Manipur is burning yet again, marking its third major escalation since the violence began in May 2023. The initial outbreak and the three subsequent flare-ups have almost seemed predictable, each coinciding with challenges to the leadership of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. Let’s start with the latest escalation, which is still ongoing.
Read MoreIndia’s increased use of Facial Recognition Technology has led to the arrest of those the government deemed “troublemakers” for their involvement in recent protests. It was not the first time video technology had been used to identify people taking part in such activity against the government. As a result, there’s the potential on the part of police to increasingly target religious minorities.
Read More(OPINION) Modi and former President Donald Trump are hyper-nationalists and Islamophobes. Both push fear-driven campaigns based on historical grievances and aversion to foreign religions and ethnicities. A militant Hindu monk has been elected to lead India’s largest state, and he is rabidly anti-Muslim.
Read MoreThe consecration rituals of the icon of Lord Rama were performed in a newly built mega-temple in the town of Ayodhya, India, on Jan. 22, 2024. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, performed the rituals during a 48-minute period considered auspicious by Hindu astrologers. Lord Rama, an avatara or incarnation of Vishnu, is one of the most important deities in the Hindu tradition.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It was 31 years ago that a mob of nearly 150,000 Hindu extremists descended on the Babri Masjid, a 500-year old mosque in India’s Ayodhya city. Leading The mob were politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who rallied members of notorious Hindu nationalist paramilitary groups to participate in the violence and later replace the mosque with a Hindu temple.
Read MoreAccording to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, conditions for Christians and Christian ministries in India have worsened over the last several years. It recommends the United States designate India as a “country of particular concern” because of its “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
Read More(VIDEO) A wave of violence started in Manipur state, situated in the northeastern part of India, on May 3, 2023, leading to the death of more than 140 people and the destruction of over 6,000 homes and 400 churches. The conflict has also resulted in a viral video of two women being stripped naked, paraded through a rural area and allegedly gang-raped.
Read MoreThe celebration of a Hindu festival, Ram Navami, which marks the birth of Lord Ram, was tarnished by violence in late March across 10 Indian states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Delhi and West Bengal. It’s this kind of religious violence and intolerance that belied the surface of diplomatic talks between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit to Washington.
Read MoreEarlier this month, the two-part BBC documentary “The Modi Question” was screened at Columbia University's Journalism School and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, among others. In its most recent attempts at stifling dissent, the Indian government banned the documentary. At Columbia University, the screening was followed by a panel discussion led by progressive academics, Indian activists and journalists.
Read More(OPINION) Politically, rallying Hindus around one overarching religious figure has been a key component of the BJP’s strategy to create a new pan-Hindu identity that transcends its myriad traditions and caste hierarchies, which are considered a roadblock to Hindu political unity.
Read MoreThe documentary, titled “India: The Modi Question,” was initially aired in the U.K, but soon after, video clips started spreading on social media platforms in India, which led the Indian government to ban the documentary. But student organizations in India have been organizing screenings of the BBC documentary in numerous campuses across the nation to protest the censorship imposed by the government.
Read MoreA rise in “anti-conversion” laws is causing greater persecution of Indian Christians in states ruled by India’s Bharatiya Janata Party. There have been targeted attacks on pastors and nuns, and churches and Christian schools have been vandalized.
Read MoreA political storm has erupted after Jammu-Kashmir’s Chief Electoral Officer Hridesh Kumar recently announced that anybody living and working or studying in the contested Jammu-Kashmir region, even temporarily, can vote in the assembly elections, likely next year.
Read MoreDozens of Muslim properties have been razed to ground by the government in India in the aftermath of Hindu-Muslim violence. Critics of the Hindu-first government say the demolitions are a collective punishment for Muslims that is a warning bell for potential genocide.
Read MoreLast year saw the highest number of physical attacks against Indian Christians on record, with 486 attacks, a rise of 80% from 2020, according to United Christian Forum, which collects the data from a phone helpline. Meanwhile, Open Doors USA recently ranked India as the 10th most dangerous country for Christians.
Read MoreOf the 7.6 billion people on Earth, 2.4 billion identify as Christian, 1.9 billion as Muslim, 1.2 billion as Hindu and more than 500 million as Buddhist. Those are just the four largest religions. In other words, 310 million in the U.S. do not necessarily constitute the epicenter for all religion in the world. If anything, religion in America is a unique outlier.
Read MoreHindu extremists groups are disrupting Muslim prayers in an Indian city and threatening Hindus and Sikhs who help their Muslim neighbors find worship space.
Read MoreThe Indian government blocked foreign donations to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity over the Christmas holiday, cutting off a major source of funding for the Roman Catholic organization that provides housing, food and medical care for thousands of poor, disabled and ill Indians.
Read MoreA state government in North India known for its Hindu-first moves is increasing its number of “anti-terrorism squads” in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a Muslim member of parliament appeared to support the Taliban on social media, sparking online harassment against Muslims.
Read MoreHindu nationalists recently came up with a new slogan that translates: “An India Liberated of Muslims and Christians.” That slogan reinforces new data finding incidents of hate and violence against the Christian minority in India is persisting and even increased during India’s deadly second wave of COVID-19.
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