Catholic bishops reject RSS chief’s ‘Hindu nation’ label, affirm India’s secular identity and 2,000-year Christian heritage.
Newsroom (12/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) In a forceful defense of India’s secular foundation, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has condemned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s declaration that “Bharat is a Hindu Rashtra,” insisting that such rhetoric undermines the nation’s constitutional commitment to religious pluralism.
Speaking at a public event in Bengaluru on November 9, Bhagwat, whose organization serves as the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), asserted that non-Hindus—including Muslims and Christians—could join the RSS only “if they keep their separateness out” and embrace identity as “a son of Bharat Mata, a member of this Hindu society.” He maintained that designating India a Hindu nation “does not contradict the Constitution.”
The CBCI responded swiftly on November 10, denouncing “all such nefarious attempts to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra.” The bishops’ statement reaffirmed India’s identity as a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic,” declaring: “Indian Christians are proudly ‘Bharateeya’ [Indians] but not Hindu.” The conference urged every citizen, especially Christians, “to take all constitutional measures to protect the present Constitutional character of India at any cost.”
Christians constitute 2.3 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people, with Hindus comprising nearly 80 percent. Yet the Church’s presence traces back almost two millennia, predating many modern national boundaries.
Father Robinson Rodrigues, CBCI spokesperson, categorically rejected Bhagwat’s implication that national identity is inherently Hindu. “Christianity in India has a close to 2000-year history. It has not originated out of the blue,” he told UCA News on November 11. He highlighted the sacrifices of Christians during India’s freedom struggle and their enduring contributions to education, healthcare, and social welfare. “We are Indians in every sense like all other Indians, but we are not Hindus,” Father Rodrigues emphasized.
Divine Word Father Babu Joseph, based in New Delhi, described Bhagwat’s remarks as “nothing short of a travesty of truth.” He argued that the Indian subcontinent has long nurtured diverse faiths and cultures, becoming “a beacon of hope for a multi-religious and pluricultural way for humanity.” To impose a monocultural vision, he said, “is to devalue the very roots of our rich civilization.” In an era of growing global multiculturalism, Father Joseph lamented the RSS’s fixation on religious uniformity.
Supreme Court advocate Govind Yadav warned that Bhagwat’s statement aims “to create confusion and division in India on religious lines.” He underscored that India remains “a constitutionally governed country where no religion has any special claim or say.”
The CBCI’s intervention reflects deepening ecclesiastical concern over efforts to equate Indian citizenship with Hindu identity—a narrative that gained prominence after the BJP’s rise to power in 2014. The bishops’ appeal for constitutional vigilance echoes Pope Francis’s repeated calls for fraternity and the protection of minority rights in pluralistic societies.
As India approaches its 76th year as a republic, the Church stands resolute: fidelity to the Constitution is not negotiable, and the nation’s soul thrives in its diversity, not in enforced singularity.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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