ISLAMABAD: Violence and discrimination against religious minorities in India have sharply increased since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, with Muslims and Christians increasingly targeted by groups aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
According to the WSJ, India’s Muslims, around 14% of the population, have faced the most severe physical attacks along with systemic discrimination in employment, education, housing and voting rights. Many Muslim communities have been effectively ghettoized, the report said.
The newspaper noted that Christians, who make up just 2.3% of India’s population and largely belong to poorer segments of society, are also facing growing hostility.
Despite being a small minority, Christians have become frequent targets of violence justified under laws in at least 12 Indian states that prohibit religious conversion by “force, fraud, or allurement,” terms that critics say are broadly and arbitrarily defined.
Citing recent incidents, the WSJ reported that mobs disrupted Christmas celebrations across several BJP-ruled states. In Uttar Pradesh, Hindu groups gathered outside churches on Christmas Eve, chanting threats while services were under way.
In Madhya Pradesh, a BJP leader was filmed storming a church, disrupting a Christmas feast and assaulting a young blind woman, accusing her of facilitating religious conversions. In Chhattisgarh, Hindu extremists vandalized Christmas displays in a shopping mall, smashing religious imagery.
Citizens for Justice and Peace, an Indian human rights organization, described Christmas 2025 as “a national flashpoint for majoritarian assertion,” saying such attacks were symbolic efforts to signal that “Christian visibility itself is unacceptable,” the WSJ reported.
'Sharp increase in attacks on Christians'
Data cited by the newspaper from the United Christian Forum showed that recorded attacks on Christians rose from 139 incidents in 2014 to 834 in 2024, with 706 incidents already documented by November 2025.
The WSJ also referenced the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2025 report, which recommended that India be designated a “country of particular concern” for allowing serious violations of religious freedom to continue with impunity.
The commission highlighted cases in which police failed to intervene during mob attacks and noted instances where village councils pressured Christians to renounce their faith or leave their homes.
While Prime Minister Modi attended a Christmas Mass in New Delhi and spoke of “love, peace and compassion,” the WSJ said critics viewed the gesture as hollow, pointing out that he has not publicly condemned the attacks carried out by Hindu extremist groups.
The newspaper added that India’s constitutionally enshrined secularism has steadily weakened under the Modi government, with critics arguing that official silence has emboldened radical elements and deepened insecurity among the country’s religious minorities.
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