MUMBAI, India – An archbishop in the state of Maharashtra has spoken a politicians call for violence against Christian missionaries.
A legislator belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party ruling Maharashtra state in India, put out a bounty on evangelists who allegedly visit villages for proselytization.
In a public speech, Gopichand Padalkar, a legislator from Jat constituency in Sangli district, recently announced that he will give cash reward to anyone who thrashes those visiting villages for religious conversions, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Padalkar allegedly made the speech after a 28-year-old woman, who was four months pregnant, died by suicide in Sangli district of Maharashtra because of an alleged demand for dowry from in-laws and pressure to practice Christianity.
The announcement of the cash reward has sparked outrage among the Christian community.
“Whoever does the work of (religious) conversion, and if our people do ‘Sairat’ (indicating to kill, referring to the movie Sairat which highlighted the issue of honour killings) to that person, then I will personally give a reward of [$13,000],” the legislator said on June 18.
Maharashtra is the former state of Bombay and located in western India. Christians make less than one percent of the population, although there are significant communities in the capital Mumbai.
The BJP is the political party of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It’s considered the political wing of the RSS, a social and cultural movement premised on Hindu nationalism.
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