Attacks on Christians in India are on the rise

Attacks on Christians in India are on the rise, says the United Christian Forum (UCF), a New Delhi-based ecumenical body.

UCF is an interdenominational Christian organization that documents persecutions against religious minorities in the country. It fights for the rights of the Christian minority, mainly through protests and other democratic means.

“This year, 2025, from January to May, as many as 313 incidents have been reported. More than two Christians are attacked in a day in our country,” said A. C. Michael, the UCF's national convenor, at a press conference on June 18.

“If we go by the reports received on the UCF Helpline (No: 1800-208-4545), with 127 incidents of violence against Christians in 2014 to 834 incidents in 2024, it is too disturbing,” he added.

If the trend is not stopped immediately by political will and concerted government action, it will threaten the identity and existence of the Indian Christian community in India at the earliest, explained Michael, a former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission.

“Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states have become the hotspots of viral hate, brutal mob violence, and rampant social ostracization in which elements of the law and justice apparatus are complicit,” he added.

According to him, many attacks on Christians and their institutions go unreported for fear of retribution in the environment of impunity and political patronage, especially by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Many church leaders, civil society activists, and human rights workers have repeatedly expressed their concern and anguish over the growing persecution of Christians, who are anxious and somewhat depressed.

One of the reasons for attacking Christians is that Christians convert others to their religion, which Christians deny.

The biggest charge leveled against the Christian people was the unfounded conversion of other individuals to their faith, said Michael.

The Supreme Court of India asked for reports on forceful conversions from the federal and state governments in 2022, but until today, no government has been able to offer documentary evidence.

Out of India's 28 states—most of which are run by the BJP—12 have passed anti-conversion legislation that Christians claim is being weaponized by Hindu organizations to target them specifically.

Over the past ten years, there have been more acts of violence directed against Christians, particularly when the BJP came to office in 2014 at the federal level, led by Modi.

Christians form 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people, as per the 2012 census.