QUESTION: It was reported that the attacks against Christians in India have drastically increased last year. What would be its reason and as Christians what should be our response? -Mary Sacria

ANSWER: Saji Mathew Kanayankal CST

Indian Christians, the second-largest Christian population in Asia, has to undergo more than 450 attacks in a year! Christianity, in different dominations, is the third largest religion in India, with over 32 million followers constituting over 2.3% of the country’s total population. As it is reported, the number of attacks against Christians has increased from 279 in 2020 to 486, i.e., nearly 75% compared to the previous year. The attacks and vandalism reached their peak during the last Christmas week.
In many places priests or pastors are attacked, some other places, Christian churches or sacred objects or statues were vandalised, and in some other places the institutions were destroyed. Many mob attacks were reported and believers were hospitalised with injuries. According to the estimate of the United Christian Forum, 2021 was the “most violent year for Christians” in India since 2014. The four Hindu heartland states, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh recorded 274 incidents of violence against Christians with the highest number of attacks in Uttar Pradesh (102), followed by Chhattisgarh (90). For a detailed analysis, we have two reports published last year, first with the title, ‘Christians Under Attacks in India’ published on 21 October 2021 by the United Christian Forum. Later, another document was published on the attacks against Christians in Karnataka on 14 December 2021, titled ‘Criminalising Practice of Faith: A Report by PUCL Karnataka on Hate Crimes Against Christians in Karnataka’. The 75-page report is a well-documented study that brings out 39 instances of attack against Christians in Karnataka alone within the period from January to November 2021. Since the attacks are in view of preventing ‘conversion’, they are justified by most of the Hindu extremists. “In almost all incidents reported across India, vigilante mobs composed of religious extremists have been seen to either barge into a prayer gathering or round up individuals that they believe are involved in forcible religious conversions,” says the United Christian Forum.
CONSPIRACY, GROWTH OF HATRED AND HOSTILITY
The anti-Christian forces are growing day by day across India with various faces and activities. The different attacks against Christians are not distinct incidents, rather they are the result of a well targeted plan of the Hindutva. The protection of ‘Indian identity’ and ‘Indian nationhood’ is the political ideology of Hindutva. As it claims, promoting ‘Hindu values’, the ‘Hindu way of life’, a ‘common history’, ‘common ancestry’ and ‘common Indian culture’ as well as a ‘common Civil Code’ and economic growth that accords with ‘native ethics and morals’, the Hindutva works for the wellbeing of ‘all Indians,’ who accepts India as their ‘motherland and holy land.’ It accuses that the Muslims and Christians are intruders of the land and their culture, language and way of life are different from the ‘sons of the land.’
The RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the ruling party BJP, aims to create an ethnic Hindu state out of India. With the help of different fake stories, they create demographic anxiety among the majority Hindus. Listening to many stories of atrocities, the younger generation’s intellect is darkened and they will be the warriors of the ‘ethos and values of the ancient civilisation.’ To attain their gain, the Hindutva does not hesitate to use lies and violence of abusive languages against their opponents. M.S. Golwalkar, one of the pioneers of RSS, while narrating on Christians says; “So long as Christians here indulge in such activities (conversion) and consider themselves as agents of the international movement for the spread of Christianity, and refuse to offer their first loyalty to the land of their birth and behave as true children of the heritage and culture of their ancestors, they will remain here as hostiles and will have to be treated as such” (A Bunch of Thoughts).
Mohan Bhagwat, head of RSS, the ideological mentor of BJP, warned Hindus about the dangerous situation of converted India and alleged “demographic changes” in India’s North-Eastern states, which have a large Christian population. On 14 October 2021, at the time of the Dussehra celebration Bhagwat said; “Rising population and demographic imbalance need to be addressed and population policy is to be redesigned. And that policy should be applicable to all irrespective of caste and creed. Illegal immigration in bordering districts and conversions in the Northeast have changed the demographics further.” As an immediate reaction to this speech, there were many mob attacks against churches and Christians across the country, with the slogan, “behead them” and stop alleged conversions of Hindus. Three days after the speech, Rameshwar Sharma, a BJP legislator in Madhya Pradesh, called for a “Chadar Mukt, Father Mukt Bharat” (an India free of veil-wearing Muslims and Christian priests).
