by security forces in conflict zones in central India. She has also defended several educational centres from destruction by Maoist groups.

Prasant Bhusan, a Supreme Court lawyer, said developments in India show “there is a feeling among people that they are not safe even in their own country and there is a threat from the dominant group.”

He said those speaking for the rights of minorities are “branded as anti-national … You speak in favour of tribals and you will be associated with Maoists,” he said.

Police in India’s Uttar Pradesh State have charged more than 270 Christians with “spreading lies about Hinduism and drugging people to try and convert them to Christianity.”

Christians in Jaunpur district said on Sept. 10 that the move showed religious bias and was an attempt to terrorize Christians.

Police in the district filed the charges against 271 Christians of a Pentecostal Church after being directed to do so by a local court.

The court directive followed a complaint lodged by activist group Hindu Jagran Manch that Christians were propagating misinformation about the Hindu religion and attempting to convert people during Sunday services.

Pastors Durga Prasad Yadav, Kirit Rai and Jitendra Ram were named on the charge sheet while the others were not identified.

The Hindu group said it went to court after the Christians refused to stop conducting Sunday prayer services despite repeated warnings.

Mumbai: The office of the Archbishop of Bombay has asked Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar to step down to help unfold an inquiry against him.

It says the reputation of the Church, not just in Kerala but all over the country, is at stake and stepping down would be the right thing to do at this juncture. If the bishop isn’t guilty, he can get back to his position, says Father Niget Barrett, spokesperson for the office of Archbishop of Mumbai.

The priest told a press conference on September 12 that it is only the Vatican which can initiate an inquiry.

“It would be best recommended that the Bishop of Jalandhar steps down and an impartial enquiry, I hope a judicial enquiry, would be done so that it can’t be intimidated using the church mechanisms and enquire into the authenticity claims of both parties and if the Bishop of Jalandhar is guilty, then since it’s a criminal act, the court should take cognizance and act accordingly,” said Father Nigel.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, who is also the head of the Indian Catholic Church, is one of the nine cardinal advisers appointed by the Pope and so is currently in Vatican. The Vatican is currently pondering over the accusations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States who has accused the Pope of covering up sexual abuse and giving comfort to a “homosexual current” in the Vatican.

Father Nigel says that before leaving India, he had met Archbishop Oswald but he had not indicated that discussing the current allegation in India was on the card. “Cardinal Oswald has apparently indicated that he would communicate this matter to the authorities concerned and ensure that the processes are in place so that justice is given,” said Father Nigel.

Indian Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas has personally asked federal Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh to intervene over the mistreatment of Christians and their organizations in eastern Jharkhand State. Bishop Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Indian Bishops’ Conference, met Singh at his New Delhi office on September 3.

The minister was briefed about difficulties being faced by the Christian minority.

Also present at the meeting was Conard K.Sangma, the Catholic chief minister of Me- ghalaya, a Christian majority state in north-eastern India.

Many Jharkhand Christians believe they are being unfairly targeted by a state government investigation of 88 Christian agencies over foreign donations.

The probes centre on India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act requiring that donations be received through a designated bank and spent only for specific social service undertakings.

Despite being surrounded by water, Varghese Mollykutty used to row a boat four kilometres along a narrow canal to a public water source to fetch a few pots of drinkable water for her family.

She and her husband and two children live on a tiny island village, Kuttanad, a unique marshy delta in India’s southern State of Kerala that lies below sea level. Recently floods in the southern Indian state killed more than 350 people since June, peaking in August with 37% excess rainfall in just two-and-a- half months.

Kuttanad, although ringed by water flowing from four perennial rivers, is one of the thirstiest areas in India. Its water is loaded with heavy microbial elements such as coliform bacteria and so is unusable for drinking or any domestic chores.

Most houses in Kuttanad have wells but the water is unusable because it is acidic with mineral content, brackish or unsafe with bacteria.

But Mollykutty now has a method to filter well water to make it suitable for drinking or any household chores.

“It has come as a big boon to us. We don’t have to go kilometres for water anymore. We can get it any time we want by opening a tap. We have only to fill the filtering chamber with water from our well,” she says.

“Recent events in India have damaged the country’s image as a vibrant, plural and successful democracy.” That is the opening line of former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran’s recent article in which he expresses his “growing concern over the rising polarisation and communalism of our social and political discourse.” Saran pointed out: “We pride ourselves in being the most tolerant of people, celebrating our diversity of faith, culture and tradition, ways of life and language. Diversity thrives on sharing; it becomes poison when it becomes an instrument for separating ‘us’ from ‘them.’ One cannot construct an over-arching Hindu identity on the basis of creating a binary Hindu-Muslim divide.”

Indeed, we do not need a divide. We need instead to find our spiritual common ground. We cannot find that common ground by accident. It must be a consequence created through strong beliefs and a concerted and sustained effort over time. It must be an outcome that over- comes religious, regional and racial boundaries.

How do we reach that ideal state? We begin with where we are, find our shared values, leverage our strengths and then chart a path to where we want to be. As an example of discovering our shared values, let me draw upon the teachings of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University, and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, founder of Banaras Hindu University.

These men were visionaries who saw the world not though religious blinders but through an expansive view of what strong and inclusive faiths can do to unite rather than divide us.

Pandit Malviya instructed us: “India is not a country of the Hindus only. It is a country of the Muslims, the Christians and the Parsees too. The country can gain strength and develop itself only when the people of India live in mutual good will and harmony.”