At the time of growing climate of religious intolerance, Bihar elections brought a ray of hope for the Church leaders in the form of Mr Nitish Kumar whose Janta Dal United (JDU), in an unlikely alliance, gobbled up most of the seats in the 243-seat legislative assembly resulting him being sworn in as Chief Minister on November 20.
On the occasion Archbishop of Patna, William D'Souza, said, "We hope the state will now more earnestly uphold tolerance, religious harmony and the constitutional rights of people, especially the marginalized."
Spokesman of Buxar diocese Farther Anand Kumar while terming Mr Nitish Kumar's victory as a 'source of great relief' for Christians and other minorities, said, "There was great fear psychosis at the way campaigns for the election were held." He expressed hope that the present Chief Minister would recognise the role of Christian community in shaping the society. "Christians render so much services in the state in various fields like education, health and social service. We expect the state to become more generous to us and give more positive support to our missionary enterprises, like recognition and aid for our rural schools," he said.
In the states where BJP is in power there is a growing trend of persecution against Christians, pastors and worshippers being beaten, church services of house churches especially being disrupted, and pastors being jailed on false charges of conversion. This explains the reason why Christians and other minority groups do not favor the Hindu nationalist BJP party who was a main rival of the JDU party and the reason Mr Nitish Kumar's election was seen as a positive sign and a beacon of hope.
