Last week, Christians in India suffered another setback. The ruling party of prime minister Modi (BJP) won the elections in New Delhi, the capital city of India, with a strong majority.
Ever since the BJP came to power, this has been bad news for Christians. The party is a nationalistic Hindu party, and they believe India should be a purely Hindu nation, and that to be a true Indian is to be Hindu. They implemented many laws which target Christians and churches, such as anti-conversion laws and laws forbidding religious organisations from receiving money from abroad. This has severely impacted the work of different missions and aid organisations.
But the rhetoric about ‘Hindu Pride’ has also emboldened Hindu extremist groups to target Christians. Violent mobs have burnt down countless churches and have murdered pastors and other Christian workers. Perpetrators are seldom punished. Rather, the media often blames Christians when such incidents happen.
This is compounded by the problem of false accusations. Many believers in states with a BJP majority are in prison, without bail, because a Hindu made a false accusation about them. This strongly resembles the situation in Pakistan regarding the blasphemy laws, where a false accusation of blasphemy can incite a murderous mob or land a Christian on death row. As is the case in Pakistan, there is little political will to clear the names of innocent Christians and protect their rights.
In the spring of 2024, there were general elections in India. The BJP campaigned to introduce a nation-wide Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a set of laws applicable to all Indians regardless of religion. The laws sound sympathetic, ending the practice of polygamy and underage marriage in Muslim communities. However, these laws will also take away the protections of the freedoms of religious minorities, which are currently enshrined in Indian law. Christians have good reason to fear that the implementation of the UCC will eventually lead to the closure of church-run institutions, such as Christian schools.
Thankfully, the BJP did not win an absolute majority in the national elections and had to form a coalition. This means they cannot implement the UCC nation-wide. But since the national elections, they have won three out of four state elections, as well as now the elections in New Delhi. Wherever they come to power, they implement these laws which take away minority rights.
A Christian community has existed in India since the days of the apostle Thomas. They have been a vibrant part of India’s diverse religious and ethnic makeup for many centuries. But in the last ten years, they have been increasingly marginalized by the upcoming Hindu nationalism, touted by the BJP.
As in China, persecution varies in intensity across different regions. But as legal protections are removed, the Christian community becomes increasingly vulnerable to attacks and harassment. Pray for our brothers and sisters in prison, for the families of those arrested and killed, and for the Christians in New Delhi, as they will undoubtedly face new challenges with the BJP in power.
