Thread by @NeelMadhav_

Rising Christain violence in India often goes unreported, a thread:
In October, Narendra Modi met Pope Francis & invited him to India, the country with the 2nd largest Christian population in Asia. 2 weeks before that, Mohan Bhagwat delivered his annual Dussehra Speech. 1/n

In it, he warned Hindus about religious conversions & alleged “demographic changes” in northeast states, a clear reference to the Christain population. This was supplemented with increased violence on Christians across India in recent months. 2/n

Three days after that speech, Rameshwar Sharma, a BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh, called for a “Chadar Mukt, Father Mukt Bharat” (an India free of veil-wearing Muslims & Christian priests) while addressing a crowd. 3/n

In Chhattisgarh on 1st October, 1,000+ gathered in Surguja for the “Band Karo Dharmantran” (Stop Religious Conversions) rally where while addressing the crowd, Parmatmanand Maharaj urged them to “arm themselves with axes to teach Christians indulging in conversions a lesson”. 4/n

Parmatamanand Maharaj said, “Why do you keep an axe? Behead them,” asking the crowd to follow a “Roko, toko, thoko” (Stop, warn & kill) dictum against the Christians. On the same stage, present & former BJP parliamentarians & spokesperson were present. 5/n

In the state capital Raipur, on 5th September, a Christian pastor was summoned by the police for questioning after complaints from right-wing outfits. Once he reached the police station, he was assaulted by the same groups inside the station in police presence. 6/n

In the same month, a video of Jyoti Sharma, leader of Dharm Jagaran Samanvay Vibhag beating up a pastor in Bhilai went viral. The woman told me that she did nothing wrong & will continue doing kutai & thukai (attacking & assaulting). 7/n

In Roorkee, Uttrakhand, on 3rd October, a mob of nearly 250 Hindu vigilantes armed with iron rods ransacked a church. According to a report by human rights groups in October, 300+ attacks on Christians took place in the first 9 months of 2021, including 32+ in Karnataka. 8/n

The Karnataka state government ordered a survey of churches to find forced conversions deploying intelligence wings. In Belgavi, police have communicated to Christian groups to avoid prayer meetings to avoid right-wing group attacks. 9/n

Last Sunday, Bajrang Dal members disrupted a service midway in Hassan, Karnataka. The same day in Delhi, a warehouse turned church was vandalised & Sunday mass was disrupted by the members of the same group, who were seen shouting “shoot the traitors” slogans. 10/n

For more, please read my report on Al Jazeera @AJEnglish with @alishan_jafri . 11/n
Link:
aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/2…