Church leaders in North India have denounced the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving its “tacit support” to the “ghar waspi” campaign by Hindu militants to forcibly convert Christians to Hinduism. A joint statement signed by the Moderator of the Church of North India, Bishop P K Samantaroy of Amritsar, and Catholic and Salvation Army leaders said that unless the forcibly conversion of Dalit (Untouchable) Christians was stopped, the country’s Christians would take to the streets in protest. “Keeping silent on such a sensitive issue construes [the prime minister’s] silent approval,” the bishop said. He said groups such as the RSS, Dharam Jagran Manch and Vishwa Hindu Parishad were coercing Christians to become Hindus as part of a wider political programme of Hindu nationalism.
