Tag: Uttar Pradesh

Pro-Hindu BJP wins over Christian voters in northeast India

March 16, 2018 India Beef, Bihar, BJP, Catholics, Elections, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Narendra Modi, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh

Christians gather for the general assembly of the National Council of Churches in India in Shillong, capital of the Christian-majority state of Meghalaya in the north-east. (May 2008)

India’s pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now the governing party in two Christian-dominated states in the northeast, following recent election successes in Nagaland and Meghalaya. But to do so, it had to betray its core values of Hindutva, according to John Dayal, former National President of the All India . . . 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

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: allegations of false conversions by Christians ‘baseless’

December 13, 2017 India Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals, Uttar Pradesh

Known for its famous mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh hosts a Christian population of only 0.18 per cent.

Seven Pentecostal Christians in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, have been arrested for “forced conversions”, reports Asia News. The seven, who also allegedly insulted Hindu deities, appeared in court on Monday (11 December) and have been remanded in custody for 14 days. “The allegations are baseless,” said Sajan George, President of . . . Read More

India: rise in vigilantism threatens minorities

May 16, 2017 India Beef, BJP, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Uttar Pradesh

A marked rise in vigilante incidents against couples in inter-faith relationships is a cause for concern in Uttar Pradesh, the northern Indian state where the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP recently enjoyed massive electoral success, reports the Woolf Institute, a UK-based interfaith research unit. It says incidents like the lynching on 2 May . . . Read More

India’s churches also targeted on Palm Sunday, but Modi stays silent

April 11, 2017 India BJP, Haryana, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Rajasthan, RSS, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticised for condemning the Palm Sunday attacks on churches in Egypt but failing to condemn attacks in his own country. On the same day that two churches were bombed in Egypt, five churches in India – in five different states – were targeted . . . Read More

Chief Minister of India’s most populous state bans ‘illegal’ abattoirs

March 30, 2017 India Beef, BJP, Converts, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Maharashtra, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh

Butchers in Uttar Pradesh face difficult times as state government bans 'illegal' slaughter houses.

India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party on 19 March appointed a highly controversial Hindu cleric to lead the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. The choice for Yogi Adityanath – a controversial Hindu monk who has been repeatedly accused of stirring anti-Muslim sentiments – is a shocking rebuke to . . . Read More

Uncertain future for Indian Christians after BJP’s election victories

March 22, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have consolidated its political position across India after the party won several state elections. These were held in February and March; after results were counted in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur, it had secured a comfortable majority in India’s most populous . . . Read More

What next for India’s beleaguered Christian minority?

September 12, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

Fifty religious leaders from the Christian and Muslim minorities in India met together last week to discuss the religious freedom challenges facing both groups under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Christians are “facing physical, symbolic and structural violence” from Hindu extremists across the country, said Father Z. Devasagaya Raj at . . . Read More

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