India: priest rues government indifference to attacks on Christians

November 05, 2014

Nearly six months after Narendra Modi became India’s prime minister, an official of the Indian bishops’ conference said that the government’s indifference to attacks on Christians encourages additional violence.

Father Charles Irudayam, executive secretary of the conference’s justice, peace, and development commission, told Fides that in the state of Chhattisgarh, Hindu groups “have carried out further violence. The extremists have prevented the missionaries and Catholic clergy [from entering] certain parts of the territory.”

“The central government of Narendra Modi has never condemned the violence,” he continued. “This silence means that, in its mind, it shares the approach and ideology of an India reserved for Hindus.”

The “bishops are on alert and follow what happens very closely,” he added. “Some bishops have asked: how long will the government’s complicity with those who carry out violence last?”

 

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Further information:

• The Bishops: "With silence, the government becomes an accomplice in the attacks on minorities" (Fides)