Christians in India said on Monday that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not done enough to protect their religion, after a spate of attacks including the rape of a 75-year-old nun at the weekend.
Christians prayed and held vigils across the country to protest against the rape during an armed assault on a convent school, the worst in a series of incidents that followers of the faith say are making them feel unwelcome in their own country.
The convent attack also comes in the same month an interview emerged of a man being held on death row for a fatal gang rape in which he showed no remorse and blamed the victim.
The government banned the documentary, “India’s Daughter”, a decision which angered some Indians who said it should be aired to highlight the prevalence of gender inequality and sex crimes.
Father Savari Muthu, spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese and a national Church organiser, said the government had not taken “concrete action to protect Christians.
“We have to raise our voice against the atrocities. Christians will not tolerate this humiliation,” he said, joining critics who say Modi has not done enough to ensure religious harmony in a country with a history of inter-faith bloodshed.
The motive for the assault and armed robbery in West Bengal on Saturday was not clear.
It happened weeks after the leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said the charitable work of Mother Teresa had been aimed at religious conversion.
Critics say the remarks by the leader of RSS, an organization close to the government, contributed to a climate where Christians are seen as outsiders, despite a more than 1,500-year presence in India.
“I am not Indian any more, at least in the eyes of the proponents of the Hindu Rashtra,” prominent retired police chief Julio Ribeiro wrote in a column for the Indian Express paper.