NEW DELHI: Shillong MP Vincent H. Pala on Tuesday urged the Prime Minister to intervene in the rising religious intolerance and let prominent Christians stay for the benefit of the country.
In a letter to Modi, Pala said, “I need to hardly underscore the increasing incidents of hate and violence against Christians in the country despite the community being peace loving, harmonious and contributing its mite to the nation building.”
Pala pointed out that the ongoing discrimination against minorities is forcing many eminent persons, who contribute to the growth of the country in various ways, are being hounded out of the country.
He referred to three prominent missionaries working in different states – Ignacio Galdos Zuazua (working in Gujarat), Laurel Judith Seaton (working in Bihar) and Aurele Andre A. Brys (working in Jharkhand).
“I shall be highly personally grateful to you if these three eminent Christians are allowed to stay in India and continue to do their social and educational work for the poor,” he demanded.
As per the list, compiled by Open Doors, a known civil liberty watchdog India experienced an escalation of attacks on its Christian minority in 2016, usually led by majority Hindu nationalists acting at times with impunity. Just over 2 per cent of the country’s population is Christian, and nearly 80 per cent of Indians are Hindu.
The watchdog estimated that a church was burnt down or a cleric beaten on average 10 times a week in India in the year, a threefold increase on the previous year.
