ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, says a recent attack on a group of Christians is just one of a growing number of such incidents in India…
London, UK
This is an increasingly familiar story in India: a group of Christians gather to pray – as many others do all over the world – often in private homes, only to be violently attacked by large mobs of predominantly right-wing Hindu fundamentalists.
This was the case for 15 Christians in the Sukma District of Chhattisgarh state on 21st October, when at around 9pm a large mob broke into the home where they had gathered and proceeded to physically assault those in attendance while demanding that they renounce their religion. Local sources told CSW that an off-duty police officer is alleged to have been among the attackers.
PICTURE: Courtesy of CSW
Fortunately, the injuries suffered by the victims were minor in this instance, however the trauma that they have suffered is significant. It has also been compounded by the repeated failings of local authorities to respond to their case with any seriousness. In the days following the attack, local police repeatedly refused to register a First Information Report which would have enabled them to open an investigation.
On one occasion on 23rd October, two police officers, one of whom is said to have been among the mob that carried out the initial attack, violently beat the Christians once again, this time on the orders of a Station House Officer who had previously levelled multiple insults at the Christians on the basis of their religion and caste.
“Sadly, incidents such as these have become all too common in India in recent years. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Hindu nationalists have become more emboldened to act with impunity, in some cases with fatal consequences for India’s religious minority communities.”
Of particular concern is a claim from the Station House Officer that he had orders from his superiors not to register FIRs in relation to incidents of Christian oppression in the district. So are the authorities’ efforts to treat the case as a clash between two communities rather than one in which one group has clearly targeted another.
Sadly, incidents such as these have become all too common in India in recent years. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Hindu nationalists have become more emboldened to act with impunity, in some cases with fatal consequences for India’s religious minority communities.
For example, earlier this year CSW received reports of the murder of Pastor Yallam Shankar in the district of Bijapur, which neighbours Sukma in Chhattisgarh. Pastor Shankar, 50, was having dinner at his home on 17th March when a large mob forced entry, dragged him into the street and fatally stabbed him with a sharp weapon.
Elsewhere, in the Bankura district of West Bengal, a Christian man named only as Madhavan was burnt to death by his own family on 14th August. Madhavan was the sole convert to Christianity in his extended family, and had faced repeated pressure to denounce his faith and abandon his work as a local evangelist. The police refused to take any action in response to the murder, citing that the issue was a family problem and they didn’t want to interfere.
These are just a few recent examples; there are so many others we could name, and yet Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have remained largely silent on the campaigns of hatred, threats and violence against religious minorities.
In some cases, leaders of Mr Modi’s party are directly responsible for hate speech and incitement, as has been the case on repeated occasions involving the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, who has called for forced sterilisation of Christians and Muslims, for Hindus to fight back against the perceived attack from religious groups, and for Muslim voting rights to be revoked.
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These words have very real consequences, and as one might expect, it is not just Christians who are affected. Muslim communities frequently face socio-economic boycotts and vigilantism and targeted violence for alleged cow slaughter and for committing “love jihad”, a term used to refer to Muslim men alleged to have allured Hindu girls to marriage.
Religious intolerance has even spilled beyond India’s borders at this point, as seen in September this year when violent riots broke out on the streets of multiple UK cities as large mobs of Hindus were heard chanting the same nationalist chants which have increasingly come to characterise cases of communal violence in the country.
We cannot stand idly by and allow this to continue. If the Indian authorities will not protect vulnerable groups like those attacked in Chhattisgarh, it is on the international community to hold them to account for it. As ever, our own voices hold the power to make a different, and we must continue to make sure our own governments are not turning a blind eye to the BJP’s failings in the name of economic gain or geopolitical advantage.
Ellis Heasley is public affairs officer at UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW.
