In the wake of anti-Christian assaults by Hindu activists in central India, which featured the placement of saffron flags on the rooftops of four Protestant churches, local Catholic leaders are calling for increased security ahead of the installation of a new bishop for the local diocese.
The incidents occurred Jan. 21 following Sunday services in the four churches in the Jhabua district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. According to local media reports, the Hindu militants were celebrating the Jan. 22 consecration of a new temple to the Lord Ram in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state on a site believed to be the Hindu deity’s birthplace.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the consecration ceremony, has touted the massive new temple as the cornerstone of a Hindu nationalist renaissance in India.
According to local sources, activists energized on the eve of the consecration ceremony climbed on top of the four churches and prayer halls in Jhabua, shouting Jai Shri Ram (“Hail Lord Ram”), a frequent battle cry of Hindu nationalists, and planted saffron flags on the roofs.
Saffron is the color symbolically associated with Hindu identity in India, and some analysts have described the rise to power of right-wing Hindu nationalism under Modi as representing the “saffronization” of India’s democracy.
Three of the churches involved were Pentecostal prayer halls managed by the Shalom Church, while the fourth was part of the Church of South India, one of the country’s largest Protestant denominations. Visuals of the incident showed a group of youths standing on top of a prayer hall, one of them tying a saffron flag with Lord Ram’s image to the holy cross on the building.
Pastor Kidar Singh of the Church of South India told Crux that around 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 21, over 50 right-wing activists gathered near his house, waiving saffron flags and shouting slogans near the church compound.
“They were chanting slogans, such as Ek hi Rashtra, ek hi Ram (‘only one nation, only one Ram’),” he said.