{"id":8384,"date":"2015-03-13T10:05:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T10:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=8384"},"modified":"2015-03-13T10:05:57","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T10:05:57","slug":"in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>K\u00f6nigstein\/NEW DELHI (March 9, 2015)\u2014 \u201cThree policemen tried to drag me away. But I resisted. Then half a dozen of them lifted me up\u2014with one even choking me by the neck\u2014and put me in the police bus.\u201d His priestly garb gave Father Dennis George little protection, he told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need ( 5<sup>th<\/sup> March).<\/p>\n<p>The offense of Father George, a priest of the Archdiocese of New Delhi, was his attempt to join a demonstration (5<sup>th<\/sup> February) against the desecration and attacks on five Catholic churches in the Indian capital as well as months of Hindu harassment of Christians throughout the country.<\/p>\n<p>The unrest did prod India\u2019s political leader into action. \u201cMy government will not allow any religious group, belonging to the majority or the minority, to incite hatred against others, overtly or covertly,\u201d declared Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (17<sup>th<\/sup> February).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMine will be a government that gives equal respect to all religions,\u201d Modi said (17<sup>th<\/sup> February), while presiding over celebrations here to honor India\u2019s two new saints, Chavara Elias Kuriakose and Sister Euphrasia, who had been canonized last November at the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We cannot accept violence against any religion on any pretext and I strongly condemn such violence. My government will act strongly in this regard,&#8221; Modi proclaimed before an elite Catholic gathering of more than 1,000, including a dozen bishops, and hundreds of priests and nuns.<\/p>\n<p>With this talk, Modi broke his protracted silence on months of violence and harassment aimed at Christians and other religious minorities by Hindu extremists emboldened by the nationalist BJP party\u2019s May 2014 election victory that brought him to power. But the prime minister\u2019s words have had little so far. Hate speech against Christians, public reconversions of Christians and their violent treatment by public authorities have continued unabated.<\/p>\n<p>Modi\u2019s assurances came after continued protests by Christians and secular activists, which culminated in an unprecedented \u2018silent\u2019 street march by 140 Catholic bishops (6<sup>th<\/sup> February)in Bangalore, in the south of India.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe silence of those responsible for upholding our constitutional rights and their failure to protect the community is indeed baffling,\u201d said a statement by the Indian bishops\u2019 conference released at the march and candle light vigil.<\/p>\n<p>The historic protest followed a fierce police crackdown on Christian protesters in New Delhi on the previous day (5<sup>th<\/sup> February), in which Father George got caught up. Women, children, nuns and priests were bundled into the police vans at the gates of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, just as they were preparing a march to the nearby residence of the interior minister to protest the torching and desecration of as many as five Catholic churches in New Delhi in the previous two months.<\/p>\n<p>Even before media finished analyzing the import of Modi\u2019s declarations, a leading Hindu nationalist took aim at a revered Catholic figure (23<sup>rd<\/sup> February). &#8220;It&#8217;s good to work for a cause with selfless intentions. But Mother Teresa&#8217;s work had an ulterior motive, which was to convert the person who was being served to Christianity,&#8221; said Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the <em>Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh<\/em>, the National Volunteer Corps, or RSS, which is considered the fountainhead of the Hindu nationalism espoused by the BJP. The incendiary comments caused a national uproar that was echoed even in the Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>Father George will not soon forget his treatment by police at the gate of the Sacred Heart Cathedral where over 500 lay people had gathered to protest against the attacks on Catholic churches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I saw police roughing up people and dragging even women into vans, I (in cassock) moved forward to stop them,\u201d he told Aid to the Church in Need. He added: \u201cnow I feel happy that it happened to me. I had a taste of what our people have been experiencing here and there. It has not scared me but only inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AntoAkkara, press@acn-intl.org<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>K\u00f6nigstein\/NEW DELHI (March 9, 2015)\u2014 \u201cThree policemen tried to drag me away. But I resisted. Then half a dozen of them lifted me up\u2014with one even choking me by the neck\u2014and put me in the police bus.\u201d His priestly garb gave Father Dennis George little protection, he told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"K\u00f6nigstein\/NEW DELHI (March 9, 2015)\u2014 \u201cThree policemen tried to drag me away. But I resisted. Then half a dozen of them lifted me up\u2014with one even choking me by the neck\u2014and put me in the police bus.\u201d His priestly garb gave Father Dennis George little protection, he told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T10:05:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3188\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/\",\"name\":\"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-13T10:05:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T10:05:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg\",\"width\":4400,\"height\":3188},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\",\"name\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"description\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\",\"name\":\"ACN Malta Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACN Malta Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","og_description":"K\u00f6nigstein\/NEW DELHI (March 9, 2015)\u2014 \u201cThree policemen tried to drag me away. But I resisted. Then half a dozen of them lifted me up\u2014with one even choking me by the neck\u2014and put me in the police bus.\u201d His priestly garb gave Father Dennis George little protection, he told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church...","og_url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/","og_site_name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","article_published_time":"2015-03-13T10:05:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4400,"height":3188,"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACN Malta Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACN Malta Media","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/","name":"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-13T10:05:57+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T10:05:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ACN-20150309-21439.jpg","width":4400,"height":3188},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/03\/13\/in-india-government-assurances-and-persecution-of-christians-go-hand-in-hand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In India, government assurances and persecution of Christians go hand-in-hand"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/","name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","description":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2","name":"ACN Malta Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACN Malta Media"},"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}