Persecution surges as BJP completes one year in Indian state

Attacks on Christians in eastern India’s Odisha have surged since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in this state a year ago, their leaders say. “Not a single week passes in Odisha without some violent attack aimed at Christians to renounce their faith and return to Hinduism,” says Father Ajay Kumar Singh, a social activist from Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese. After the BJP party came to power in Odisha in June 2024, “systematic persecution” against Christians began, particularly in areas where tribal and socially disadvantaged Dalit people dominate.
The BJP formed a government on its own in June 2024 for the first time after winning 78 of the 147 seats in the state legislature. It ousted Naveen Patnaik, who was the state chief minister for 24 years. After the BJP took power, the state recorded several incidents of Christian harassment, including disrupting prayer services in churches, denying burial of their dead, and social boycott in villages, Singh said. Christian leaders say that in these incidents, Hindu groups that support the BJP and work to make India a Hindu nation demanded that Christians renounce their faith and become Hindus. The latest such incident occurred on June 16, when a Christian couple — Gouranga Bai, 50, and his wife Ritanjali Bai, 42 — were harassed, forcing them to abandon their Christian faith. Bishop Pallab Lima, who heads the United Believers Council Network of India (UBCNI) told UCA News on June 18 that the couple were the only Christians in Kontia Ichhapur, a village comprising some 1,000 Hindus in Bhadrak district. “I have spoken to one of the village leaders, and the ritual ceremony of returning to the Hindu faith has been postponed,” he said