7/30/2025 India (International Christian Concern) — Three years ago, Manu, a 37-year-old day laborer in Chhattisgarh, India, came to faith in Jesus after experiencing a miraculous healing.

Then, roughly two months ago, he started to pay a price for his Christian faith.

“I was thrown out of my house because I follow Jesus,” Manu told International Christian Concern (ICC).

Manu is one of the hundreds of Christians who have been evicted from their homes and banned from their villages in Chhattisgarh because of their faith in Jesus. Hindu nationalists, who want India to be a purely Hindu nation, are increasingly forcing Christians to become homeless and destitute. The goal of the violent attacks is to force the believers to return to Hinduism.

Manu, his wife, and their two children have taken shelter in a temporary bamboo shed since May 21.

“My children are getting sick ever since we moved into this shed,” Manu said. “The small bamboo shed does not protect us from rain, wind, and extreme weather conditions. This shed was used as a chicken shed prior to our occupation, with no facilities for people to live.”

The persecution didn’t end with the family losing their property. Hindu villagers also shunned the family, preventing them from purchasing products from certain vendors and hindering Manu from securing employment.

“I was denied peaceful existence,” Manu said. “People in the village knew I was socially boycotted, that they should not associate with me and my family. They knew that they should not employ me for any kind of daily wage work in the village. The little I earn goes towards medical expenses, and I struggle to provide sufficient food to my wife and children.”

When asked what keeps him from giving up on his faith, Manu is quick to answer.

“Jesus gave me life, he gave me peace, and I am willing to make any sacrifice and bear all these hardships,” he said. “I know it’s all worth it.”

Abishek, 31, was brutally attacked and forced out of his home with his 2-month-old daughter, not knowing where she would sleep that night. Despite his sudden hardship, he won’t return to Hinduism.

“We are determined to follow Jesus, no matter what,” Abishek said.

Abishek built his own shelter with polythene covers. He still struggles to find regular work.

“I travel around 10 km (about 6 miles) to find a job, so that I can feed my family,” Abishek said. “Almost every day when I travel, I think of my family back in the village. Wild thoughts haunt me of ‘What if my family is attacked again? What if tortured in my absence?’ When I pray to God, my heart is peaceful, and I am comforted through the messages I hear during the Sunday worship.”

Amrita and her mother were violently attacked with sharp iron weapons by Hindu nationalists in Chhattisgarh on July 15. Amrita’s mother sustained multiple fractures and is fighting for her life in an intensive care unit.

With her mother in the hospital, Amrita and her siblings are staying in the home of another believer in a different village.

“My brother and sister cannot go to school, as we were displaced to a different place,” Amrita said. “We do not know how long we will stay here. One thing I am sure of is that we cannot go back to our village.”

A local Christian leader who wished to remain anonymous said it is increasingly more difficult for Christians to live in Chhattisgarh, but it shouldn’t be.

“They tell you, ‘You either deny Christianity, or we deny you living in our village or house.’ In most cases, authorities pay no attention to these issues. This is terrible and unacceptable,” he said. “People are living in fear and intimidation. People need freedom to practice the faith of their choice, which the Constitution of India guarantees.”

*Names have been changed to protect identities

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