Indian Christians protest against rising hate, attacks

Bijay Kumar Minj

India's tribal Christians stage a protest against violent attacks against them in front of the district collector's office in Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh state, on Dec. 18, 2022. (Photo supplied)

Tribal Christians in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh silently marched through the streets, protesting hardline Hindu groups' increased hate campaigns and violent attacks on their people.

We had to come to the streets as our prayers and plight have not been heard even after repeated complaints to the authorities, Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, told UCA News on June 26.

They silently walked through Motibag town in Raipur district on June 24 with placards. Slogans on the placards read: Stop violence against Christians, We want justice, and We will not tolerate insults in the name of religion.

Pannalal said the hardline Hindu groups falsely accused Christians of religious conversion, pronounced them guilty, and punished them on the spot. Christians have been beaten up in front of policemen who are supposed to protect them, the lay leader said.

A tribal Christian leader who did not wish to be named told UCA News that on June 12, four Christian families were violently attacked by a Hindu mob in Jagdalpur town. They were told to renounce their faith within ten days.

Two of the victims lost consciousness during the attack, and three others, including one with a broken leg, were admitted to a hospital. 

Tribal Christians in the area have endured mob aggression amid a lack of police protection for a year and a half.

Mukti Prakash Tirkey, a Catholic activist in the national capital New Delhi, said the state's Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts have witnessed intense violence against tribal Christians and their institutions since December 2022.

Over 1000 tribal Christians, including pregnant women, children and the elderly, have been forced to flee their ancestral villages. Many had to escape to the forests in the bitterly cold winter.

The local authorities have proved ineffective in diffusing the situation, and the violence continues, Tirkey alleged.

Christians make up less than 2 percent of Chhattisgarh's 30 million people.

Meanwhile, the United Christian Forum (UCF), a watchdog body that records Christian persecution in the country, said at least 23 cases of violence against Christians have been recorded in just the past week.

About 200 hate crimes against Christians have been reported in the first three months of 2024, according to data maintained by the group.

A report published by UCF in December 2023 stated that there had been an increase in violence against Christians in the past few years, from 505 recorded cases in 2021 and 599 in 2022 to 720 in 2023.