Article 25 of the Indian Constitution states, “All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.”
But maybe the mob that attacked a church in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, hasn’t read this. On October 3rd, a mob of over 200 people destroyed furniture and other equipment and attacked churchgoers who were attending this church. Two months on, no arrests have been made.
On the contrary, an FIR has been filed against Mrs Sadhana Lance, wife of the late pastor who ran the church, and her two daughters. I shudder to think how they live safely when their neighbours (from the ruling party at the state government) were involved in the attack.
An Instagram post read – jingle jingle all the way, Christians are the new prey. If you have read the news reports lately, attacks against Christians have spiralled. Don’t believe me? Read this report ‘Christians Under Attack in India’ published in The New Indian Express.
Around 300 cases of violence targeting the Christian community have been reported in 2021, with Uttar Pradesh doing the honours of topping the list. Most of them are cases of baseless allegations of forcible conversions taking place.
I went to a christian school, we recited christian prayers, celebrated christmas and would visit the church to pray before exams but guess what..none of us got converted!
— Garima (@j_garima_j) December 7, 2021
The latest attack reported is from Karnataka, where a man with a machete chased a Christian priest. In another incident, Christian literature was burnt up. There need be no prizes to guess who’s behind all these attacks. Instead of calling them fringe elements, what’s stunning is how state governments and their machinery respond. Police in Karnataka has asked Christians not to ‘create communal disharmony by going from door-to-door and preach’. But maybe they too haven’t read Article 25 of the Indian Constitution. Victim-blaming is so cliché in India now.
Just like how Muslims were lynched, Dalits were tortured, now they are after Christians too. Initially, it was online abuse. If you ask any Christian who comments on public social media posts based on news articles, they will be called a rice bag convert. You know, it’s a fake narrative that any and every Christian has converted to the religion because of free food and education offered to them.
I have literally stopped commenting after being called a rice bag convert. It’s surprising how baseless derogatory remarks are made. They abuse convent schools when they themselves might have studied there or quietly aspire to.
These schools are responsible for their English language skills, you know. The online hate has now translated to physical violence, with Christians worried about how they will celebrate Christmas and live freely. India belongs to them too!
Today, the Lance family waits for justice and police action against the accused who attacked their church on false allegations. But as we mark time to see justice happen, I remember what Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.”