Even in a southern state, Karnataka, there is a high number of episodes of violence against Christians in 2021, a total of 59 episodes. Other states where there is violence against Christians are Bihar (29 cases), Tamil Nadu (20), Odisha (20), Maharashtra (17), Haryana (12), Punjab (10), Andhra Pradesh (9), Gujarat (7), Uttarakhand (8), Delhi (8), Telangana (3), Himachal Pradesh (3), West Bengal (2), Rajasthan (2), Assam (1) and Jammu and Kashmir (1 case).
The toll-free number of the UCF, through the work of its lawyers, managed to obtain the release of 210 detainees. In addition, 46 places of worship were reopened and permission for religious ceremonies to continue to have prayer services. However, only 34 official complaints (First Information Report) against violent perpetrators were filed with the police.
Hunger strike against persecution of Christians in India
Pieter Friedrich, the author of Saffron Fascists: India's Hindu Nationalist Rulers, on January 6 launched a seven-day hunger strike for the persecuted Christians of India. In an article published by the Countercurrent, Freidrich writes:
Many of these mob attacks are organized by the Bajrang Dal, a radical, militant Hindu nationalist group that is connected to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh paramilitary. The Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which is the religious wing of the RSS. While the RSS's militant subsidiaries are in the streets attacking religious minorities, its political wing, the BJP, controls the national government as well as most of the governments of the states where the worst of this anti-Christian violence is occurring.
In the words of a former member of the RSS: "There is no difference between the BJP and RSS. BJP is the body. RSS is the soul, and the Bajrang Dal is the hands for beating." These days, those hands are doing a hell of a lot of beating.
So why are the police complicit with mob attacks on Christians? Because, in most places where these attacks happen, the police are controlled by the BJP. And the BJP is ideologically dedicated to using its grasp on political power, at every turn, to criminalize Christianity.
The world is turning blind eyes to this tragic reality. It seems that Western democracies care only about profit, not people, and are so entangled in the broader geopolitics that, even if they know about it, they are willing to ignore the on-the-ground realities of life for the beleaguered Christians of India. Meanwhile, most churches especially American churches remain unaware of the issue, and are often entirely ignorant that there is even any persecution of Indian Christians, let alone the extent of it.
I want to see that change. That's why I'm on hunger-strike for seven days. If the American Church cannot hear the screams of the beaten and bloodied and sometimes crucified Christians of India, can they at least hear the growling hunger of my empty stomach as I refuse food in solidarity with our persecuted brothers and sisters of the Indian Church?
It's time to wake up.
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