EFI launches email campaign against Karnataka persecution

The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) has launched an email campaign soliciting action to help save Christians in Karnataka.

EFI has learnt that Karnataka state has recorded over 1,000 anti-Christian attacks in 500 days, and the number is growing by the day.

Most recently, on March 17, around 150 people allegedly led by right-wing Hindu extremist groups stormed the funeral of a 50-year-old Christian man at St. Thomas Church near Arsikere town in Hassan district.

"The mob pulled the coffin apart and desecrated the cross the relatives of the deceased were carrying. They threw the body in a tractor and dumped it outside, saying his burial would have contaminated the Indian soil and his body should be buried in Rome or America," EFI narrated.

According to the report of an independent enquiry conducted by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Michael F. Saldanha, the 1,000th attack in the state took place in Mysore city on January 26 as India celebrated the adoption of the Constitution of India.

While the mainstream national media is shockingly silent about the unprecedented persecution of minority Christians in Karnataka, the state government has allegedly bought over sections of the local media so that they underplay the incidence of attacks, suggests Justice Saldanha's report.

The report carries the findings of the People's Tribunal Enquiry, the Catholic Association of South Kanara and the Karnataka Chapter of Transparency International.

"It is not coincidence that Christian persecution rose to new heights soon after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became a ruling party in the state," EFI lamented. "That Karnataka – once a symbol of India's economic progress – has now become a hub of Right-wing Hindu extremism. It is a cause for concern for all Indians, as communal disturbance is harmful for all communities."

"Religious intolerance also risks India's international reputation at a time when the country is engaging with the West for its further progress. It is also betrayal of people's mandate on the part of the state government, as the Indian voter has clearly shown door to the divisive politics of the BJP in both 2004 and 2009 general elections. But the shortsighted BJP does not see an immediate threat to its government in Karnataka," it added.

Enumerating the address and telephone numbers of Karnataka Chief Minister and Governor, EFI urged concerned citizens to "speak out against the unbridled persecution and emerging anarchy in the state."

"You can also flood the "Share Your Opinion" column on the chief minister's personal blog, http://yeddyurappa.in/share-your-opinion/ with letters of concern," it added.