The attacks and hate campaigns against Christians are a part of the agenda of RSS and BJP and they use bogey of conversions against Christians alleging that the different social organisations of Christians, especially the educational institutions, healthcare systems and skill development training to the people of the country are used to lure the Tribals, Dalits and the poor to convert. Hindu extremists allege that the Christians are converting Hindu people through coercion, by paying cash or other financial assistance, medical assistance or foreign trips. According to them, the social activities of Christians are sponsored by the foreign donors to convert the country to Christianity. It accuses that in many places Tribals are forcefully converted to Christianity and many poor and low-class Hindu families are targeted for this process.
One of the clear recent examples is the accusation of Mr Goolihatti D Shekar, the elected representative from Hosadurga constituency, Chitradurga district in Karnataka. Mr Shekar alleged that about 15,000 – 20,000 people have been forcefully converted to Christianity through the ‘brainwash of missionaries’ in his constituency alone. According to him, his mother has been forcefully converted despite his mother clearly stating that she had converted as per her own will (PUCL Report, p. 5). However, the investigation done by Hosadurga tehsildar Y Thippeswamy debunked this claim. In his report, the tehsildar said all the “believers who attend prayers in the five churches in the Hosadurga taluk do so voluntarily and nobody has been coerced.” As an aftermath, Y Thippeswamy was transferred a few days after its publication!
Moreover, the statics also do not prove that the Christian population is increasing in the country. As per the 1971 census, the Christians were 2.6%. In 1981 the number was 2.44%, in 1991 2.33%, in 2001 2.18% and at present, the Christians are 2.3%. In the State of Karnataka, the population of Christians in 1971 was 2.09%, 2.08% in 1981, 1.91% in 1991, 1.9% in 2001 and 1.87% as per the 2011 census (PUCL Report, p. 6). “Evidently, without an increased population, there is nothing to substantiate the claim of forced mass conversions. At the very outset, these numbers are proof that forced mass conversion is a myth, a bogey that is being used to criminalize the practice of faith by Christians” (PUCL Report, p. 6).
A STATE-SPONSORED VANDALISM?
With the false knowledge, people grow up with hatred to other religions, especially to Christians and Muslims and the ruling political party tactically use the ethnic identity to allure its governing defects. Many villages have experienced ‘social boycotts’ against isolated Christians. Sometimes they are banned from the community wells, barred them visiting Hindu families and stops them from the prayer gatherings or Sunday worship. Apart from the direct attack on Christians, the proponents of Hindutva use threats to intimidate ordinary people who disagree with them, with physical attacks, verbal abuses or social aloofness, especially if they are Hindus.
The issue of conversions to Christianity was a matter of concern for the Hindu extremists even before independence and the first known anti-conversion law in India was passed in 1936 by the royal court of Raigarh, a small princely state. In the initial days after independence, while preparing the draft of the Constitution, the issue of conversion was raised again and Mr K M Munshi wanted to include anti-conversion laws in the Constitution. However, despite many arguments, the constitutional fathers, especially, Babasaheb Ambedkar was very firm in rejecting any criminalisation of conversion in the Indian Constitution. Similarly, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, who fiercely guarded India’s secular ideals, wanted to keep the highest fabric of secularism in the Constitution and thus conversion by itself became a part of the constitutional right.
However, as the citizens of the country, we have every right to fight for our fundamental human rights and when justice is denied it is our moral responsibility to intervene and to find out all possible means to establish justice and peace. Even after these many attacks, the complete silence from the part of the official church is shocking and it is hight time to respond to it properly. Recently, the Forum of Religious for Justice, urged Cardinal Oswald Gracious “to guide the Catholic Community India to respond to the increasing hate speech and violence against Muslims and Christians.” The letter says; “the community is facing a great threat and many Christians are living in fear. As Indian citizens we have our ‘Constitutional Rights’ and these rights are being violated both by the state and non-state actors. As a minority religious community and citizens of India we have the right to protest within the framework of law against the violation of our rights.” The church should not be a silent spectator when human rights are violated and constitutional rights are denied to any single citizen in the country.