A Catholic leader has sought Indian Prime Mini-ster Narendra Modi’s inter-vention to stop harassment of Christians after Jharkhand State ordered a probe into the funding of more than 80 Christian organizations.
The eastern state on July 19 asked police to probe foreign donations received by non-governmental organizations managed by dioceses and religious congregations such as Jesuits, Salesians and several groups of nuns, accusing them of diverting the money for religious conversion. “This is another sign of how the Jharkhand government is harassing Christian institutions,” Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told ucanews.com.
“We appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep the state government under control. We hope that the prime minister will intervene and stop this harassment.”
Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which has run Jharkhand’s government since 2014, has been accused of moving against the Christian community, with police arresting nuns, priests and lay Christians on trumped-up charges.
