Christians in India form party to fight for Minorities
(Nov.13,2008): Some Christians in India are forming a party to fight for the rights
of religious minorities by getting involved in India's electoral politics. Indian
Minority Front, which four Christians formed in New Delhi earlier this month, will
“fight for justice, not just ask and wait for it," founder Rajiv Joseph said, according
to a report in UCA News. Joseph, the party's 40-year-old president and a Catholic,
said the initiative comes after all political parties failed to adequately respond
to recent injustices against religious minorities. A worker with the youth wing of
the Congress party until now, Joseph said all political parties have been lethargic
in responding to recent Hindu fanatic violence against Christians in India. He projected
his party as a response to this situation. Indian Minority Front count some 500 members
throughout India. Joseph said the party planned to organize a hunger strike in
New Delhi Nov. 14, to press the government to take immediate action against the Hindu
fanatic groups that are allegedly behind the attack on Christians. Six Indian
states go to the polls in November and December, and a national election is due next
year. In seven of India's 28 states, the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian
people's party) is either in power or in a ruling alliance. The BJP is considered
the political front of groups striving to turn India into a Hindu theocracy.