Tag: Madhya Pradesh

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

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling

January 24, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Telangana, Vishva Hindu Parishad

K.A. Swamy.World Watch Monitor An Indian Christian has suffered a brain haemorrhage after he was interrogated by police about his role in distributing Bibles and other Christian literature in the city where he works as a professor of engineering. K.A. Swamy, 47, was marched to the police station at . . . 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

Anti-Christian violence in India at an ‘alarming level’

August 2, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals

A message is held aloft at a protest march against anti-Christian violence – in Bangalore in February 2015.World Watch Monitor The leader of a Christian advocacy group in India says that incidents of anti-Christian violence in the country have reached an “alarming level”, with more than 30 incidents a . . . Read More

India: jobs for Jat caste ‘sidelines’ Christians

March 1, 2016 India Caste, Haryana, India, Jat, Madhya Pradesh

Church leaders in India have condemned as a the government’s decision to offer job quotas, usually reserved for more disadvantaged castes, to the relatively wealthy Jat community. The federal government agreed on 21 Feb. to introduce a Jat quota bill at their March assembly, after violent demonstrations across Haryana state . . . Read More

India: fines for saying ‘Christian’ prayers

February 8, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh

Four people have received fines for practising Christianity from a village council in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the men, Shankar Singh, that they were fined 5,000 rupees (US$75) each. The arrests followed accusations by a Hindu group that the people at the gathering were attempting to . . . Read More

In India, one case of anti-Christian violence every day

January 21, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chennai, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Madhya Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Rahul Nayak, 25, the eldest son of Dhubaleswar and Bhubudi Nayak, a Christian couple shot dead in Odisha in July 2015.World Watch Monitor Attacks on Christians in India were reported on an almost daily basis in 2015, according to a Christian advocacy group. “The country saw 355 incidents of . . . Read More

Indian pastors arrested for evangelising

October 7, 2015 India India, Madhya Pradesh, Proselytism

Three Indian pastors were attacked by a mob and then arrested for attempting to convert Hindus, reports UCA News. Stephan Rajkumar, Hari Lal and Anil Kumar were arrested in Madhya Pradesh state on 3 Oct. after showing a film about Jesus in the town of Majhgawan. They were charged with . . . Read More

India’s Christians are under attack

September 11, 2015 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Kandhamal, Madhya Pradesh, Naxalites, Odisha, Pune, Punjab, Raipur

Rahul Nayak, 25, the eldest son of Dhubaleswar and Bhubudi Nayak, a Christian couple shot dead in Odisha in July.Campaign Against Fabricated Cases The number of violent attacks on Christians and churches in India increased over the summer months. Below, World Watch Monitor lists 18 incidents from July, August and . . . Read More

Sixth Indian state seeks to adopt ‘anti-conversion law’

September 11, 2015 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha

A sixth Indian state is debating the introduction of an “anti-conversion law”. Maharashtra would follow Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in implementing a Freedom of Religion Act, which seems harmless in name, but in practice discourages evangelism, as Vishal Arora reports in the video below. Learn more: . . . Read More

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