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Christians fear for their future in India

  India now designated as a "Restricted Nation."

 To:      His Excellency, Archbishop Leopoldo Ghirelli

            Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal 


   Your Excellency,

  The article below is very troubling to us Catholics and Christians. Before this Government came to power,  India has been religious tolerant. I was living in India in 1947 when India gained independence.  For the next 9 years I went to High School and University in Mumbai.  Until Modi became Prime  Minister,  India  Was a Secular Democracy.

  India is home to more than 30 million Christians and almost 300 million Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs,  Parsis, Jews and people of other faiths who were totally free to practice their faiths. 

  What Modi and his BJP party are trying to do is make India a 
Hindu State,  in violation of the Constitution.  

The founders of the nation of India recognized this, and ensured that Religious Freedom for ALL its citizens was enshrined in the Constitution of India. All citizens are expected to live and work together in Peace, following their own religious beliefs in freedom,  for the economy and prosperity of India.


 Recently, radicalism seems to have crept in and it has been ignored by the Leaders. This is indeed sad because it divides citizens, instead of encouraging them to live in peace, despite the diversity of language and religion. ALL Indians are expected to live and work together in peace for the good of the Nation, mother India. 


It is difficult for our Cardinal Oswald Gracias to step in firmly on this issue and we believe that you, Your Excellency, are best suited to meet with the Leaders of India, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, and make a strong case for religious freedom for all India's citizens; not only Catholics, but all other religious denominations! Any and all religious persecutions should be stopped immediately and local governments should be advised to enforce religious freedom with a strong hand, in accordance with India's Constitution, nip in the bud, any instigations before hooligans take over! 


Your Excellency, we know that we can count on you, and we look forward to your intervention in this matter for the good of Catholics and all the other inhabitants of India. 

We look forward to your early reply and thanking you,

Peace and God Bless,

 Eric De Souza.

 

 






Radical Hindus in India have become increasingly violent and open in their persecution of Christians in recent decades. While The Voice of the Martyrs had previously designated India as a “hostile area,” that designation has been escalated to “restricted nation” to reflect the current reality for Christians there. Since India’s election of Narendra Modi as prime minister in 2014 and his reelection in 2019, our brothers and sisters in Christ have experienced a marked increase in opposition and violent attacks. This persecution under Prime Minister Modi is occurring in a country that has been called the world’s largest democracy and that claims to allow its citizens the constitutional freedom to profess, practice and propagate their religion.

VOM’s designation of “restricted nation” is normally reserved for countries with federal laws restricting Christian worship and witness, but India’s situation is unique. Modi’s leadership has advanced not a law but an ideology called Hindutva, or Hindu purity, that has resulted in the persecution of Christians. This ideology is Hindu nationalism at its core with the goal of creating a “pure” Hindu nation. Hindutva, as embraced and promoted by Prime Minister Modi, has created an unquestionably restrictive environment for Christians throughout the subcontinent.

Historically, the persecution of Christians in India has occurred mostly at the leading edge of gospel ministry, in predominantly Hindu areas. The situation has changed.

“Now, this is the full-fledged urging of Hindu nationalism, which is to eliminate Christians from the ‘Hindu homeland.’”

—Cole Richards, VOM President


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