A representational image of a church in Bengaluru.
Credit: PTI Photo
Multiple incidents of aggression against Christians have been reported ahead of Christmas in India, most of them in BJP-ruled states. The community, a minority in most states, has faced attacks driven by hate and prejudice executed by Hindutva mobs or affiliated individuals.
Groups such as the VHP and the Bajrang Dal have been at the forefront of these attacks, and the governments and the police have remained passive. There have been incidents in the past where the victims even faced police action.
The BJP has tried to reach out to the Christian community in states where it gives the party political leverage. However, Hindutva forces have enabled the attackers in other states by shaping an environment hostile to the minorities.
In Jabalpur, in Madhya Pradesh, a visually impaired woman attending a Christmas event was publicly abused and physically harassed – in the presence of a policeman – by the vice president of the BJP’s city unit, Anju Bhargava. Earlier, in another incident, tension was reported from the city after Right Wing activists alleged attempts at religious conversion by Christian missionaries.
Similar incidents have been reported from states including Odisha. Christian bodies in the country have raised concern over the rise in these attacks in the form of physical violence, denial of burial rights, social boycotts, and legal action under anti-conversion laws. Places of worship
and congregations have also been targeted. The recent incidents reveal attempts to disrupt events organised in connection with Christmas.
Anti-conversion sentiment is being projected as the trigger, with the attackers claiming that tribals and other vulnerable sections are “lured” to convert to Christianity.
States governed by the BJP have tightened the laws to such an extent that conversion to another religion is almost impossible as all conversions are dubbed as forced and illegal. This is a denial of the fundamental right to profess any religion, guaranteed under the Constitution.
Schools in Uttar Pradesh will not have a holiday on Christmas as, according to a Government Order, they will remain open for the commemoration of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birth anniversary. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has expressed concern over the attacks and appealed for the right “to live and worship without fear”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit a church in Delhi on Christmas Day. Such gestures will be meaningful only when the community is made to feel secure and is assured free exercise of their rights.