California-based journalist Pieter Friedrich, on Thursday, began a seven-day hunger strike, protesting against the persecution of Christians in India. The atack on Christians while prevalent across the country off-late is especially worrisome in the state of Karnataka.
Friedrich alleged that Christians in India have faced a tough year with attacks on churches, schools, and allegations of forceful conversions, with the implementation of an anti-conversion law across the state of Karnataka.
“The powers that control the country view Indian Christians as foreign elements and even consider them to be traitors because they belong to a different religion than the majority of the population,” said Friedrich.
“The current ruling power embraces an ideology that seeks to eradicate Christians from India because they are a minority. Taking a page from the playbook of the nazis, the powers of being in modern India believe that only Hindus possess a natural birthright to full citizenship in India. Anyone else must become a Hindu or face eradication. This ideology of hate is playing itself in the streets of India,” he added.
Friedrich, who tracks RSS activities in America, earlier too had observed a hunger strike, which he began in protest against Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey’s donation of 2.5 million dollars to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-linked NGO Sewa International in the USA.
On December 26, 2021, a group of right-wing extremists of the Bajrang dal, allegedly broke into the Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra Christian center in Indore and attacked Christian ministers while raising slogans of Jai Shree Ram. They also assaulted women, amidst a prayer meeting, accusing the prayer group members of forced conversions.
The police arrived only to arrest ministers and participants of the meet as the saffron-adorned goons sloganed mercilessly.
Among the more recent incidents in Karnataka, religious Christian books were burned in a distribution drive, in Srinivasapura town in Kolar district, where Hindutva “activists” stopped Christian missionaries from distributing religious books to the local residents and burnt the religious books and pamphlets.
According to police, the group objected to the distribution of books to people. They also alleged that people who came from Chintamani gathered at a house and attempted religious conversion acts.
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