ICC Note: Religious leaders from all faiths in India have declared they will stand against growing religious hatred and violence. After a two-day interfaith meeting in Indore, the religious leaders agreed to work towards greater religious harmony between their communities in India. Over the past three years, religious intolerance and violence have dramatically increased in India with minorities such as Christians and Muslims complaining of increased attacks on their communities.

04/13/2018 India (UCAN) – More than 1,500 religious leaders in India concluded a two-day conclave resolving to reach out to the masses with true teachings of their faiths to check increasing religion-based hatred and violence.

Representatives of various sects of the Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist religions and sexual minorities attended the event on April 11-12 in Indore. It was jointly organized by three organizations working for religious harmony.

“We see a rise in sectarian violence in the country and have yet to find a solution. Those spreading violence are not religious people. They do not understand the tenets of their religion,” said Adil Sayeed, one of the organizers.

He said people spread hate about religions for political reasons and personal profit. “These people pick up teachings and traditions that suit them to spread hatred, and simple ordinary people fall for such distorted teachings. This leads to religious intolerance,” he said.

Sayeed said participants unanimously agreed to teach their followers the authentic spirit of their religions as no religion advocates hate and violence as the path of spiritual progress.

India has been witnessing increased religious polarization since the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. It projected itself as the champion of Hindus, bolstering Hindu groups to accelerate their action to turn India into a Hindu-only nation.

Religious minorities like Christians and Muslims have been complaining of increased violence against their people. At least 10 Muslim men have been lynched and many injured by vigilante cow protection groups, many of which seemed to operate with the support of the BJP, rights group Amnesty India said in a report early this year.

Persecution Relief recorded 736 attacks against Christians in 2017, up from 348 in 2016.

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