Uttar Pradesh Attacks on Christian Minorities on the Rise
We are publishing here excerpts from a report by the Religious Liberty Commission of
Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFIRLC) abour attacks on Christian minority in UP. –Editor
According to the documen-
tation compiled and available with
the RLC, there has been a sharp
rise in incidence of violence and
targeted hate against the Christian
minority in the state this year. The
months of September and October
2018 have been particularly
troublesome and have witnessed
maximum number of incidents in
the state, September saw 28
incidents while 16 incidents were
recorded in October.
Last ELC documented 50
incidents of targeted hate and
violence against Christians in UP
which was in itself a highest figure
in comparison with the past years.
However, this year till October alone
the number of incidents recorded
is 64 and counting.
The origin and epicenter of this
systematic campaign was the
district of Jaunpur located in the
Eastern part of UP. Jaunpur is
abour 50 KM from Varanasi, the
parliamentary constituency of Mr.
Narendra Modi. Starting from
Jaunpur, the incidents have also
spread across other districts
including: Azamgarh, Pratapgarh,
Siddharth Nagar, Barabanki,
Ghazipur, Gorakhpur, Agra, Kanpur
and Varanasi.
Churches have been targeted
by right-wing groups and the police
alike using the convenient
allegation of “conversions through
force or fraud”. The media has
seemingly become a willing partner
with political elements who are
leading the assault from the front.
Both the police and right-wing
mobs have been disrupting worship
services and harassing the
worshippers. Videos have surfaced
16
on social media, in which the police
are seen blocking roads and
discouraging
people
from
attending worship services and
asking them to go away. Right-wing
mobs have beaten up pastors and
misbehaved with people who come
to church meetings and have
indulged in vandalism. A large
disinformation campaign is
accompanying the targeting of the
churches and the primary vehicles
of it are the vernacular press, the
electronic media as well as the
social media.
Many pastors and Christians
have also been arrested or
detained on the pretext of
investigation. Many of the arrests
have been in the late evening or even after midnight and have been
a source of harassment.
The documentation for the
months of September and October
2018 also includes incidents of
violence and targeted hate against
Christians that have taken place in
other states of India. The total
number of incidents recorded for
these two months stands at 71, with
44 incidents recorded from UP, 5
from Jharkhand, 4 from TN, 3 each
from Bihar and Telangana, 2 each
from Rajasthan, Uttarakhand,
Chhattisgarh and West Bengal and
one incident from Jammu and
Kashmir, Assam and MP. A total of
195 incidents have been
documented from January to
October 2018.
contd from page 13
repeatedly claiming that the newly
proposed law would not amount an
“immigration policy”.
That is how the capitalist
Japan wants to benefit and thrive
on the labour power of migrant
workers, while at the same time it
refuses to consider migrant
workers on par with its citizens
denying them to provide social
welfare and to prevent discrimi-
nation against them.
Such has been the class
nature of capitalism, which on one hand survives and thrives on the
labour power of migrant workers
and at the same time on the other
hand denies recognising them as
human beings on par with its
citizens and treating them with
human dignity. This is the modern
form of slavery being practiced by
capitalism and imperialism in this
epoch of globalisation.
Such a hypocritical practice of
capitalist system has to be
opposed and fought tooth and nail
by the working class throughout
the world.
C.P.I(ML) Publication
Centenary of Great October
Socialist Revolution Seminar Papers
For Details:
P.Jaswantha Rao, Secretary,
T.N.Memorial Trust, 32-13-26/1,
M.R.Puram, Vijayawada, pin-520 010.
Class Struggle