Government, police, radical Hindus in cahoots against Christians in India
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Police, state governments, and radical Hindu nationalist groups are joining together against Christians in India, marshaling the accusation that Christians are forcing people to convert to faith in Jesus.
Christians in Karnataka state, which like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that rules at the national level, fear that their state could soon enact an “anti-conversion” law that would give new teeth to the persecution of believers.
Pastor Raja Bhovi told International Christian Concern (ICC) that four false cases have so far been filed against him and his congregation by Hindu nationalists as punishment for his refusal to renounce Jesus while they beat him.
“The attackers think they are immune to any law,” he said. “They proudly say that both in the state and at the center our party is ruling.”
Another pastor named Keralli was dragged out of a worship service by 150 Bajrang Dal extremists and tied to a tree, where he was beaten and accused of blasphemy, the police later siding with the nationalists.
“The attacks on Christians have increased since the BJP has come to power in Karnataka’s state government,” he explained. “In most cases, the police join the attackers to harass Christians. They register false cases against the pastors and the evangelists.”
India’s constitution nominally provides for freedom of religion, but it has been all but dispensed with since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power at the national level in 2014.
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