A mob stormed an under-construction church in Subhashgram, South 24 Parganas, on July 5, breaking its windows, damaging the altar and musical instruments, and pulling down crosses installed on the roof, while shouting “Jai Shri Ram” and other Hindu nationalist slogans. It was one of several attacks on Christian communities reported across West Bengal that day.
In Purba Bardhaman’s Faridpur, Grace Church was attacked during Sunday service at around 10 am. Pastor Surajit Ghosh told Matters India that the congregation was facing a coordinated campaign of misinformation. “False and provocative allegations are being spread to create misunderstanding and incite people against us, which may disturb social peace and communal harmony,” he said. He added that parents of children at the church’s school were deeply anxious, and that he feared further violence if the threats went unaddressed. The Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (Bengal Christian Council) alerted the police, and a force led by Katwa Police officer Jyotirmoy Roy escorted the pastor and congregation to safety after the assault.
In Bankura, a prayer meeting led by Pastor Rajib Das was disrupted by a group that confiscated Bibles and briefly detained worshippers, including women and children, before releasing them without charges. A separate attack was also reported at a Mizo Synod church in Suvas Gram, Sonarpur, where vandals reportedly smashed windows, desecrated the altar and left graffiti warning against future prayer services.
These incidents follow a pattern seen since the BJP’s May 4 assembly election win. On May 5, a mob allegedly vandalised the Murshidabad home of Barnali Chatterjee, a Christian widow, pressing her to donate her property for a temple; she filed an FIR at Berhampore Police Station. Social media reports on June 16 claimed that a man identified only as ‘Pastor Biswajit’ was beaten elsewhere in West Bengal, though this specific claim could not be independently verified.
On June 21, VHP and Bajrang Dal members disrupted a Sunday prayer meeting in Raniganj, Paschim Bardhaman, alleging forced conversions; police officials present at the scene did not intervene when some of the women stated they had converted of their own free will and were then threatened by the attackers for saying so. Around 25 people were handed over to police, though West Bengal has no anti-conversion law.
Christian groups have alerted local police in each case and are seeking wider intervention from the state administration. The Bangiya Christiya Pariseba had already launched a fortnight-long campaign from July 3, submitting memorandums to district magistrates over what it called fabricated social media content inciting such incidents. No arrests had been announced in the July 5 cases at the time of this report.
A Christian community leader based in Kolkata, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said West Bengal had largely been free of major communal trouble for Christians in the past, with only isolated incidents. He said this has changed since the BJP came to power, pointing to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s remarks after the election that Muslim voters had backed the opposition and that he would work for Hindus, as a signal that has emboldened hardline Hindu groups, leading to the violence now being reported against Christians in different parts of the state.
