Showing posts with label Hindutva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hindutva. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Controversial Hindu nationalist leader spurs protests, Mamdani denunciation ahead of NYC speech
By Associated Press
Published Aug. 28, 2026, 12:32 p.m. ET
Mamdani opposes NYC event featuring RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat
https://youtube.com/shorts/qU_8bNjLbCQ?si=Rn2NdVeAOhBuoa6n
An event Saturday in New York City, featuring the head of a Hindu nationalist group instrumental in putting India’s ruling party in power, is being met with protests, a denunciation from the city’s mayor and a call for sanctions from a US panel on religious freedom.
Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, widely considered the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is scheduled to address about 5,000 members of Indian American groups at the city’s iconic Madison Square Garden arena.
Titled “Universal Oneness Celebration,” the event is being organized by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue.
Published Aug. 28, 2026, 12:32 p.m. ET
Mamdani opposes NYC event featuring RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat
https://youtube.com/shorts/qU_8bNjLbCQ?si=Rn2NdVeAOhBuoa6n
An event Saturday in New York City, featuring the head of a Hindu nationalist group instrumental in putting India’s ruling party in power, is being met with protests, a denunciation from the city’s mayor and a call for sanctions from a US panel on religious freedom.
Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, widely considered the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is scheduled to address about 5,000 members of Indian American groups at the city’s iconic Madison Square Garden arena.
Titled “Universal Oneness Celebration,” the event is being organized by American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat speaks during the India International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN) event on Aug. 6, 2026, in Mumbai, India.AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at the podium during the Caribbean Heritage Reception on Aug. 28, 2026, at Gracie Mansion in Manhattan.Kevin C. Downs for NY Post
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been a polarizing figure in that country and the diaspora, emerged from the group known as RSS, a right-wing paramilitary group founded a century ago.
Critics have accused the group of promoting the political ideology of Hindutva, which means “the essence of being Hindu,” and seeks to define Indian culture and national identity in terms of Hindu values.
The party and its branches have also been accused of fostering a culture of intolerance and committing human rights violations such as mob lynchings, targeting minority places of worship and razing Muslim-owned properties with bulldozers.
This week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly declared his opposition to the event, labeling RSS ideology as exclusionary and contrary to the pluralistic views of the city.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been a polarizing figure in that country and the diaspora, emerged from the group known as RSS, a right-wing paramilitary group founded a century ago.
Critics have accused the group of promoting the political ideology of Hindutva, which means “the essence of being Hindu,” and seeks to define Indian culture and national identity in terms of Hindu values.
The party and its branches have also been accused of fostering a culture of intolerance and committing human rights violations such as mob lynchings, targeting minority places of worship and razing Muslim-owned properties with bulldozers.
This week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly declared his opposition to the event, labeling RSS ideology as exclusionary and contrary to the pluralistic views of the city.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Mob destroys homes of Christian families who wouldn't renounce their faith: report
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, January 26, 2026
Quick Summary
- Mob destroys homes of four Christian families in Maharashtra, India, after they refuse to renounce their faith.
- Attack follows repeated threats pressuring them to abandon Christianity.
- Displaced families remain without shelter in harsh winter conditions.
A cross is captured through some ornamental railings in the Fort Kochi area in the state of Kerala in South India. | Getty Images
A mob of Hindu nationalists demolished the homes of four Christian families in a village in India’s Maharashtra state after they refused to abandon their faith, amid a broader surge in violence against Christians across the country. The attack came after repeated threats warning the families to renounce Christianity or face consequences.
A group of about 20 people in Midapalli village, located in the Gadchiroli District, confronted six Christian families, totaling around 25 individuals, and issued an ultimatum, according to the United Kingdom-based advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
The mob returned the next day, on Jan. 12, and destroyed the homes of four families after they again refused to convert.
Two days later, the victims approached the Kavande Police Station to file a complaint. Police officers there reportedly threatened them instead of offering help, questioning their conversion as members of a tribal community.
A mob of Hindu nationalists demolished the homes of four Christian families in a village in India’s Maharashtra state after they refused to abandon their faith, amid a broader surge in violence against Christians across the country. The attack came after repeated threats warning the families to renounce Christianity or face consequences.
A group of about 20 people in Midapalli village, located in the Gadchiroli District, confronted six Christian families, totaling around 25 individuals, and issued an ultimatum, according to the United Kingdom-based advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
The mob returned the next day, on Jan. 12, and destroyed the homes of four families after they again refused to convert.
Two days later, the victims approached the Kavande Police Station to file a complaint. Police officers there reportedly threatened them instead of offering help, questioning their conversion as members of a tribal community.
Sunday, March 16, 2025
Christians decry plan in India for death penalty for conversions
Activists display a long list of atrocities against minorities on the first 300 days of the Narendra Modi government on March 19, 2015. (Anto Akkara via CNA)
Activists in India are decrying remarks from the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in which the politician threatened to prescribe the death penalty for religious conversions in Madhya Pradesh state.
“A provision for capital punishment will be made in the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act for religious conversion,” declared Mohan Yadav, BJP chief minister of the state, at an International Women’s Day program on March 8.
Yadav said the state government “wouldn’t spare those behind illegal conversions.”
“Proposing the death penalty for religious conversion of girls is not only bizarre but deserves to be condemned by all who cherish the rights and freedoms enshrined and guaranteed in the constitution,” outspoken Jesuit peace activist Father Cedric Prakash told CNA on March 13.
