Tag: Madhya Pradesh

Another Indian state set to pass anti-conversion bill

March 21, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand

The northern Indian state of Uttarakhand is the latest to approve a so-called “anti-conversion bill”, reports India’s Hindustan Times. If the legislation passes into law at the state assembly later this month Uttarakhand will join Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand in having anti-conversion laws. Rajasthan, Arunachal . . . Read More

India: Church leaders deplore bulldozing of hospital premises in BJP-ruled state

March 14, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Ujjain

Church leaders in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have deplored an attack on a Catholic hospital, the premises of which was vandalised and bulldozed by a mob led by the personal assistant of a Member of Parliament, representing the ruling BJP. “Police have filed a case today [14 . . . Read More

2017 ‘one of the most traumatic years for Indian Christians’

February 19, 2018 India Alphons Kannanthanam, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sangh Parivar, Uttar Pradesh

Hindu radicals burn a dummy replica of local Jharkhand Archbishop, Cardinal Telephore Toppo of Ranchi. (Photo: Catholic Bishops' Conference of India)

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) has described 2017 as “one of the most traumatic” years for Indian Christians in a decade after it recorded 351 verified incidences of hate crimes against Christians during the year. The Religious Liberty Commission of the EFI, which brings together Christians from more than . . . Read More

India: Catholic bishops warn against Hindu nationalism as religious hate crimes rise

February 15, 2018 India Bangalore, Baptists, BJP, Catholics, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh

An acknowledgement by India’s BJP-led government that there has been a rise in religion-based hate crime has coincided with a warning from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) about the dangers to the country of a Hindu-nationalist agenda. Statistics revealed in India’s parliament on 6 February confirmed a long-standing . . . Read More

India: Catholic schools under pressure in Madhya Pradesh

January 17, 2018 India Bajrang Dal, BJP, Catholics, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi

A Catholic school in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has received threats from Hindu nationalists, who claim children at the school were punished for singing patriotic songs – the third school to come under pressure this month. The nationalists claimed around 30 students at the St. Joseph Convent . . . Read More

India: Catholic college attacked after refusing to perform Hindu rites

January 5, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Indian school children are taking a 'selfie'. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A large group of Hindu nationalists clashed with police on 4 January outside a Catholic college in Vidisha, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, after they tried to force the school to carry out a Hindu religious ritual. More than 900 members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, . . . Read More

Indian Christmas: fear and Western ways

December 28, 2017 India Christmas, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Madhya Pradesh

How will Christians under pressure for their faith celebrate Christmas? In the fifth of our series we hear from India. “Where is the joy? There is so much of fear now,” said AC Michael, a prominent Christian leader, when asked about the mood among Christians as they prepare for Christmas . . . Read More

India’s top Catholic on Hindutva attacks: ‘country being divided on basis of religious belief’

December 22, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Rajasthan, Religious freedom, Tripura, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, has expressed a lack of trust in the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the leader of the ruling BJP – known for pursuing a Hindu nationalistic agenda. “The country is being divided on the . . . Read More

Indian ‘converted by carol singers’ now claims membership of militant Hindu group

December 19, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh

An Indian man who claimed a group of carol singers illegally converted him has now said he is a member of the militant Hindu group Bajrang Dal and is unwilling to confirm his allegation. The complaint made last Thursday (14 December) to the police by Dharmendra Dohar led to the . . . Read More

India carol singers arrested for ‘trying to convert people to Christianity’

December 15, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Anti-conversion law, Beef, BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Narendra Modi

Six carol singers have been arrested in India after they were accused of trying to convert people to Christianity. The carol singers, one of whom is a professor at a Catholic theological college, insisted they were only singing songs, but a Hindu man alleged he had been told to “worship . . . Read More

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