Christians across India are “living in fear” because of acts of state-led violence and oppression, says the bishop of a region still recovering from one of the country’s worst outbreaks of persecution. Speaking to leading Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Kishore Kumar Kujur of Rourkela described how the government in India is “causing problems” – with support from “right-wing” groups hostile to Christians and other minorities.

He said: “Christians are living mostly in fear at present – much more in the north, where they are a minority.”

Underlining the severity of the threat, the bishop said his safety would be put at risk if he released key details about the oppression and persecution suffered by Christians and other minorities.

Bishop Kujur’s diocese covers part of Odisha state (formerly Orissa), where an anti-Christian pogrom in 2008 left 100 or more dead, 50,000 homeless, with attacks on 4,500 houses and 250 churches.