The trouble for 34-year-old Pastor Amandeep Bodra, began in August 2014, when Hindu radicals attacked a newly built church in Gadkatanga village, located on the outskirts of Ranchi. Pastor Bodra has served as the pastor of a Viswavani Church in Gadkatanga for the last 12 years. Approximately 50 Christians worship there every Sunday and the majority of these Christians are first generation believers.

“The culmination of that trouble,” Pastor Bodra said, “was when the Hindu radicals turned the church into a Sarna Bhavan (Sarna Community Hall) on October 20. They destroyed the cross on church building and erased every trace of Christian faith on the building. This included the name of the church that [was] written and Bible verses inside the church.”

“The intention of the Hindu radicals was not about the land on which the church was built,” Pastor Bodra explained. “The land belongs to a Christian who donated the it for the church building. He regularly attends the church. The intention is clear that they do not want a church or Christians in the village. As long as the police and the government are on their side, we have been suffering silently.”

Additionally, government authorities have targeted and harassed Christian NGOs operating in Jharkhand using the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), a law the regulates the ability of NGOs in India to receive funding outside of India. The FCRA accounts of 88 NGOs, the majority of which are Christian, have been placed under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). This investigation into Christian NGOs in Jharkhand erupted after a single worker at a Missionaries of Charity shelter home was accused of attempting to sell a child in July 2018. Using this as a springboard, BJP leaders in Jharkhand demanded investigations into the other 87 NGOs in Jharkhand.

“Surprisingly, I received a notice from CID saying that they will investigate the FCRA account that I have been operating for years now,” a Christian NGO leader from Jharkhand, who requested to remain anonymous, told ICC. “This has never been the case in the past. Our FCRA bank account has been halted and a number [of] our projects have been stalled because of this.”

“This is not the routine exercise in to the FCRA accounts,” the NGO leader continued. “This is [a] clear case of [harassment] on Christian NGOs by the pro-BJP government in Jharkhand.”

Historically, Jharkhand, previously part of Bihar, was known as the graveyard of missionaries. The dramatic escalation in intimidation facing the state’s Christians is beginning to once again live up to that notorious reputation.

For interviews with William Stark, Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org