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.