India Steps Up Its Policy of Forced Conversions

“Gwar Wapsi” in Indian language means “back home.” Behind this expression hides a movement of violent conversions, born almost thirty years ago in central India.

The coming to power in 2014 of Narendra Modi, led by the Baratiya Janata Party (BJP), allowed the “Gwar Wapsi” to spread in the northern states of the country, with the approval of the openly anti-Christian authorities. The re-election of the BJP leader in the spring of 2019 was another signal offered to those in India who are trying to “welcome” by force those who have “left the Hindu house” by their baptism.

Thus, on October 20, 2019, several hundred Christians living in the city of Srisailam were gathered by the local authorities in the temple named after Sri Veerabhadra Swamy. There, members of the local branch of the BJP forced Christians to say prayers in honor of the false gods, such as the “promise to the god Shiva” and to offer ritual presents to the deities of India.

“They forced them to pledge allegiance to the Hindu religion,” said Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, at the microphone of AsiaNews. He adds that “their intention is to terrorize the Dalits and Adivasi, the low castes, for political purposes. It is difficult to know, at the present time, how many Christians have been able to resist, and what has happened to them.”

The head of the October 20th operation, the Hindu Darsanapu Srinivas, justified himself by invoking the fact that Christianity is a “foreign religion, practiced by missionaries who deceive the Dalits and who act for personal interests.”

In the face of these persecutions in India of which Christians are the victims, the Western powers do not protest. They are content to trade with a country that has become the fifth largest economy in the world.