Bengal’s Christians Now The Target Of Nationwide Majoritarian Hate

Attacks on Bengali Christians and their churches have begun after the BJP victory in that state. Last week, a group of us led by Karwan e-Mohabbat (former IAS officer Harsh Mander’s outfit) witnessed testimonies from Christians across the state. We concluded that this was new, that it was condoned if not actually encouraged by the government, and that it would accelerate with time.

One of us, the former TMC MP Jawhar Sircar, theorised that the attacks were happening as thugs were positioning themselves as party leaders. Given the relative absence of BJP organisation at the local level in the state, this space was being occupied by those making a name through violence. This seems convincing particularly after hearing the stories of the survivors, and it is what leads to the conclusion that the attacks will only grow.

The stories were similar to what has been happening in other states that the BJP has captured, such as Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Mobs are led where people have congregated for prayer, sometimes in village churches and sometimes at people’s homes.

The churches are desecrated. In one instance the cross was vandalised, and the people gathered are abused and beaten up. Women worshippers are not spared and are at times sexually assaulted. Christian children were slapped around. The pastors come in for the harshest treatment. Property is looted, and the cases are filed usually against the victims. One study estimated that there had been 48 attacks since the BJP took power in May. And in 33 of these instances no FIR had been registered at all.

In one instance, the pastor who was attacked in his house was jailed for over a month after the attackers’ complaint was given more credence than their own assault and trespass. Again, this is also a familiar pattern. The police take their cues from the ideology of the government and we are left in no doubt where the BJP stands on this count.

The attackers take offence to the fact that some of the worshippers wear bangles and sindoor. The idea that this is a nation where faith is fluid, where can one visit a temple and gurdwara and dargah and have belief in all three places is now unacceptable.

Some other things are worth noting here. One is that, at least thus far, the mainline churches have not come under attack. This means that the Roman Catholic Church and other established churches in Kolkata and other cities have been deliberately avoided by the mobs. This is likely strategic because it will create greater pushback from within India and indeed the world if the BJP mobs vandalise, say, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

The second thing is that Bengalis must not assume that they are insulated from this sort of hate merely because of their traditions and their liberalism. The rest of India is a shining example of how easily societies go down this path and how little resistance there is, particularly from the State.

There is close to zero interest from IPS officers and senior bureaucrats in doing the right thing as opposed to doing what the government wants them to do. There could be others, but I can think of only two IAS officers in my lifetime of who resigned on matters of principle when it came to State-driven communalism. One was Harsh Mander who quit after the 2002 pogrom and the other was Kannan Gopinathan who resigned after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. That is it. With two years remaining in the Rajya Sabha, Jawhar Sircar quit in 2024 on the issue of the RG Kar rape.

The norm is that those who, for decades, may have appeared normal, will turn on a dime and enthusiastically become majoritarian. Take a close look at our foreign minister for instance.

“How was it possible for a mere handful of foreigners from a distant land to make themselves masters of a large subcontinent, the inhabitants of which numbered many millions?” asked Sir Penderel Moon in his two-volume work on the British conquest and dominion of India.

His answer was that the British conquered the country with the assistance and connivance of Indians themselves and then ruled over it for a century with their collaboration. The same phenomenon is being played out today, with those who have sworn themselves to a secular constitution selling themselves for the baubles of office.

The third thing is that this is a continuation of the erosion of our Constitution under the BJP. Peaceful assembly under Article 19 is dead and even its previous consignment to the graveyards of protest in ‘designated areas’ like Jantar Mantar is today disallowed. Similarly, Article 25 is not a real fundamental right. It promises us that we all have “the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”. These are merely words and not reflective of the laws. They are a fib that we tell the world along with grand and meaningless phrases such as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Sarvadharma Samabhava in a nation which has criminalised propagation and practice of faith.

Muslims across India have long identified the real and sole objective of Hindutva, which unfortunately today the Christians of Bengal are also finding out.

Aakar Patel is a senior journalist and columnist