The state of affairs for religious minorities in India continues to deteriorate as a report in the New York Times has revealed terrifying atrocities against the Christian community. According to the report, Hindu extremists have damaged Christian places of worship and there has been an increase in attacks against the religious minority. This is all part of a broader shift that has come about under the Modi regime due to the extremist brand of Hindu nationalism it espouses.
This situation is quite alarming considering that anti-Christian vigilantes are sweeping through villages, storming churches, burning Christian literature, attacking schools and assaulting worshipers. What makes this even more dangerous is the fact that in many cases the police and members of the ruling party have been complicit. The very act of worship has become dangerous despite constitutional safeguards, and in some cases Christians have started to identify themselves as Hindus out of the fear of death. In fact, on the day of Christmas, Hindu extremists in Karnataka barged into a school and disrupted Christmas celebrations in progress inside. As ridiculous as it sounds, the point of contention was that why is the school celebrating Christmas and not Hindu festivals.
As expected, there has largely been silence on part of the BJP government when it comes to such atrocities that are not taking place with increasing frequency. A lot of critics saw this coming given how Muslims were being treated in different parts of the country. The Modi government has damaged the social fabric of the country by exploiting religious sentiments and giving rise to communalism.
