Anti-Christian violence in India
Encyclopedia
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, usually perpetrated by Hindu nationalists.The acts of violence include arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
of churches, re-conversion of Christians to Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
by force and threats of physical violence, distribution of threatening literature, burning of Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
s, raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
of nuns, murder of Christian priests and destruction of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries. According to some, the number of incidents of anti-Christian violence has multiplied since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(BJP) began its rule in March 1998.
Background
From 1964 to 1996, at least 38 incidents of violence against Christians were reported. In 1997, 24 such incidents were reported. Since 1998, Christians in India have faced a wave of violence. In 1998 alone, 90 incidents were reported.The Sangh Parivar
Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar refers to the family of organisations of Hindu nationalists which have been started by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or are inspired by its ideas. The Sangh Parivar represents the Hindu nationalist movement. It includes the RSS and several dozen smaller...
and related organisations have stated that the violence is an expression of "spontaneous anger" of "vanvasis" against "forcible conversion
Forced conversion
A forced conversion is the religious conversion or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death...
" activities undertaken by missionaries, a claim described as "absurd" and rejected by scholars.
Overview
Incidents of violence against Christians have occurred in nearly all parts of India, it has largely been confined to north, central, and western India, in the states of Gujarat, MaharashtraMaharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, and the capital area of New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
In June 2000, four churches around India were bombed. In Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, church graves were desecrated. A church in Maharashtra was ransacked. In September 2008, two churches were partly damaged in Kerala. Christian leaders described the events of September 2008 as deliberate acts by anti-socials and denied any religious motive in the attacks.
Karnataka
The 2008 wave of attacks against Christians in KarnatakaKarnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
includes attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls in Karnataka by the Bajrang Dal
Bajrang Dal
The Bajrang Dal , a hardline and militant Hindu organization in India, is the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and is based on the ideology of Hindutva. Founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, India, it has since spread throughout India...
, with the ruling BJP government accused of involvement. The violence started from 14 September 2008 when about 20 churches were vandalized in Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru
Chikkamagaluru
Chikmagalur is a town located in Chikkamagaluru district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located in the foothills of Mullayanagiri range chikmagalur is famous for the coffee, it is known as the coffee land of karnataka. it has international school called ambar valley and a star resort by name...
, and in other districts of Karnataka. Minor violence was later reported from the border state of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
.
Incidents of mob attacks against Jehovah’s Witnesses have been reported with increasing frequency in Karnataka. The attackers gather in gangs of 20 to 50 individuals to intimidate small groups of Witnesses engaging in the peaceful Christian ministry that they are well known for. Some of the mobs threaten to murder and rape the Witnesses.
Orissa
In a well-publicised case, Graham StainesGraham Staines
Dr. Graham Stuart Staines was an Australian Christian missionary who along with his two sons Philip and Timothy were burnt to death by a gang while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa, India on January 1999...
, an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Christian missionary was burnt to death along with his two sons Timothy (aged 9) and Philip (aged 7), while they were sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
in January 1999. He was running the Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj
Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj
The Evangelical Missionary Society of Mayurbhanj was established in 1895 at the instance of the then-Maharaja of Mayurbhanj. It is a registered Non-Government Organization in India. The society is also registered in Australia, and has run the Mayurbhanj Leprosy Home since 1982.-See also:* Graham...
, an Australian missionary society. His "distribution of beef & desecrating Hindu Deities" was the root cause of this attack.
In [2003, Dara Singh
Dara Singh (murderer)
Dara Singh is a Bajrang Dal member who was convicted for leading the religious mob who murdered Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, Philip and Timothy on 22 January 1999...
was convicted of leading the gang responsible.
After Staines' murder, outbreak of violence started on 24 December 2007 at Bamunigam village of Kandhamal District. Some Hindu activists forcefully removed a Christmas decoration, put up on a site traditionally used by Hindus during Durga Puja.
In August 2008, Swami Lakshmanananda
Swami Lakshmanananda
Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was a Hindu monk and a highly revered spiritual leader who lived a life dedicated to tribal welfare. The Swami was a native of Gurujanga village in Talcher and a tribal himself. Over four decades ago, he left his wife and one year old son to become monk, and moved to...
