Population
1,014,003,817
72% Indo-Aryan
25% Dravidian
3% other
Capital City
New Delhi
Leadership
President
Kocheril Raman
Narayanan
Religion
80% Hindu
14% Muslim
2.4% Christian
2% Sikh
Buddhist
Jains
Indian
Ambassador
to the U.S.
Ambassador Lalit
Mansingh
Embassy of India
2107 Massachusetts
Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 202-939-7000
Fax: 202-265-4351
E-mail:
info2@indiagov.org
BIO
India is officially a secular state, where all religions havefreedom of worship. However, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians have
faced discrimination at different times since independence. Since the
hard-line Hindu BJP assumed power at the head of coalition gov-
ernments from 1998 on, persecution of Christians has risen
enormously in certain parts of the country. This has usually emanated
from extremist Hindu groups, and state and local governments, rather
than directly from the national government. However, the BJP’s
emphasis on Hindu expansionism (Hindutava) has helped to create a
climate in which persecution of Christians can flourish.
The BJP is
also linked with some of the extremist Hindu groups that
have been implicated in attacks on Christians and Muslims.
Further-
more, as the US State Department’s 2000 Annual Report on
Inter-
national Freedom: India states (p.1): “ineffective investigation and
prosecution of attacks on religious minorities is interpreted by some
extremist elements as a signal that such violence is likely to
go un-
punished.” This situation is partly due to the
weaknesses in the legal
system, but many observers attribute it in large part to the links
between these groups and the BJP.
Recent examples of religious intolerance against
Christians
February 2002 A Catholic church in Hinkal is attacked by a
group
of armed extremists belonging to the militant Hindu
organization the
Bajrang Dal. A number of Christians are hospitalized
after being
attacked with clubs and stones.
November 2001 Four Christian workers receive serious
injuries
when they are attacked by a group of Hindu militants
near
Himmatgarh village of the Dhar district in Madhya
Pradesh state. The
Christians have been showing a film on Jesus Christ.
Please put me in
contact
with your partners at the
All-India Christian Council
August 2001 A priest, Father Mendonca, is badly injured in
an attack by over forty Hindu extremists, near
Bombay. In
Madya Pradesh state, a nun is shot in the face by four men
believed to be militant Hindus.
June 2001 Campaign by Hindu militants to force the closure
of Christian orphanages, including that run by
Bishop M A
Thomas in Kota, Rajasthan state. Bishop Thomas and his
family receive death threats.
February 2001 A young evangelist, Riyaz
Augustin, is
beaten to death by a gang of Hindu extremists. Catholic
priest FrTommy Manjuli shot dead by an unidentified
gunman.
January 2001 Two Christian priests are abducted and badly
beaten in Jaher village, Rajasthan. Churches
attacked in
Orissa state and in Tamilnadu state. In the latter incident,
several Christians are viciously assaulted,
with at least one
seriously injured.
December 2000 Churches attacked in Vyara
Taluka, Jwalapur, Andrapradesh and Bokara. Serious assault on
a Catholic priest in Gwalior by suspected Hindu extremists.
Attack by armed suspected Hindu militants on a Cath-
olic
convent school at Karpania, in Jharkhand state; at least five nuns beaten up and the young cook gang
raped. The body of
a 35 year old man involved in Christian missionary work is
found in Kandhamal, Orissa state;
he had been missing for
some time.
June 2000 A Catholic priest, Brother George
Kuzhikandum, is
murdered in the grounds of his own school, near
Mathura. A
few days later an employee, Vijay Ekka, who is a witness,
dies in suspicious circumstances in police
custody. Four
Christian churches are bombed, in Andrha Pradesh, Karnataka, and Goa, injuring several
people. A Christian
pastor, Rev Masih, is murdered in northern Punjab state; the
Punjab Christian Association
says that this is part of a
concerted campaign by Hindu militants against Christians in
the area.
May 2000 Six missionaries distributing Bibles and other
Christian literature are badly beaten up in
Vivekanandnagar, Ahmedabad. A Christian meeting is bombed at Machlipatnam
in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Thirty people are injured. An
annual Christian convention in Maharashtra is attacked by a mob of Hindu militants,
with property burned and four people
injured.
April 2000 Several Christian schools are attacked in Uttar
Pradesh.
November 1999 A Christian meeting is attacked by a Hindu
mob in Delhi, injuring twelve people and damaging
Bibles and
other Christian literature.
September 1999 A Catholic priest, Father Arul Doss, is
murdered by a Hindu mob in Jambani in Orissa state.
His
colleague is severely injured and the church burned.
Current Situation
Atrocities continue to occur in the Indian state of Gujarat,
well over a month after the burning to death of 58 Hindus
by
a Muslim mob sparked off a wave of retaliatory killings. Mobs
of militant Hindus have targeted Muslims and
their properties,
causing widespread death and destruction.
Horror stories continue to emerge concerning the worst of
the violence. A woman eight months pregnant had her
unborn child ripped from her womb and slaughtered in front
of her. A mob killed a family of 19 by flooding their
house
with water and then electrocuting them with high-tension
electricity. Women have been gang-raped then
burned alive.
Eyewitnesses have agreed that the atrocities have been part
of a systematic, planned massacre. Mob leaders
have been
seen receiving instructions via mobile phones from a coordinating center. They also had documents
listing Muslim
families and their properties. Witnesses have also noted the connivance of many in the
police force
and civil administration. It has been claimed that
police officers refused to save Muslims under attack, and
indeed
aided the militant mobs.
CSW’s Indian partner, the All India Christian Council
(AICC)
has pointed out that the sinister presence of the
militant
Hindu umbrella group the Sangh Parivar can be detected
behind the scenes.
It notes that a leading activist, Mr. Narendra
Modi, was
brought into Gujarat in order to radicalize the state and to
increase militant Hindu influence, and that “He has fulfilled
the task entrusted to him by his bosses, at the cost of
several thousands of Muslim lives”. Although the official
death toll is 750, many estimates place the true figure as
much higher.
The state government has also been accused of
discriminating against the tens of thousands of Muslim
refugees-
estimates range from 50,000 to 90,000 – who are
living in squalid refugee camps to escape the violence.
Although Muslims have been the main victims, there have
been a number of reports of Christians threatened and
their
property attacked during the massacres. Moderate Hindus
who tried to save Muslims from the mobs were
also killed.
One feature of the violence has been the reappearance of a
manual written by Hindu militants. It shows how to
make calculated acts of violence seem spontaneous. It also urges
the harassing of Christian missionaries. In a
separate development, the Indian Government has
declared its intention to replace the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act with tougher legislation, as predicted by
CSW and the AICC last year. This will make it even
harder for Christian funding from overseas to support aid projects and
other Christian work.
Human rights commentators have also expressed concern
about the recently passed anti-terrorism legislation.
It classifies as “terrorist” not only acts of terror but also those
threatening the unity of India. It is feared that this
loose definition could be used to target minorities, including
Christians, who are often accused by militant Hindus
of causing disunity.