Tag: Vishva Hindu Parishad

Modi speaks out against ‘menace’ of mob attacks for first time

August 15, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Bihar, BJP, Dalits, Ghar Wapsi, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Attacks on Christians in India by Hindu extremists are on the increase and often their church buildings are destroyed as well, like this one in central India.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has for the first time condemned violence against minorities, saying that everyone has a duty to fight the “menace” of mob lynchings. But his critics say that, after four years in power at the head of a Hindu nationalist government, the comments have come too . . . Read More

Anti-Christian violence in India’s Uttar Pradesh ‘part of the state machinery’

July 20, 2018 India Beef, BJP, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hindutva, India, RSS, Uttar Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, one of several to be ruled by the governing BJP party, is emerging as a new centre of anti-Christian violence as politicians use a fundamentalist form of Hinduism to intimidate minority communities. According to the religious freedom NGO ADF-India, Uttar Pradesh experienced the . . . Read More

India: 15 Christians accused of ‘conversion’ in Jharkhand

June 7, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Constitution, Goa, India, Jharkhand, RSS, Uttarakhand, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seven Indian states have an “anti-conversion law”; the Hindu nationalist BJP is the ruling party in six of them. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Police in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have arrested four and are investigating 11 other Christians on charges of conversion, reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The arrest of the four in the village of Podkher, Simdega district, on 29 May is the first reported case since Jharkhand introduced anti-conversion . . . Read More

India: Catholic college attacked after refusing to perform Hindu rites

January 5, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Indian school children are taking a 'selfie'. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A large group of Hindu nationalists clashed with police on 4 January outside a Catholic college in Vidisha, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, after they tried to force the school to carry out a Hindu religious ritual. More than 900 members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, . . . Read More

India’s top Catholic on Hindutva attacks: ‘country being divided on basis of religious belief’

December 22, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Rajasthan, Religious freedom, Tripura, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, has expressed a lack of trust in the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the leader of the ruling BJP – known for pursuing a Hindu nationalistic agenda. “The country is being divided on the . . . Read More

Islam to overtake Christianity as world’s largest religion by 2070?

March 17, 2017 Asia-Pacific, India, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Middle East, North Africa, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Islam is the world’s second-largest religion, after Christianity, but this could change if current demographic trends continue, as Islam would overtake Christianity by 2070, reports the BBC. New reporting from the US-based Pew Research Center shows that Islam is the fastest growing major religion. The reason, it says, is simply . . . Read More

‘Hindus never convert people’, says Indian MP

February 16, 2017 India Converts, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs has claimed the Hindu population in India is decreasing because “Hindus never convert people”. Kiren Rijiju, tweeting on 13 February, also wrote that “minorities are flourishing”. Hindu population is reducing in India because Hindus never convert people. Minorities in India are flourishing . . . 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

Hindu nationalist training video goes viral

June 2, 2016 India Bajrang Dal, Beef, Hindu nationalism, India, Maharashtra, Minorities, Uttar Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

A video showing members of a Hindu nationalist group receiving firearms training has gone viral on social media in India. The video depicting Bajrang Dal members in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh has been criticised as “coercing young people towards violence and encouraging violence against minorities”, . Other videos . . . Read More

76 Christians reconverted to Hinduism in India

February 11, 2016 India Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Odisha, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seventy-six Christians from 21 poor tribal families have been forcibly reconverted to Hinduism in the Indian state of Odisha, local sources told World Watch Monitor. Attacks on Indian Christians were in 2015. These included the arrest of hundreds who were charged with attempting to forcibly convert Hindus. Y. Raghavulu, national . . . Read More

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