Delegates from India at the annual COSIM conference of indigenous missions are confirming that the Indian government has launched a new persecution campaign against Christians. One speaker after another has risen to describe beatings of pastors and evangelists, church burnings and other recent violence from Hindu nationalists.
By Bill Bray, Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
 RICHMOND, VA (ANS, October 12, 2017) — Delegates from India at the annual COSIM conference of indigenous missions are confirming that the Indian government has launched a new persecution campaign against Christians.
One speaker after another has risen to describe beatings of pastors and evangelists, church burnings and other recent violence from Hindu nationalists.
The government campaign comes as Indian believers are circulating copies of a memo from the terrorist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The memo, headlined “Save India Campaign” has gone viral on the Internet and calls for the murder and poisoning of Christian populations.
 COSIM — the Consultation on Support of Indigenous Missions, brings together indigenous mission societies from every continent with American sponsorship agencies such as Advancing Native Missions, Christian Aid and Partners International.
Last week, an internal memo purporting to be from the Hindu terror group, went viral among Christian leaders in India. Many Indian church and mission leaders are pointing to it as proof of the new genocidal campaign against Christians — and it is feeding a fresh wave of paranoia among Dalit Christians.
It appears as violence against Christians has doubled under the rule of the BJP — The Bharatiya Janata Party — a Hindu nationalist government that gained control of country in 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi and many leaders of the BJP are reported to be members of the RSS.
 The “Save India Campaign” memo purports to come from the Orrisa Director of the RSS. In a matter of days, it has been shared with almost every Christian leader in India via the Internet.
The macabre memo is addressed to local volunteers of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and outlines 12 bloody “methods to be employed” in the forced reconversion of Indian Christians to Hinduism.
In addition to the “Save India Campaign” directive, a “how to” video “reel” documenting terror attacks on Christians has also been widely distributed in recent weeks. It shows the beatings and the humiliation of Christians, pastors and their wives — men beaten to the ground by mobs and their wives forced to parade naked before villagers.
The RSS began as a terrorist group under the British Raj very similar to the Ku Klux Klan in the USA — and has been outlawed several times by various Indian governments. It is now operating legally again under the BJP and has local para-military units who vow to protect Hindus from Muslims and fight non-Hindu teaching.
 The “Save India” memo implies Christians are involved in cow slaughter (illegal under the BJP government) and calls on RSS members to “apprehend” them. From there it goes on to list a draconian program targeting Christian girls for rape, Bibles for burning, and the murder of Christian pastors, poisoning of Christian wells and the destruction of Christian-owned businesses and farms.
The RSS has historically operated campaigns to intimidate Christians, Muslims and non-Hindu minorities. It promoted the partition of Muslims from Hindus, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. It advocates reestablishing caste, and promotes Hindu nationalism and Hindu culture (Hindutva or “Hindu-ness).
Photo captions: 1) Radicals attack a Christian in India. 2) Pastor Yohan Maraiah, who was beaten to death by a mob in Andhra Pradesh. (https://www.christiansinpakistan.com/india). 3) A Dalit woman. 4) Christians protest outside the Sacred Heart Church in New Delhi against the recent attacks on churches in the capital. (Photograph: PTI Photo). 5) Bill Bray.
About the writer: Bill Bray is a Christian author and missionary journalist who specializes in Christian reporting for ASSIST News Service. He ministers free of charge and depends on faith offerings and gifts to carry on his journalistic mission. Gifts for his support may be sent to www.OSMission.org, Gift Code 099-WTB. He is the author of, Called to All: How I discovered the power of a yielded life from WestBow Press. He welcomes interaction with our readers and can be contacted at bray.william@gmail.com
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