India - communal violence against Christians

Foreign papers

Christians in India face prospect of more attacks by extremists - Attacks on nuns, churches and Christian refugees across India are stoking fears that Hindu extremists are planning to target minority communities as the country prepares for a general election , by Rhys Blakely - Times


Christians Face Hindus' Wrath - Violence in Indian State Tied to Conversions, Economic Strains , by Emily Wax - WP


As India's Election Nears, Anti-Christian Violence Picks Up - Anti-Christian violence that started in a remote corner of eastern India last month is breaking out in other states and is expected to spread further ahead of nationwide elections to be held in the next few months , by Paul Beckett and Krishna Pokharel - WSJ

Orissa, the drama of the refugees: forced conversion to Hinduism or more violence - According to the government, the situation is "under control", but it has delayed the elections, and has barred entry to the district of Kandhamal. A Christian activist denounces new violence against the refugees, while Hindu fundamentalists have drawn up a list of 140 Christians "guilty" of the murder of the Swami , by Nirmala Carvalho - AsiaNews.it

Karnataka: 20 churches attacked, Christians accuse police of inaction - Young Hindu fundamentalists attack an enclosed convent. Police knew in advance that attacks would take place. Hindu radicals pledge more violence in other states of the Union , by Nirmala Carvalho - AsiaNews.it

Arrests over India church attacks - Police in the southern Indian state of Karnataka have arrested over 60 people in connection with attacks on churches and clergymen over the weekend - BBC

Hindu leader arrested in Indian church attacks - Police in southern India have arrested a senior leader of a right-wing Hindu group in connection with attacks on Christian churches and prayer halls last weekend, an official said Saturday , by Muneeza Naqvi - AP

Churches attacked in India amid religious tension - Suspected Hindu radicals in India ransacked three churches near the city of Bangalore on Sunday despite a crackdown after anti-Christian attacks in the region - AFP

Indian papers

Communal rage: New face of violence - The communal violence and retaliation by security forces claiming two more lives in Kandhmal in Orissa on Saturday, and Bajrang Dal-led attacks on Christians in Davanagere and Chikmagalur in Karnataka, no longer appear to be isolated incidents , by Gautam Siddharth - Times of India

How Bajrang Dal built its muscle - In just 12 years since its birth in Karnataka, the state unit of the Bajrang Dal has gained ground to make its forceful presence felt, particularly in the coastal and Malnad regions , by Rishikesh Bahadur Desai - Times og India

Is caste bias the reason? - Attacks on churches have exhumed two long standing debates: is untouchability the root cause of conversion and whether lowcaste Hindus convert to escape caste-based discrimination , by Rishikesh Bahadur Desai - Times of India

Rights groups question govt inaction on attacks - India’s inability to stop attacks on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka could snowball into a major international embarrassment. The question international rights groups are asking is whether these attacks are organised and, if so, what is the government doing to stop them , by Seema Guha - DNA

Are Parivar & BJP returning to Hindutva? - As the BJP zeroes in on “save the nation” as its poll plank, its sangh parivar brethren have begun their own kind of campaign for their own notion of nationalism rooted in Hindutva , by Rajesh Sinha - DNA

Bajrang Dal is under terror watch - The government is beginning to take a hard look at the Bajrang Dal, not just for its involvement in the anti-Christian violence across Orissa and southern India, but also for its exhibited capabilities to make bombs , by Rajesh Sinha - DNA

Violence fuels ‘Christian jihad’ fears - The anti-Christian violence ongoing in several states allegedly by the Bajrang Dal and other affiliates of the Sangh Pariwar may spur a Christian jihadi group, fear church leaders, Congressmen from Karnataka, the CPI(M) and even union finance minister P Chidambaram , by Kay Benedict - DNA

Playing the communal card - The attacks on Christians and their places of worship in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and now Kerala, underscore the brute anti-minorityism of Hindutva outfits, and the concomitant polarised polity on which the BJP thrives - Economic Times

Are minorities safe in BJP-ruled states? - They are treated as second class citizens
The unleashing of anti-Christian violence on the pretext that Christians have murdered Swami Lakshamananand is a replay of the anti-Muslim pogrom launched in Gujarat on the pretext that Muslims have burnt the Ramsevaks in Godhra. As Gujarat pogrom was well planned, the anti-Christian violence in Orissa and Karnataka is also well planned and has been built up over a period of years , by Ram Puniyani - Economic Times

'Vested interests are hitting back at Christians' - The attacks on the Christian community are not restricted only to Mangalore or Orissa, but have spread to other states like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and even the national capital - Rediff

'State must ensure reconversion is not forced' - They said there is no way they can return to their villages. There is this threat that you can't return if you don't convert to Hinduism. One lady even showed me a letter personally addressed to her with her name on it. It said if she wanted to return to her village she had to reconvert to Hinduism - Rediff

Police incited attacks on Christians: Probe - A fact-finding team assessing attacks against Christians in Karnataka has held the state government “directly responsible for allowing violence to spread” , by Nagendar Sharma - Hindustan Times

In cold blood - ‘There is a limit to religious freedom’ - Karnataka Home Minister Dr VS Acharya makes a poor defence to SANJANA, arguing that the violence was anti-conversion - Tehelka

For god's sake - Every evening Abhimanyu Diggal, 45, leaves the Tikabali relief camp, walks into a church, looks at the destruction, bows before the Cross engraved on the broken walls, and prays: "O Lord, restore sanity and forgive those who destroyed your house, our dwellings and killed my relatives." , by Farzand Ahmed - India Today

Attacks on Christians planned by BJP: Congress - The Congress on Wednesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for communal violence against Christians in Karnataka saying the opposition party was playing vote bank politics ahead of assembly and Lok Sabha elections - Indo-Asian News Service

Death threats keep Orissa Archbishop in Delhi - Orissa's Archbishop Raphael Cheenath has been camping in the national capital since violence erupted in the state targeting the Christian community and says he is unable to return home because of death threats from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) - Indo-Asian News Service

Modi, Patnaik flay govt advisory on Karnataka, Orissa - Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi have said that the Centre's move to issue an advisory to Orissa and Karnataka over attacks on churches is political motivated - Press Trust of India

Preying Hard - Borders blur between the state and the anti-Christian aggressors - In hindsight, it would seem that the attacks on Christians in Karnataka were waiting to happen. A fortnight before 17 Christian prayer halls were targeted on September 14, the Sangh parivar and the BJP government had been sending ominous signals , by Sugata Srinivasaraju - Outlook