India: More than 500 attacks Hindu nationalist attacks against Christians recorded in 2023
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – There have been 525 attacks by Hindu nationalists against Christians across India this year alone, Christian Today (CT) reports. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, India ranks 11TH on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.
According to data gathered by the United Christian Forum (UCF), the attacks took place in 23 Indian states, with the highest number of them (211) occurring in Uttar Pradesh, CT reports. Chhattisgarh and Haryana states had the next highest number of attacks on Christians this year.
These three states are among 12 Indian states that have implemented anti-conversion laws frequently abused by Hindu nationalists to persecute Christians whom they falsely claim are forcing people into leaving Hinduism for Christianity. This year’s attacks on Christians have included murders and other physical violence, detentions, social exclusion, and denied access to food and water.
Reporting on the situation of Christians in India, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization explains in a website statement: “In recent years there has been a big increase in Hindutva, an ideology that believes only Hindus are true Indians, and that Christians, Muslims, and other religious minorities have ‘foreign’ roots and must be expelled. Hindu extremists seem able to attack others with impunity, even using extreme violence in some parts of the country.
“Increasing numbers of states are implementing anti-conversion laws, supposedly to stop Hindus being forcibly converted to other religions, but in reality they are often used as an excuse to harass and intimidate Christians who are just doing things like distributing aid or having a private church meeting,” Open Doors says.
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