Catholic bishops join thousands in India to protest surge in anti-Christian violence
Catholic bishops in India joined thousands of Christians in peaceful protest last week to denounce what they describe as a sharp rise in religiously motivated violence in the country.
The coordinated demonstrations, held Aug. 19 in the cities of Rourkela and Sundargarh in eastern Odisha, drew roughly 10,000 participants, UCA News reported.
The marchers, including clergy and laypeople from more than 20 Christian denominations, voiced deep concern over increasing hostilityfaced by Christians across the country. Diocese of Rourkela’s Bishop Kishor Kumar Kujur pointed to a troubling trend.
“The sudden and premeditated violent attacks on priests, pastors, nuns, and Christians have increased,” he told UCA News. “The alarming frequency of attacks translates to more than two Christians being targeted every day in India simply for practicing their faith.”
>> ‘Premeditated ambush’: Dozens of militants attack priests, nuns, catechist in India <<
Following the demonstration, Bishop Kujur and other church leaders submitted a formal appeal to local authorities, calling attention to what they described as “deep grief and anxiety” within their communities.
The memorandum cited “increasing incidents of unwarranted, unhindered, sudden, brutal, premeditated, horrendous attacks, harassment, intimidation and ostracism against Christians” across India.
A similar event in Sundargarh led by Protestant bishops echoed the same concerns and delivered the same memorandum to district officials.
The memorandums presented at both rallies catalogued recent violent incidents, including vandalism of churches, physical assaults on clergy, and the arrest of two Catholic nuns in late July. The nuns were detained for nine days before they were granted bail.
Organizers attributed many of these attacks to hardline groups aligned with the ideology of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They argued that Christian gatherings and institutions — ranging from prayer services to schools — have increasingly been framed as vehicles for forced religious conversion, a claim that Christian leaders firmly reject.
“[E]ven Christian birthday celebrations have become easy targets of attacks by groups linked to the BJP,” said Anthres Tigga, a retired bureaucrat and member of the All India Catholic Union.
He noted that many public officials were themselves educated in Christian schools and can attest that such institutions do not engage in coercive proselytism.
>> Christians protest Indian lawmaker who promised bounties for assaulting, killing priests <<