, a Hindu monk and spiritual leader, was attacked and killed. The violence that followed resulted in the death of one Christian and two Hindus. The violence later spread to 300 villages in 14 of the 30 districts in the state, resulting in 4,400 burnt houses and 50,000 homeless. Fifty-nine people were killed, while 18,000 were injured.
In 2011, the supreme court upheld a life sentence for Dara singh, court comments for the murder of Graham Staines
Graham Staines
Dr. Graham Stuart Staines was an Australian Christian missionary who along with his two sons Philip and Timothy were burnt to death by a gang while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa, India on January 1999...
and his two young children, stating that "the intention was to give a Graham Staines a less for his religious activities, and not to kill them, Many Christian leader concern about supreme courts comment and view it as ambiguous and dangerous because they seem to justify anti-Christian violence.
Gujarat
In 1997 in Gujarat, 22 churches were burnt or destroyed, and another 16 damaged.Recently, there has been a sharp increase in violent attacks on Christians.
A Hindu group claims to have converted 2,000 tribal Christians to Hinduism. The attackers had vandalized places of worship and thus caused strike terror among the tribals. On 18 September, the Central Government issued an advisory under Article 355 of the constitution to the Orissa government along with Karnataka.
Politics
Vishva Hindu ParishadVishva Hindu Parishad
' , which is usually known more simply as the VHP, is an international Hindu organization, which was founded in India in 1964. Its slogan is "धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ", which is supposed to mean "Dharma protects its protector"...
(VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or National Patriotic Organization), also known the Sangh, is a right-wing Hindu nationalist, paramilitary, volunteer, and allegedly militant organization for Hindu males in India...
are the most accused Hindu organizations for violence against Christians in India. Sangh Parivar and local media were involved in promoting anti-Christian propaganda in Gujrat. It is evident from the ruling BJP governments in Gujarat, Orissa and Karnataka that serious lapses in handling the violence against minorities as the police failed to solve the issue effectively and the BJP was found directly responsible for allowing bloodshed to spread.
US State Department
In its annual human rights reports for 1999, the United States Department of StateUnited States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
criticised India for "increasing societal violence against Christians." The report on anti-Christian violence listed over 90 incidents of anti-Christian violence, ranging from damage of religious property to violence against Christians pilgrims. The incidents listed in the report were attributed to local media reports and information gathered by Christian groups in India, and was not independently verified.
National Commission for Minorities
In light of recent Anti-Christian violence in KarnatakaAnti-Christian violence in Karnataka
The Anti-Christian violence in Karnataka in 2008 was a wave of attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls in Karnataka by the Bajrang Dal.- Background:...
by the Bajrang Dal activists, the National Commission for Minorities
National Commission for Minorities
The National Commission for Minorities is a body constituted by the Government of India to monitor and evaluate the progress of people classified as minorities by the Indian government. Essentially the minorities in India consist of followers of all religions other than Hinduism and weaker...
have said that the Karnataka government of serious lapses in handling the situation and they found directly responsible for allowing violence to spread, and said the police failed to solve the issue effectively as the violence continues. They also clarified that there were no reported complaints of forced conversion registered in the state.
National Integration Council of India
On 13 October 2008, the National Integration Council of India called a special meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and raised the voice against spreading anti-Christian violence in India. The Prime minister strongly condemned the violence supported by the hands of Hindu militant Hindu organizations such as Bajrang Dal, VHP etc. The prime minister had earlier publicly admitted that the ongoing violence against the Christian communities was a matter of great "national shame".Pope Benedict XVI
On 12 October 2008, Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
criticized the continuing Anti-Christian violence in India.
On 28 October, the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
called upon the memory of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
for an end to the religious violence in Orissa. In a written address to Hindus, the Vatican office said Christian and Hindu leaders needed to foster a belief in non-violence among followers. Although the Mahatma had been very strong in his opposition to conversion, he had always denounced violence as an appropriate response.