{"id":12168,"date":"2024-12-25T13:44:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-25T13:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=12168"},"modified":"2025-09-26T17:51:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:51:20","slug":"activists-criticise-modis-presence-in-christmas-programmes-amidst-rising-persecution-of-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=12168","title":{"rendered":"Activists Criticise Modi&#8217;s Presence in Christmas Programmes Amidst Rising Persecution of Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><strong>Over 200 prominent individuals, including Tushar Gandhi, Annie Raja, Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal and Shabnam Hashmi, have signed a joint statement expressing grave concern over the increasing persecution of Christians in India.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over 200 prominent individuals, including Tushar Gandhi, Annie Raja, Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal and Shabnam Hashmi, have signed a joint statement expressing grave concern over the increasing persecution of Christians in India. The statement highlights the alarming rise in violence and harassment against the Christian community and calls for urgent action to address the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe persecution of Christians in India has been a growing concern over the past few years. According to various reports, there has been a significant increase in violence and harassment against Christians, particularly in rural areas,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this context, the signatories questioned recent engagements between senior Christian leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly during Christmas programmes. They see these interactions as attempts to legitimise the government\u2019s inaction on protecting Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s surprising that despite the growing persecution of Christians, prominent members of the Christian hierarchy have chosen to engage with Prime Minister Modi, who has been criticised for his inaction in protecting the rights of Christians. Mr Modi has been seen in recent days with members of the hierarchy at Christmas programmes. He is being invited on 23 December 2024 by the CBCI at a Christmas celebration in New Delhi,\u201d the statement adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Steep rise in anti-Christian violence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement notes that the persecution of Christians and Muslims has surged in recent years, driven by the resurgence of Hindutva nationalism, which has exacerbated anti-minority sentiment. Religious nationalist groups such as the Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad have been accused of instigating violence against Christians across multiple states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Citing data from the Evangelical Fellowship of India and the United Christian Forum (UCF), the statement says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In 2021, 327 incidents of violence against Christians were reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2022, over 486 incidents were recorded, including 115 cases of physical violence and 357 instances of intimidation and harassment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe UCF monitored trend listed 127 incidents in the year 2014, when the Modi government took over power. Presently, January 2024 to November 2024, India has recorded 745 incidents of Christian citizens being attacked for their faith,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cChurches and Christian institutions have been specifically targeted in many incidents. In 2021, at least 15 churches were vandalised or set on fire across India. In 2022, several churches were attacked, including a church in Delhi that was vandalised by a group of Hindu extremists. The May 3rd Manipur riots witnessed the destruction of over 200 churches and countless lives lost,\u201d the statement further read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Legislation and government inaction under fire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement criticises the government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for failing to safeguard minority rights. It alleges that Hindu nationalist groups accused of orchestrating violence receive tacit support from the government. Additionally, the misuse of anti-conversion laws enacted by 13 states has been highlighted as a tool to target Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn 2021, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed India on its \u2018Countries of Particular Concern\u2019 list, citing the country\u2019s \u2018systematic, ongoing, and egregious\u2019 persecution of religious minorities,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement concludes with a call to action, urging the government and Christian leadership to address the growing threats faced by the Christian community in the country. \u201cWe call upon the Christian leadership to voice these concerns and hold the prime minister as head of the government accountable for the protection of Christians in India.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reference Link:- <a href=\"https:\/\/thewire.in\/religion\/modi-christmas-programmes-christians\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/thewire.in\/religion\/modi-christmas-programmes-christians<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 200 prominent individuals, including Tushar Gandhi, Annie Raja, Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal and Shabnam Hashmi, have signed a joint statement expressing grave concern over the increasing persecution of Christians in India. Over 200 prominent individuals, including Tushar Gandhi, Annie Raja, Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal and Shabnam Hashmi, have signed a joint statement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[8777,8778,8779,8782,6780,39,265,36,8781,8780,60],"class_list":["post-12168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-activists-criticise-modis-presence-in-christmas-programmes-amidst-rising-persecution-of-christians","tag-christmas","tag-controversial-modi","tag-criticism","tag-hypocracy","tag-india","tag-modi","tag-pakistan","tag-participation-of-modi-in-christmas-programs","tag-persecution-of-christians","tag-geopolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12170,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12168\/revisions\/12170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}