During President Trump’s recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the conversation centered on trade and economic issues, leaving little room for a far more urgent crisis.
In the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Hindu leaders have urged men to gather on March 1 with a sinister mission: to murder and rape Christians. Should these threats become a reality, they will unfold under the tacit approval of Modi. Under his leadership, Hindu nationalist groups have orchestrated a sophisticated, technology-driven campaign of intimidation, using WhatsApp as a weapon to force conversions, mobilize assaults, and economically choke religious minorities, especially Christians. (RELATED: Hindu Nationalism Against Religious Freedom)
Caste versus Christ
There was a time, particularly in the decades following independence, when India was far more secular — at least in principle. This allowed various religions to coexist despite underlying social tensions. The nation’s founding vision embraced pluralism. Although discrimination has always existed, religious minorities were not systematically hunted down like wild animals.
Oh, how times have changed.
Over the past 20 years, India has transformed into a battleground where faith can determine whether one has the right to honor the dead, maintain employment, or even remain in their home village. Christians — especially those from Dalit and Indigenous tribal backgrounds — face a level of persecution that goes beyond mere discrimination; they are deliberately excluded, threatened, and, in many cases, violently coerced into renouncing their faith.
Many Christian families are denied access to communal wells, forcing them to walk miles for something as essential as drinking water. Others are expelled from their homes, their crops destroyed, or their children harassed in schools until they drop out. Refusing to convert can mean physical assault, public humiliation, or being blacklisted from any form of assistance, leaving families with no means to survive.
At the core of this persecution is India’s deeply entrenched caste system — a rigid, centuries-old hierarchy that dehumanizes those at the bottom and violently resists any challenge to its authority. The system, upheld by those in power, assigns people their worth at birth, dictating what jobs they can hold, whom they can marry, and whether they are even considered fully human. Christianity, with its radical doctrine of universal equality, threatens this foundation. It offers the lowest castes and Indigenous tribes something India’s social structure never has: dignity and liberation.
That is precisely why Hindu nationalist groups, particularly the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), have made it their mission to stamp out Christianity through forced reconversions, economic warfare, and social boycotts. To them, Christianity is not just a foreign religion; it is a direct assault on a hierarchical system that benefits the upper castes.
Mobile Devices and Massive Mobs
WhatsApp has become the key instrument in this campaign of terror. The VHP and other nationalist organizations have weaponized WhatsApp to surveil Christian communities, mobilize vigilante mobs, and enforce economic and social boycotts of anyone who resists conversion. Before smartphones and widespread internet access, it took days to gather support for an attack on a Christian family. Now, a single WhatsApp message can summon a mob within minutes.
The strategy is as effective as it is horrifying. When a Christian dies, word spreads through WhatsApp groups run by Hindu nationalist networks. The deceased’s name, religion, and location are almost immediately broadcast to thousands. Mobs then descend on the grieving family, blocking burial or cremation unless the family agrees to convert back to Hinduism.
Essentially, it is a coordinated effort to purge Christianity from rural India. Consider the case of Jaldhar Kashyap, a Christian man in the Chhattisgarh, whose mother, Radhibai, lost her battle with cancer. As he mourned, a mob organized through WhatsApp surrounded his home, demanding that his family convert before allowing the burial. Outnumbered and terrified, Jaldhar and his father were forced to participate in a Hindu ritual, symbolizing their coerced return to the faith. Only then was the graveyard reopened to them.
A Long, Bloody History
The use of WhatsApp as a tool of religious persecution is not new. India has a long and tragic history of WhatsApp-driven warfare, where the platform has become an accelerant for mob rule. It has been instrumental in spreading disinformation, inciting attacks, and facilitating real-world atrocities.
In 2018, false rumors about child kidnappers spread like wildfire through WhatsApp groups, leading to a series of brutal lynchings. Innocent people were beaten to death in broad daylight based on nothing more than a viral message, yet the Indian government failed to take meaningful action.
Rather than reining in the chaos, Modi’s administration has allowed WhatsApp-fueled chaos to flourish when it serves its political interests. Hindu nationalist organizations tied to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) use the platform to organize attacks on religious minorities. BJP thugs operate with near-total impunity.
While the Indian government has been quick to demand new social media regulations to silence anti-BJP rhetoric, it has done nothing to stop the unchecked spread of hate speech and violent incitement against Christians. In Modi’s India, the persecution of Christians is not just ignored but, at times, quietly condoned. There’s little reason to believe this will end anytime soon. Emboldened by Modi’s deliberate indifference, perpetrators are likely to grow even more ruthless.
And violence against Christians will persist, unchecked.
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