ICC Note: Christians in India’s Tamil Nadu state are using the path of non-violence to confront the rising tide of persecution. In just 2018, there have been more than 15 violent attacks on Christians in Tamil Nadu. Approximately 20,000 Christians from 16 towns participated in a peaceful protest that was described as “always peaceful, never violent.”

06/06/2018 India (ICN) – A Senior Church figure in India has praised Christians for refusing to resort to violence when protesting against a growing wave of attacks by religious extremists who support the ruling nationalist party.

Bishop Thomas Paulsamy of Dindigul, Tamil Nadu State, southern India, told Aid to the Church in Need that the state authorities have sided with militant Hindu aggressors rather than victimized religious minorities.

In Tamil Nadu alone, there have been more than 15 violent attacks against Christians so far this year.

About 20,000 Christians from at least 16 towns in the region have taken to the streets to demonstrate against sustained aggression directed at the faithful. The bishop described the Christian campaigners as “always peaceful, never violent”.

Christian persecution watchdogs have accused police not only of failing to protect religious minorities under attack, but also of persecuting Christian victims of violence. Religiously motivated violence included desecration of churches and the killing of a pastor from south-east India whose murder by hanging in January provoked protests from the Christian population.

The pastor had previously complained to police about harassment by high-caste Hindus. With Christians suffering increased persecution from extremists, the bishop said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been backing militant Hindu groups.

Bishop Paulsamy said: “The BJP supports the fundamentalists… [Prime Minister Modi] does not want the constitution to apply, but rather the religious principles and values of Hinduism.”

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