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Does New India Gov't Mean More Christian Persecution?

CBN

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The world's largest democracy is set to change governments as results of India's month-long election show the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) overwhelming winning.

But some say with that win comes concern over what comes next for India's Christians, who now await their fate under the new leadership.

Sajan George, with the Indian Council of Christians, said to predict the future, just look at the past.

"Past experience is whenever they came into power, they have not been kind to us or they've always tried to violate constitutional guarantees given to the Christian community in India," George explained.

"So, the Christian community is fearful about the outcome and the person likely to lead the government has a very bad reputation as a ruler in his own state of Gujarat," he added.

That person in question is Narendra Modi, the man set to be India's new prime minister.

Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 Gujarat riots when more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Indian Christians say they've fared better under the Congress Party because it is more secular minded.

"Have we seen an improvement for the Christians, or has persecution gotten worse? Physical attacks have come down but there are economical," George argued.

"They are trying to spoil the Christian community by taking away the small, little privileges they've enjoyed as Dalits in the past. They've been driven out of their places, they've not been allowed to run businesses," he said.  

Though less in number in recent years, physical attacks against Christians have continued.

The Catholic Secular Forum documented 4,000 attacks against Christian converts in 2013.

India's Andhra Pradesh is one of the worst affected states, not only for converts but also for those ministering to them.

Last Christmas, militants assaulted a pastor's wife after knocking on the church door at midnight.

"As I opened the door, I saw three people standing, I couldn't identify them, they were not our regular church members. When I asked them to identify themselves, they hit me hard until my head cracked," Suvartha, the Pastor Moses' wife, recalled.

"They continuously beat her, another person was hitting me and then they mercilessly started stabbing me," Pastor Moses said.

"He bent down and they stabbed him nine, 10 times. He was screaming Jesus's name! After a while they thought that he is dead, they came outside the room and also stabbed me a couple of times," Suvartha said.

These Christians survived, but others like Pastor Sanjevalu, have been killed in similar attacks and government officials have done little to bring the murderers to justice or deter the attacks.

Sudhakar Reddy, editor of the Deccan Chronicle, said the law should be upheld.

"The Constitution has given freedom to individuals to choose any religion of their liking. The Constitution has also given freedom to propagate any religion," Reddy said.

But the question now is, will India's new prime minister and government honor the Indian constitution.

"If the government of America wants to do business with India they should make clear that, they should protect the constitutional right guaranteed to the Christians, other minorities and they should also protect the Dalits," George said.

The Dalits are the poorest of the poor, the lowest caste in India considered by Hindus to be beneath the feet of God. They're the "untouchables."

About 80 percent of all new believers in India come from this group of people. Now they wonder, will the new government protect them or must they look to God alone for their security?

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