All attended a meeting in Bangalore on June 21 and 22, which included a rights rally, to "witness the Love of God for his Suffering Church," said Sajan K. George, the National President of advocacy group Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), which organized the gathering.
They accepted memorandum accepted a ‘Memorandum to the President of India’ requesting "an independent enquiry into the country-wide incidence of violence against Christians by sections of Indian society." The GCIC said earlier it had documented 329 cases of persecution in the last 15 months.
They also urged Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam to grant the same education and employment rights to Dalit Christians as to those of other religious groups. Christianity has been spreading among Dalits, seen as the lowest caste in India’s ancient system, with some rights groups saying there are up to 20 million Christians among them.
HUNDREDS ATTENDING
The roughly "350 persecuted Christians" attending the Bangalore gathering had come from different Indian states, even as "nature unleashed its fury," organizers said.
"In spite of the rains, nothing could dampen the zeal of the Christians to bear witness of the Gospel. The Rights Rally (at M G Road in Bangalore) on June 22, took place as Christ defended the Christians in their struggle for justice by keeping the rains away," added George in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife.
Not everyone else was lucky. On Monday, June 25, Indian authorities reportedly prepared to evacuate tens of thousands of people threatened by fresh rains and flooding to higher as the death toll in the havoc wrecked by the annual monsoon crossed 150.
Storms and torrential rain killed about 220 people in neighboring Pakistan during the weekend, most in its biggest city of Karachi, and more bad weather was forecast for the region, news reports said.
HARD HIT
Karnataka and Maharashtra states were particularly hard hit, while the situation reportedly somewhat improved in worst-affected Andhra Pradesh and Kerala states.
Thunderstorms and overflowing rivers have left thousands of villages without basic services like water and power since Friday, June 22, and hundreds of miles (kilometers) of roads and rail tracks were under water in Andhra Pradesh.
Weather officials reportedly forecast more heavy rains on the eastern and western coasts of India, with a storm in the Bay of Bengal forecast to hit Andhra Pradesh by Wednesday morning, June 27.
In the neighboring state of Karnataka, at least 29 people have been killed over the weekend after being swept away by flood waters or hit by lightning or having their house collapse, news reports said.
SLUM DWELLERS KILLED
Further north, two slum dwellers were killed late on Sunday in a landslide in India’s financial capital of Mumbai in the western state of Maharashtra, where TV stations have reported over 50 deaths due to heavy rains over the past four days, Reuters news agency said.
Hundreds of people are killed each year in India during the annual monsoon season — vital for the country’s agriculture — and hundreds of thousands are displaced from their homes, which often collapse due to floods and strong winds.
Many Christians have been among those suffering and especially native missionaries often work in areas that have been impacted by the storms, BosNewsLife established. Christians comprise less than three percent of India’s mainly Hindu population of 1.1 billion people. (With reporting from India).
