PM Modi assures Syro-Malabar bishops of support amid anti-conversion rows in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh. Tensions rise over seminary, billboards.
Newsroom (05/11/2025, Gaudium Press ) Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with a delegation from the Syro-Malabar Church in the capital on Tuesday, days after controversial anti-conversion billboards appeared in Chhattisgarh and fresh allegations surfaced against a Catholic seminary in Madhya Pradesh.
The meeting, described by BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar as a “courtesy visit,” focused on minority rights in general terms. Modi, who leads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told the delegation—headed by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil—“I am always at your service,” according to Chandrasekhar. The prime minister pledged full central government assistance.
“We work for everyone; we don’t look at everything through a religious lens. Not everything is politics,” Chandrasekhar told reporters. He rejected suggestions that BJP-ruled states see disproportionate attacks on Christians and other minorities, calling such claims “wrong” generalizations. “There are laws and courts to enforce them,” he said.
No discussion took place on a potential papal visit by Pope Leo or recent incidents involving nuns in Chhattisgarh, Chandrasekhar added.
The assurances come against a backdrop of escalating friction in two BJP-governed states.
In Chhattisgarh, billboards in several villages barred entry to Christian pastors and converts, drawing sharp criticism from the Syro-Malabar Church.
Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior diocese, Hindutva-linked groups accused St. Joseph’s Seminary in Badagaon—8 km from the city—of illegally training tribal students for “forced religious conversion.” Authorities claimed the activities required prior notification under state anti-conversion laws.
Diocesan authorities dismissed the charges as “unfounded and prejudiced.” A spokesperson confirmed the students are Catholic seminarians enrolled by their families for educational purposes, with all parental affidavits and documentation in order.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Asianews.it
Related Images:
