According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), Christians and Muslims in India are facing a growing threat from Hindu nationalists. “There has been an increase in religiously motivated violence in Asia’s largest democracy in 2017,” the human rights organization reported in Göttingen on Wednesday. According to the Indian government, there were 703 religiously motivated outbreaks of violence in 2016 – and a total number of 822 incidents in 2017, in which 111 people got killed and 2,384 were injured. Indian non-governmental organizations counted 736 outright hate crimes against Christians.

“Hindu extremists are attacking members of religious minorities more and more openly. They don’t have to fear punishment, as India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party BJP is not willing to distance itself from the violence, which is also fueled by politicians of the party,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director.

In 2018, there have already been several attacks against Christians.On January 20, 2018, for example, Pastor Gideon Perisyaswamy was found hanged in his church in the state of Tamil Nadu. He had previously received death threats from Hindu nationalists, which were ignored by the police. His body showed signs of torture.

Just before Christmas, there had been several incidents involving the security forces. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, 32 priests and students of theology were arrested just before Christmas Eve, after they had been assaulted by Hindu extremists who accused them of having forced people to convert to Christianity.

Even schools that are run by churches are not safe. Thus, Hindu nationalists threatened several Christian schools with violence if they were to celebrate Christmas with the pupils. On January 16, 2018, the convent school of St. Joseph in the district of Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh) had to be protected by the police because protesters had threatened to storm the building.

The Muslim population is suffering from massive threats as well. In February, Facebook deleted 102 profiles of Muslims who were accused of being married to Hindu women. The Hindu extremists are strictly against marriages between members of different religious communities – and have called for violence against these Muslims.

Header Photo: David Prasad via Flickr