“The persecution of the community is rampant, hate towards it from the highest quarters of nationalist religious leadership as deep as it can be,” they decried.
“The government seems keen to starve it [Christianity] out of existence by withdrawing the FCRAs [license to receive foreign donations] of a vast number of churches and its NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], and using the investigating agencies against cardinals and bishops, pastors and laypeople. In UP [Uttar Pradesh], for instance, over 100 pastors and even ordinary men and women are in jail under charges of illegal conversions when celebrating birthdays or conducting Sunday prayers,” the statement said.
Dayal, former president of All India Catholic Union, dubbed Modi’s Christmas hosting of Christian leadership as “just an eyewash to impress the Christians.”
“The prime minister has made a mockery of the pains of the Christian community by remaining silent and [was] not bothered to even visit bleeding Manipur,” Dayal told CNA Dec. 29.
“If he was concerned about peace and safety of the hounded Christians, he could have taken stern preemptive action to curb and stop the Manipur violence,” Dayal added.
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Beginning in May, Manipur state in northeast India, which borders Myanmar, has witnessed a protracted violent ethnic clash between the majority Meiteis, most of them Hindus, and the minority Kuki tribals (almost all of them Christians).
St. Paul's Church, in Imphal, capital of Manipur state, after the church was set on fire in 2023. Credit: Anto Akkara
Among the nearly 200 killed and over 60,000 displaced in Manipur, the overwhelming majority are Kukis who have been chased out from Meitei strongholds, such as the Imphal Valley, in the simmering violence.
Media and independent investigators have blamed the BJP-led state government’s condoning of the violence by Meitei groups that have also destroyed or damaged more than 600 churches.
Kuki Christian children whose refugee families fled sectarian violence in India's northeastern state of Manipur. Credit: Anto Akkara
“Though some would say the program had a political agenda, I see it as an opportunity for dialogue and greeting Christians,” Carmelite of Mary Immaculate (CMI) missionary Father Roby Kannanchira, who gifted Modi at the program a memento from his interreligious programs in Delhi, told CNA.
“I consider this as a new initiative and am hopeful that it will [pave the] way for some good,” said Kannanchira, who heads the Chavara Cultural Center named after St. Chavara Elias Kuriakose, one of the founders of the CMI congregation based in Kerala.