WSJ op-ed warns of growing attacks on Christians, minorities in India

A recent opinion piece The Wall Street Journal has warned of what it has described as a steady increase in violence, intimidation and hostility towards Christians and other religious minorities in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014.

THE article said that while Muslims have faced widespread discrimination and targeted attacks, Christians — who make up about 2.3 percent of India’s population and are largely from poorer communities — are increasingly the target of mob harassment, church vandalism and accusations of forced conversion.

He noted that at least 12 Indian states have enacted anti-conversion laws that prohibit religious conversions by force, fraud or charm. According to the article, these laws are often used against Christian churches and clergy.

The article reported incidents around Christmas in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party. These included reports of Hindu nationalist groups disrupting church services in Uttar Pradesh, shouting hostile slogans outside places of worship and vandalizing Christmas displays in Chhattisgarh.

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He also referred to videos circulating on social media showing a regional political leader disrupting a church gathering in Madhya Pradesh and confronting worshippers.

Human rights group Citizens for Justice and Peace was quoted as saying that Christmas has become a national flashpoint for the claim of the majority. The United Christian Forum was reported to document a sharp increase in anti-Christian incidents, from 139 cases in 2014 to 834 in 2024, with 706 incidents recorded by November 2025.

The opinion piece also referred to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which in its 2025 report recommended that Washington designate India as a “country of particular concern”. The commission cited what it described as rampant violations of religious freedom and mob violence carried out with impunity.

The article noted that Modi attended the Christmas Mass in New Delhi this year and spoke of harmony and compassion. But he argued that his government has not publicly condemned recent attacks attributed to hardline Hindu groups elsewhere in the country.

The article placed these developments in the broader context of what it described as the weakening of India’s secular ethos under the ruling BJP, while acknowledging that previous governments had also struggled to fully curb sectarian excesses.