Roughly 80 percent of India’s 1.4 billion citizens are Hindus — but just over 2 percent are Christians.
Many Indians believe that Hinduism — and not Christianity or other minority religions like Islam — define what it means to be Indian.
That has resulted in rising levels of persecution aimed at Christians, according to a recent profile in Deutsche Welle, a state-funded German media outlet.
Deutsche Welle noted that human rights groups monitoring India have documented almost 900 incidents of anti-Christian violence — in 2025 alone.
That’s between two and three attacks per day.
Often at the center of the violence is Hindu nationalist mobs, who are often shielded from consequences by local police forces.
In one incident, a pastor in Uttar Pradesh named Jaynendra had a prayer meeting crashed by mob members, who accused him of forcing conversions.
Police “took around 10 to 11 people to the police station and detained them,” Jaynendra said, noting that the detainees were his family members — and not the members of the mob.
“The police questioned them and found out that they had no money or pressure to attend the gathering. Everyone came here to pray with their own will,” he said.
But they were still kept for the entire day.
Jaynendra was later arrested and imprisoned for four months under so-called anti-conversion laws, which are often leveraged against minorities through false charges.
Vinay Patil — a believer in Madhya Pradesh whose name was altered by Deutsche Welle for safety — described a similar mob descending upon his church one Sunday.
“About 35 to 40 people came,” he said.
“They were young boys. They started talking in abusive language and said that ‘you are doing forced conversions here.’”
The members of the mob were carrying sticks that they used to beat “women, children, everyone.”
“Someone’s shoulder was fractured. Someone’s head was bleeding,” he described.
Police likewise arrived and detained the Christians instead of the violent mob members, accusing the believers of forced conversions.
“The police picked us up and took us away,” Patil continued.
“Our people had made videos. It was visible that they were beating. After that, the police did not take any action.”
India ranks 12th in the world with respect to anti-Christian persecution, according to a report from Open Doors.
“To religious nationalists, to be Indian is to be Hindu, and that leaves no place for Christianity,” the ministry described.
“The result is systemic discrimination and violence, particularly against converts,” the report added. “Social media is gravely exacerbating the problem, with accusations, disinformation and attacks often going viral and perpetuating false narratives around Christianity.”
Any attempt at evangelism is therefore “extremely risky.”
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