By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

Anti-Christian violence is on the rise in India, much of which occurred in Karnataka. Especially on the eve of the winter session of the assembly in Belagavi, Southern India. Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Minister of Karnataka, hinted at the possibility of banning religious conversion altogether.

On December 11th, a Christian community reportedly went door-to-door to distribute Christmas cards in the town of Srinivaspur, Kolar district, about 65km from Bengaluru in the State of Karnataka, India. In response, Hindu nationalists protested and burned some “religious texts”. The police clarified that the bible was not one of the burned texts.

On the same day in the same State, another Hindu Nationalist intruded into a church in Belagavi and chased a priest while holding a machete in one hand and wires in the other. The priest was unharmed and the intruder fled before law enforcement arrived.

In the assembly, which occurred a day after these events occurred, Basavaraj Bommai stated to the media “The Bill is not aimed at any particular community. All communities come under the Constitution. I have spoken to leaders of the Christian community and I assure them that they will not face any problems. But it is wrong to lure someone into a community on the basis of hunger. Conversions are not good for society. The government is trying to table the bill soon,”

Around the same time, accusations of forced conversion by the Makarpura facility for Missionaries of Charity, the charity famously started by Mother Teresa, lead to local police investigating such cases as it goes against Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act of 2003 which nortabley bans forcible conversion.