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Christians in India, some of whom were expecting that the visiting United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio would raise their appeal against the cancellation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licenses with the Narendra Modi government are really disappointed that he only murmured worshipful platitudes at the grave of Mother Teresa in Kolkata, and said even less during his meetings in Delhi. 

We do not know what he told Modi in private at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), but it is unlikely that the Indian government’s treatment of religious minorities, especially Christians and Muslims, figured in talks that presumably focussed on the situation in Iran and the Gulf of Hormuz, Israel, and India’s strategic and defence trade relations with the United States which are a priority to both nations.

More is the pity because, while he was in the national capital, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) frontal organisations working among Adivasis in central India were organising a massive rally at the Red Fort demanding the delisting of tribals, some of whom may have converted to Christianity 150 years ago, arguing that conversion to Christianity had nullified their claim to Scheduled Tribe reservations. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was giving them a benign hearing.

For the past several years, major international bodies have consistently documented a troubling pattern in India: rising violence against Christians, attacks on churches, and systematic strangling of NGOs through laws like the FCRA. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Human Rights Watch (HRW),........

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