<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There has been increased attacks on Christians in India since 2014 and most surprising, such incidents have by and large, are hardly reported in the media and gradually being relegated to the background. This is a clever strategy used and whether the media in general is part of it is a matter of debate and discussion. In recent months this year, the attacks resumed especially after the relaxation of lockdown in the pandemic. There were 305 incidents of violence in the 273 days of 2021 between January and September, stated a report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), titled “Christians Under Attack in India”. The report says that from January and September Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest monthly incidents with 66, followed by Chhattisgarh at 47; while Karnataka recorded 32 incidents. Attacks on Christians in India is nothing new. It has been going on for several decades. Those involved in targeting Christians are right wing extremists and self-acclaimed defenders of the Hindu faith. These elements allege that they are justified in targeting Christians because Hindus were being converted to Christianity through fraudulent means or coercion etc. Karnataka has come under limelight in recent months for the spate of attacks on Christians by right wing Hindu extremist groups owing allegiance to the Sangh and its political affiliate, the BJP. However, it must also be noted that all anti-Christian elements are those who share the common thread of hatred and intolerance against other religious minorities. Though the BJP espouses majoritarianism or a HInduised India, the Congress also has some elements harbouring the same mindset even if the party as a policy, swears by secularism. The accusation against Christians is that they resort to fraud and illegal means for conversion of people from other faiths into Christianity. Therefore, many states including previous Congress-ruled states had adopted the Anti-Conversion Act. The eight such states include – Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand. The anti-conversion law is unconstitutional since it violates the Article 25 of the Indian constitution. The Article states that “all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice, and propagate religion subject to public order, morality and health.” Further, Article 26 says that all denominations can manage their own affairs in matters of religion. The law is directed against other non-Hindu religions since it seeks to deprive citizens of their right to choose which faith to follow. There are enough laws to deal with fraud or force with regard to conversions, especially if this concern is directed solely against Christian missionaries. The anti-conversion law is by default, anti-Christian. Linking conversion to fraud and force, is in itself a lie that has no evidence nor substance. Christianity in India has dwindled from 2.34 percent of India’s population in 2001 to 2.30 percent in 2011. On the other hand, it is called ‘ghar wapsi’ (homecoming) when Christians or Muslims are reconverted to Hinduism. These reconversions are done through fraud and coercion by VHP and their ilk. However there is no rule or law against reconversion. These signs are clear- that India is gradually turning into a nation of one religion, one ideology and one flag unless the silent majority wake up and act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ideological bogey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}