Bengal Churches Face 48 Attacks; Leaders Seek Aid
Hundreds marched in Kolkata as Christmas nears; a rare RSS meeting followed pleas the state left unanswered.
Christian leaders in West Bengal held an emergency prayer assembly in Kolkata and later met the state Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief after documenting a sharp rise in attacks on churches and worship centers.
On November 5, hundreds of Christians marched through the city. Organizers said 48 incidents of assault, vandalism and harassment had struck churches and prayer halls across the state over the previous five months. Christians make up less than 1 percent of West Bengal’s population, according to national census figures.
Among those present were Protestant Archbishop Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council; Catholic Archbishop Elias Frank of Calcutta; and regional bishops. Community representatives said victims were blocked from filing formal police complaints in 32 of the 48 cases. Organizers firmly rejected claims of forced conversions, calling them a false narrative used to justify assaults on peaceful prayer gatherings.
Unheeded Appeals and Christmas Fears
Leaders expressed growing alarm ahead of the Christmas season. They said repeated appeals to the state chief minister had gone unanswered and that administrative action against perpetrators remained lacking. The small Christian minority reported targeted pressure that left congregations feeling exposed as the liturgical year approached its most public celebrations.
In response, a five-member delegation met Jishnu Basu, chief of the RSS state unit. The encounter was facilitated by Charles Nandi of the Bangiya Christian Parishad and was described by participants as a rare direct dialogue between church leadership and the Hindu nationalist organization.
Delegation members said Basu condemned the violence, stating that attacks on churches cannot be justified, and pledged to raise the matter directly with the chief minister. Those remarks were conveyed by the Christian side and were not issued as a formal joint transcript. Both sides agreed to convene a special advisory meeting before the end of the month, bringing together RSS leadership, heads of denominations and the Bangiya Christian Parishad. The agenda is to address ongoing security concerns and to review the operations of independent religious groups in the region.
The gathering and subsequent meeting underscore the Church’s call for the free exercise of worship and the protection of the faithful wherever they form a vulnerable minority. West Bengal’s Christian communities continue to seek concrete guarantees that prayer assemblies and Christmas celebrations will take place without fear of further violence.