Asserting that Article 25 of Indian Constitution “unequivocally states that every citizen has the right to freely preach, practice, and propagate one’s religion,” Prakash said the chief minister’s remarks were “demeaning a citizen’s fundamental right,” which he said “speaks volumes of the abysmal depth to which fascism has taken the country.”
The United Christian Forum (UCF) has listed 834 crimes against Christians in India in 2024, shooting up from 127 in 2014 when the Hindu nationalist BJP captured power at the national level.
The majority of the incidents have been assaults and arrests of Christians on conversion charges that critics have deemed fraudulent.
There is “a very clear political agenda behind the conversion rhetoric,” Prakash said.
“It polarizes the people — we against them; majority vs. minority,” he said. “It helps create fear among the majority [Hindus] that the minorities of the country — namely Muslims and Christians — will take over the reins of power in the country.”
While Hindus account for nearly 80% of India’s 1.44 billion people, Muslims account for 14% and Christians 2.3%.
Other minorities like Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists account for the remaining population.
John Dayal, a Catholic columnist and social activist, told CNA that the call for the death penalty for conversions “exposes the cavalier, and cynical, manner in which [Hindu nationalists] have crafted this political strategy to criminalize Christian presence and community growth in the state.”
Madhya Pradesh state has reported several incidents of harassment of Christian institutions and arrest of clergy, pastors, and lay Christians. Christians are below one-half of 1% of the state’s 89 million people.
“The Christian community, and civil society too, must challenge anti-conversion laws in India as a travesty to human rights and a fraud on the constitution of democratic India,” Dayal said.
A.C. Michael, the Catholic coordinator of UCF, told CNA the threat to introduce the death penalty for conversions is “mere propaganda to boost Hindu nationalist forces.”
“As a matter of fact, the very anti-conversion law being framed under the garb of ‘freedom of religion’ is itself an anti-constitution law. We are hopeful it will not stand scrutiny in court of law when challenged,” Michael said.
He noted that the Supreme Court of India itself last year said the law may run afoul of the national constitution.
Though a dozen of India’s 28 states have enacted anti-conversion laws, Michael pointed out: “There has been hardly any conviction for forceful conversions despite hundreds being arrested regularly on conversion charges, mostly in BJP-ruled states.”
Church officials did not respond to requests for comment on the chief minister’s remarks.
Activists in India are decrying remarks from the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in which the politician threatened to prescribe the death penalty for religious conversions in Madhya Pradesh state.
“A provision for capital punishment will be made in the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act for religious conversion,” declared Mohan Yadav, BJP chief minister of the state, at an International Women’s Day program on March 8.
Yadav said the state government “wouldn’t spare those behind illegal conversions.”
“Proposing the death penalty for religious conversion of girls is not only bizarre but deserves to be condemned by all who cherish the rights and freedoms enshrined and guaranteed in the constitution,” outspoken Jesuit peace activist Father Cedric Prakash told CNA on March 13.
Asserting that Article 25 of Indian Constitution “unequivocally states that every citizen has the right to freely preach, practice, and propagate one’s religion,” Prakash said the chief minister’s remarks were “demeaning a citizen’s fundamental right,” which he said “speaks volumes of the abysmal depth to which fascism has taken the country.”
The United Christian Forum (UCF) has listed 834 crimes against Christians in India in 2024, shooting up from 127 in 2014 when the Hindu nationalist BJP captured power at the national level.
The majority of the incidents have been assaults and arrests of Christians on conversion charges that critics have deemed fraudulent.
There is “a very clear political agenda behind the conversion rhetoric,” Prakash said.
“It polarizes the people — we against them; majority vs. minority,” he said. “It helps create fear among the majority [Hindus] that the minorities of the country — namely Muslims and Christians — will take over the reins of power in the country.”
While Hindus account for nearly 80% of India’s 1.44 billion people, Muslims account for 14% and Christians 2.3%.
Other minorities like Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists account for the remaining population.
John Dayal, a Catholic columnist and social activist, told CNA that the call for the death penalty for conversions “exposes the cavalier, and cynical, manner in which [Hindu nationalists] have crafted this political strategy to criminalize Christian presence and community growth in the state.”
Madhya Pradesh state has reported several incidents of harassment of Christian institutions and arrest of clergy, pastors, and lay Christians. Christians are below one-half of 1% of the state’s 89 million people.
“The Christian community, and civil society too, must challenge anti-conversion laws in India as a travesty to human rights and a fraud on the constitution of democratic India,” Dayal said.
A.C. Michael, the Catholic coordinator of UCF, told CNA the threat to introduce the death penalty for conversions is “mere propaganda to boost Hindu nationalist forces.”
“As a matter of fact, the very anti-conversion law being framed under the garb of ‘freedom of religion’ is itself an anti-constitution law. We are hopeful it will not stand scrutiny in court of law when challenged,” Michael said.
He noted that the Supreme Court of India itself last year said the law may run afoul of the national constitution.
Though a dozen of India’s 28 states have enacted anti-conversion laws, Michael pointed out: “There has been hardly any conviction for forceful conversions despite hundreds being arrested regularly on conversion charges, mostly in BJP-ruled states.”
Church officials did not respond to requests for comment on the chief minister’s remarks.
Monday, August 28, 2023
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