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Persecution Report -2022

INDIA REPORT 2022

 

INTRODUCTION

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations (FIACONA) represents over 1 million people across the United States. 

Some of the major objectives of FIACONA is to closely monitor the religious persecution in the form of physical violence, legislative assaults besides socio-economic and political restrictions directed toward over 100 million people identifying themselves as Christians from all denominations in India.  

During the calendar year 2021, more than 580 incidents have been reported. These attacks ranged from neighborhood skirmishes to lynching and armed assaults on people because of their Christian identity. 

As per the media reports and civil society, many violent attacks on Christians go undocumented and unrecorded.

There are many reasons why it happens. A number of  Christian families live in the rural hinterlands. Victims of religious violence there are often afraid to report mainly because they do not trust the police and political system in the current hostile environment. In a number of cases, it has been documented that the police have refused to record the attacks leading the Christian population in those areas to distrust the police. More and more victims believe that the police will not protect their lives.

(Many such incidents have gone unreported: Archbishop Peter Machado//While some of the attacks made it to the news – for instance, in Assam’s Silchar, Haryana’s Pataudi and Pandavpura in Karnataka – several others have gone unreported.)

With no mechanism to protect them from the assault of the Hindu nationalist groups, many churches stop holding prayer meetings after experiencing a threat or an attack. They remove all signs of Christian faith for the fear of further retribution by Hindu nationalists. 

It is also reported and found to be true, that such assaults, attacks, and looting happens often with the explicit complicity of the police, administration, and even politicians in power in respective states (Ref).

Therefore the actual number of incidents involving physical assaults on Christian men, women, and children, looting, and destruction of private and church properties across the Union of India is estimated to be a staggering 15,000 or more during the 2021 calendar year. 

India is a Union of 32 states and territories and the government in  New Delhi takes refuge in denying the incidents of atrocities by pointing the finger at the states. They say that the law and order is the domain of the states. 

The Union government also claims that there are no coordinated violent campaigns against Christians and other religious minorities in the country by any particular group or organization. 

It is also argued that the number of such incidents is minuscule in a country of 1.3 billion people. They claim that the per capita violence in Western countries is much higher, and hence, they argue that this handful of violent incidents against Christians in India should not be blown out of proportion. 

They also try to tell the western governments that the “sporadic” attacks on Christians are nothing but a few local people getting upset with Hindus converting to Christianity – through enticements as they see it.

The government also tells the officials in the West, that there is an independent judiciary that is more than capable of addressing these issues if any citizen feels that they are victimized. They say after all India is a democratic country.

FIACONA has a divergent view on all their arguments: 

  1. Though the law and order is the responsibility of the state governments, the Union government has the constitutional obligation to protect the lives and properties of the people of India. The union government headed by the Hindu nationalist BJP party has failed to use the mechanism available to protect the vulnerable population. Instead, the government is seen taking the side of one particular religious segment of the population against the other. 
  2. The attacks against Christians are neither common criminal incidents nor sporadic. They are highly coordinated political hate campaigns by the radical offshoots of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R SS) the 100-year-old paramilitary parent organization of Hindu nationalism. It is an organization that is literally modeled after the Brownshirts and Schutzstaffel. R SS was formed in the 1920s inspired by the pure ethnic state ideas and practical solutions proposed by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. The founders of the R SS have expressed their great admiration through their writings for these two German leaders in the mid-1930s.
  3. Offshoots under the R SS include organizations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, Ram Sena, Dharm Jagaran Samiti, Durga Vahini, Ekal Vidyalaya, Hindu Aikya Vedi, Hindu Jagarana Vedike, Hindu Jagran Manch, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Hindu Munnani, Hindu Rashtra Sena, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Seva Bharati …etc. Many of these organizations also have their counterparts in the US functioning as 501-c3 and 501-c4 organizations under various banners. 
  4. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one such offshoot created in India for the sole purpose of electoral politics by the RSS. (Please note that there is an organization called Overseas Friends of BJP USA, a registered outfit in the US as a foreign agent under FARA regulations).
  5. Affiliation and membership in these organizations commonly referred to as the Sangh Parivar are interchangeable. Often the same people take part in campaigns of these different entities. Moreover, leaders of the VHP, Bajrang Dal, and other Sangh Parivar entities are also elected to both state and national level offices as BJP candidates holding elected offices and ministerial positions in the BJP government. Hence the rank and file of the BJP party are directly involved in the violent campaigns directed at Christians and other religious minority groups. By extension, several American organizations and their outreach efforts are directly impacted by the activities of the BJP governments and their affiliates. 
  6. All these different groups under the RSS, including the BJP, work for their long-term vision of creating a dominant Hindu nation-state ‘to the exclusion of the other’.
  7. The police and other law enforcement agencies are subverted to the extent that they arrest and prosecute Christian victims rather than the perpetrators of violence. Often the police refuse to register the First Information Report (FIR) from Christian victims against Hindu nationalists. Sometimes police give a wrong narrative that the violence was caused by issues relating to property, job, or caste instead of religious hatred. It is no surprise that the prosecutors and investigators selectively interpret the law.
  8. 10 Indian states have passed the so-called anti-conversion Laws. The state of Haryana became the latest state to enact the law forbidding inter-faith marriages and a 10-year jail term for conversions. Anti-conversion laws are used as a tool to arrest Christians on false imaginary charges. Many observers, intellectuals, and legal practitioners consider these laws to be against the spirit of the Constitution of India.
  9. Though the criminal incidents of common robberies, theft, or murders might be higher in other countries, they may not have been motivated by religious hatred. To say that the number of religion-based hate violence is the same as common criminal action is appalling. Most countries consider hate crimes differently than petty crimes. The government of India should be ashamed to even suggest that the hate crimes unleashed against Christians and other religious minorities in India by its affiliated organizations are petty crimes.
  10. These acts of violence perpetrated against the Christians are not isolated incidents as the government of India wants others to believe. They are highly organized and well-coordinated attacks with political and media support. Any suggestion in any part of the media contrary to the narration of the government attracts the full wrath of the officials.
  11. It is true that India inherited a strong and independent judiciary from the British Raj. This pillar of Indian democracy has been, with all its problems and delays, still provided hope to the victims of state power. Lower level Judiciary, by and large, is still the final resort if one can afford it. But this pillar of Indian democracy has come under serious political interference. 
  12. In spite of all this, once a fabricated police case is filed against a Christian family, it is an emotional and financial drain on them for at least one or two decades to come. The burden of proving one’s innocence against the political&police nexus is daunting. But, in recent years, the higher courts in India have been passing judgments entirely based on political views rather than based on legal merits. Many recent judgments have made some wonder if the integrity of the high courts is compromised.
  13. Holding periodic elections alone does not make a country a democracy. A country must be regarded as a democracy only if democratic values, equal rights, free expression of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs are respected by the governing institutions. By that count India has

 

LIST OF INCIDENTS REPORTED BETWEEN JAN 1 AND DEC 31 2021:

Where to find us

FIACONA

Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations Pray for a Persecuted Church

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