URGENT PRAYER: Mob violence against Christians in India threatened this Saturday 

Two recent speeches by radical Hindu extremists have called for violence against ‘cow slaughterers’ – a phrase that has been recently linked to Christians – this Saturday (1 March). Please pray for our brothers and sisters in India, for God’s protection, and that the attacks will not materialise.

Christians in India are asking for your prayers after videos of inflammatory speeches, calling for mob violence against ‘cow slaughterers’, went viral. Believers are worried because the speech goes on to associate Christians in Chhattisgarh State with cow slaughtering. The violence is planned for this Saturday (1 March). 

The speeches took place during a Hindu pilgrimage that began in January. The gathering was huge – estimates suggest that more than 600 million people participated over the course of 45 days. 

Most of the events that took place were peaceful. However, in late January, during an event referred to as a ‘religious parliament’, a man named Aadesh Soni gave a speech where he suggested Christians are ‘cow eaters’. 

In Hinduism, cows are sacred animals, and some Indian states even ban the slaughter of cows. Hindu extremist groups have accused Muslims and Christians of eating beef and killing cows, and these accusations have driven vigilante mobs to violence. 

“We should break their limbs” 

“People who kill cows need to be punished severely; we should break their limbs and do whatever is necessary in order to stop cow slaughtering,” Soni said. “The law will take its course later, but we will first take matters into our own hands and punish those responsible for cow slaughter.” 

During Soni’s speech, he singled out the villages of Vishrampur, Ganeshpur and Jhanakpur, and stated that they have very high Christian populations and that cows are slaughtered there. He called for a group of 5,000 to enter the towns on 1 March.  

During the same event, an influential Hindu religious leader, Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand, called for 1,000 Hindus to come out and ‘slay those who slay our mother cow’. “Do not ask for the death penalty of cow slayers,” he continued. “Kill them and ask for the death penalty for yourselves. Do not wait for the law to act.”    

The video of Soni’s call to violence is now circulating on social media platforms to gather support, including being promoted on Aadesh Soni’s personal Facebook page. Christians are also circulating it to spread awareness and raise prayer support. 

Soni, in another Facebook video with a Christian businessman, claimed that he is not against Christians but only against those who slaughter cows. But believers are very afraid given that Christians were equated to cow slaughterers during the speeches. 

Since the speeches, a WhatsApp group has been set up for people interested in joining in the vigilante action. In the group, members are given specific location details to meet up on 1 March.  

Violence is targeted at majority-Christian communities  

Christians around India have spoken out, and Christians living in the area mentioned in the speech are calling on the local government to protect the villages and to make sure mob violence isn’t carried out. For the past few days, police officers have been patrolling the locations and have assured people they will provide protection to the Christians in the villages. 

The villages where the rally is meant to take place are in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Christians have long been targets for extremists in the state – in 2023, violence against the Christian community left more than 1,000 believers homeless. That year, there were more than 130 coordinated attacks against Christians in Chhattisgarh, according to a report from the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission. 

Psalm 31 says, “For I hear many whispering, ‘Terror on every side!’ They conspire against me and plot to take my life. But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me” (vv.13-15).  

Let’s pray that our church family in India will put their trust in the Lord, and that He will deliver them from the hands of their enemies.