Ahead of Christmas, Indian police raided a shishu bhavan (infant house or orphanage) in Kolkata (West Bengal) and another at Vdodra (Gujarat), Indian prime minister’s home state. The Kolkata orphanage was established by Mother Teresa herself, and was being run by the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata since 11 February 2014. The raiding police claimed that the orphanages were forcibly converting Hindu children to Christianity. They were forced to wear crosses, recite the Holy Bible, and eat pork. The orphanage administrations deny the charges and call them “trumped up. A nun at the orphanage pointed out that the police acted upon the complaint of the estranged father of an infant whose mother worked in the kitchen. The orphanage served only vegetarian food and chicken once a week.
The persecution of Christians rose by leaps and bounds after the BJP victory and. Narendra Modi’s becoming PM. The raids were not isolated. During 2021, there were over 300 attacks on Christians.
India should have had the decency to let Christians celebrate
Christmas freely
On 23 December 23, a Pakistani newspaper noted, “Many human rights groups in India have documented over 300 incidents of Christian persecution in the first nine months of the current year, warning that the Christmas this year might be the worst. The US Commission on Religious Freedom has requested the State Department to label India as a “country of particular concern. The persecution against Christians and other religious minorities have increased since 2014 when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power, and Narendra Modi became the prime minister. Christians in India brace for persecution as Christmas approaches. However, there are serious concerns over hate against Christians’ places of worship in India. In recent months, there has been a surge of violence against Christians who make only 2.3 per cent of India’s population. India has been ranked the 10th worst country globally by the Open Doors USA 2021 World Watch List when it comes to Christian persecution.”
As incriminating evidence, the raiding Molkata police mention “13 Bibles were found in the library of the institute and girls staying there were forced to read the religious text”. The Missionaries of Charity, founded in 1950 by the late Mother Teresa, denied the allegations.
In Madhya Pradesh, authorities also an orphanage, The St Francis Sevadham (charity home) orphanage in Shyampura area (Sagar district) on suspicion that children were fed beef and made to read the Bible. Father Shinto Varghese, director of St. Francis Sevadham orphanage said beef is not even available in the state and only chicken is served once a week and “other nutritious substitutes for vegetarians.”
The priest also clarified that denied that scriptures of all faiths were placed in the prayer room, not Bibles only, and that no one was forced to read the Bible. Father Varghese said the real issue is the 277-acre land leased to the orphanage in 1875 for 99 years.
He alleged that upon pressure of Hindu hardliners the state government now wants to take the land.
Earlier there were attacks on churches in New Delhi on 5 February 2015. Following the attack, Christians demonstrated outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Christians and said they felt very insecure since Modi came in.
In 2020, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom listed India as a “country of particular concern” for the first time since 2004.
Attacks on Christian-managed schools are seldom reported. But the recent attack by a Hindu mob of 200 to 300 in Madhya Pradesh came into limelight. According to Brother Anthony Tynumkal, principal of St Joseph School, the mob pelted stones at it. They later barged into the school while students were taking their exam.
Sister Clarissa, speaking from the house in Vadodara, said: “We are in shock, what they say is not true at all and the investigations are ongoing.”
Although nearly 80 percent of the country’s one billion people are Hindu, there are also 28 million Christians, 2.3 percent of its population. Some Christian communities in India were established by St Thomas the Apostle, in the first century.
Hindu nationalist politicians often stoke hatred against Christians and other minorities (dalit, Muslims, others), castigating them as outsiders who cannot be trusted. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Sangh Parivar, BJP and other Hindu outfits’ slogan is “Hindustan for the Hindus”. They want Christians and Muslims to leave India as they look towards Vatican City or Mecca. The country in 2020 was ranked the 10th worst in the world for the persecution of Christians by Open Doors, the human rights group.
Six women at Kilipala village in Jagatsinghpur district (Orissa) had their heads tonsured by influential Hindus. Their offence was abandoning Hindu faith of their own free will. Christian missionaries are harassed, deported and even killed. The Indian government ordered ‘deportation of three American preachers from Church of Christ in North Carolina on the first available flight to the US.’. Courts rarely punish people who manhandle or even murder Christian preachers.
A few years back, Hindus attacked Christians as tit-for-tat for a book which allegedly insulted Hindu deities. Investigations revealed that the book was not written by any Christian, but happened to be displayed in one of the Emmanuel Mission’s bookshops for sale.
In a resolution, the RSS has called upon Hindus, particularly Swayamsevaks, to be vigilant about `anti-national and terrorist’ Christian groups, posing a threat to the country’s internal security. It urged the Government to take strong measures against said groups. They condemned Pope John Paul II’s statement criticising Indian states’ legislations banning conversions of Hindus by missionaries. The executive declared that such conversions were a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the country. It is significant to mention that the Pope had just said that ‘‘free exercise of the natural right to religious freedom was prohibited in India”.
The RSS urged the Centre to lodge a protest with the Pope for exhorting the Christian missionaries to carry on their campaign of conversions defying the law of the land. The persecution continued for five more years. On 12 October 2008, he Pope Benedict XVI was compelled to draw the Indian government’s attention to the continuing anti-Christian violence in India.
On 28 October, the Vatican called upon the memory of Mahatma Gandhi for an end to the religious violence in Orissa. In a written appeal addressed to Hindus, the Vatican said Christian and Hindu leaders needed to foster a belief in non-violence among followers
In a press interview, RSS leader K. S. Sudersan says, ‘Naxals have a safe base in Andhra Pradesh because Christian missionaries are with them. They attack mandir (temples) and other Hindu institutions but never attack a Church. Because the Chief Minister is a Christian, he has given them freedom from fear.’
A sizeable number of Christians (Catholics) also live in Pondicherry and Goa. A much smaller number live scattered amongst the majority Hindu population in the rest of India.
Hindus are an ungrateful nation. They ignore the fact that Christian missionaries started coming to India, particularly the North-East, in the late 19th century. They promoted education and socio-economic developmental work in the region. In Rajasthan, the Emmanuel Mission alone runs over 50 schools.
India should have had the decency to let Christians celebrate Christmas freely.
