Protestants in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency in northern India have sought his help to protect their British-era church after members of the land mafia threatened them to vacate the churchland.
“We registered complaints online with the prime minister’s office on March 13 and on March 18 as around 40 men broke into the church compound and ordered us to vacate,” Pastor Sam Joshua Singh told UCA News on March 20.
The St. Paul Church is located in the Hindu pilgrim town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state. It lies in the center of the old town and is estimated to be worth billions of Indian rupees.
The 176-year-old church belongs to the Church of North India (CNI) and is under its Lucknow diocese with over 1,000 parishioners.
Modi represents the local parliamentary constituency, also named Varanasi, and is seeking a third term from there in the forthcoming general election.
The land mafia forcibly entered the church compound on March 3 and 6 and claimed the four acres of land on which the church was built is owned by them.
Pastor Singh said the intruders refused to show any land ownership documents.
“Instead, they threatened us with dire consequences in case we failed to vacate,” he added.
A local church leader who did not want to be named told UCA News: “We have valid documents in support of our property, but still the land mafia with the support of influential people are trying to illegally take possession of it.”
He further alleged that the police in Uttar Pradesh, ruled by Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were siding with the intruders.
The police intensified patrolling in the church area but are yet to take action against the intruders. The local Christian youth also have taken it upon themselves to keep a watch in groups.
“We complained to the police commissioner and also contacted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath before approaching Modi,” Pastor Singh said.
The church parishioners are planning to try to meet Modi personally when he arrives in Varanasi for the election campaign.
Uttar Pradesh, which is India’s most populous state, has been the hotbed of persecution against Christians since the BJP came to power in 2017.
The state accounted for 287 of 687 recorded incidents targeting Christians across the country from January to November 2023, according to data collected by United Christian Forum, a New Delhi-based ecumenical group.
Christians make up a mere 0.18 percent of the Hindu-majority state’s more than 200 million people.
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