The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) is calling on the new Indian National Congress-led government to protect the small Christian community and other religious minorities after years of persecution by Hindu extremists. \"The new government should ensure justice for Christians who have been victims of a wave of violence and hatred since 2008,\" said GCIC President Sajan George.<\/p>\n
In 2008, when anti-Christian pogroms broke out in Orissa, Karnataka also saw attacks on local Christian churches and congregations. For many years, this state was one of the most dangerous places to be for the Christian minority in India. In a report released by the GCIC last year, Karnataka was the state with the highest number of rapes, 41 out of 135 across India.<\/p>\n
After eight years of persecution under a government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, Christians in Karnataka now have new hope. In the May elections, Siddaramaiah, the local leader of the Indian National Congress (a secular party led by Sonia Gandhi), was elected as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka.<\/p>\n
\"After a clampdown on Christians to spread their faith in secular India, Christians in Karnataka can now pray without fear,\" said Sajan George.<\/p>\n
But the new government must take concrete steps towards holding organizations and leaders accountable for the violence against Christians. To this end, Sajan George wants the government to issue an official apology to the Christian minority for the injustice they have suffered over the past eight years.<\/p>\n
\"Although they are not directly responsible, the government machinery has been in cahoots with the Hindu extremists for years, denying Christians the right to their constitutional freedom of religion,\" explains Sajan George.<\/p>\n
He also believes the new Prime Minister should distance himself from the Somsekhara Commission's \"specious but false\" report on the violence of recent years, which absolved the Hindu movements of responsibility for attacks on churches in Karnataka in 2008.<\/p>\n
Source: AsiaNews<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The President of the Global Council of Indian Christians, Sajan George, believes that Christians in the area can now feel safe. However, it is now up to the newly elected state government to hold the Hindu extremists responsible for eight years of religious persecution accountable.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"gamle_kategorier":[],"land":[82],"class_list":["post-1573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ikke-kategoriseret","land-indien","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n