India’s Bloody Hands: How the BJP’s Rule Has Turned Against Christians

India parades itself as the “world’s largest democracy,” yet for Christians on the ground, it feels more like a state-sanctioned nightmare. Under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its political allies, violence against Christians has exploded — and the evidence is impossible to ignore.

India loves to call itself the world’s largest democracy. But under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its political allies, this democracy is failing its Christian citizens — and the world is watching in silence.

“In BJP-run states, mobs don’t fear the police. They fear being arrested — for worshipping.”

The Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC) verified 640 incidents of violence against Christians in 2024 alone — up from just 147 in 2014, the year the BJP first took power nationally. These include assaults on worshippers, destruction of churches, forced closure of prayer meetings, and mass arrests under so-called “anti-conversion” laws.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2025 Annual Report bluntly stated that “attacks on religious minorities and places of worship persisted with impunity in 2024”. They even recommended India be designated a “country of particular concern” — the same list that includes some of the worst abusers of human rights.

Let’s stop pretending these attacks are random. Many perpetrators belong to extremist Hindutva outfits like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad — organizations ideologically aligned with the BJP and emboldened by its dominance. They operate with a confidence that can only come from knowing the ruling party will look the other way.

In Maharashtra, the faction of Shiv Sena allied with the BJP mirrors this Hindutva hard line. Whether through political cover or outright silence, these parties give the mobs their oxygen.

“This is not random violence — it’s a system, and the BJP is its chief architect.”

Just last week — August 6, 2025 — priests and nuns were assaulted in Odisha’s Balasore district. Witnesses named Bajrang Dal activists; police were slow to act, reinforcing the widespread belief that law enforcement in BJP-run states is either complicit or cowed.

And we haven’t forgotten Manipur 2023. In the ethnic-religious carnage there, over 250 churches were burned or damaged, 70,000 people displaced, and at least 187 killed. The central government dithered, avoided visiting the worst-hit areas for months, and then denied any religious targeting — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Nine Indian states now have laws criminalizing “unlawful” religious conversions — a concept so vague it effectively criminalizes Christian ministry. The Supreme Court recently paused provisions in one such law that allowed any random third person to initiate a complaint — an implicit admission that these laws are ripe for abuse. But BJP-led states continue to champion them as “protection of culture.” Translation: a weapon against minorities.

International leaders love the optics of shaking hands with India’s prime minister. They gush over trade deals, climate pledges, and tech investments. Meanwhile, Indian Christians face beatings, burned homes, and criminal charges for worshipping. This is what “democracy” looks like when the majority’s Hindu religion is treated as state policy.

Let’s be clear: until the BJP and its allies like Shiv Sena rein in their militant supporters, repeal these anti-Christian laws, and prosecute the attackers — from mob foot soldiers to political backers — India’s claim to be a “democracy” is nothing more than a PR stunt.

The Constitution promises religious freedom. The BJP’s India delivers fear. And the world should start calling it what it is.

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