Attacks on churches and minority institutions across the country are making Christians feel insecure, and governments must condemn such incidents, the moderator of the Church of North India (CNI) said on Monday.
Christians feel safe in Bengal, but are deeply concerned about violence reported from other states, said Most Reverend Paritosh Canning, moderator of the CNI, bishop of the Calcutta diocese of the CNI, and president of the Bengal Christian Council.
The council has called a peace rally on Tuesday, which will see hundreds of teachers and principals participate. The rally will begin at St Paul’s Cathedral and end at the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road.
Addressing a news conference, Canning said: “We have seen two pictures. On Christmas day, at the Cathedral (Church of the Redemption) in Delhi, the Prime Minister of the country was present, and he prayed. But simultaneously, we see there are violent attacks on churches. These two pictures pain us.”
He said the council had decided to send a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the governor, appealing for steps to stop attacks on Christian minorities. “We want to tell the Christian community that we are not sitting idle,” he said.
The bishop told Metro: “We feel insecure because of these attacks on churches. We appeal to the Prime Minister to resolve these issues. It is an attack on minorities and an attempt to stifle and finish us. We feel secure in Bengal because the chief minister has kept us all in peace.”
The Bengal Christian Council is a congregation representing all Christian denominations in the state. The council vowed to stand by Christians facing persecution elsewhere in the country.
“Wherever there is an attack on Christians or churches, we will stand by them. In Bengal, we are living happily and do not have any problems. But we should reach out to places where our brothers and sisters are facing difficulties,” Canning said.
Speaking to Metro, the bishop referred to recent crimes in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. In December, vendors selling Christmas-themed items in Puri were allegedly heckled by Right-wing groups and asked to vacate the temple town, which the attackers claimed belonged to Hindus.
In another incident in June 2025, a group allegedly attacked Protestant Christians in an Odisha village after they resisted pressure to convert to Hinduism. Several people were injured while returning from church.
In Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, non-Christian residents banned the entry of Christian priests into several villages, a week after a church was attacked and arson carried out allegedly in retaliation against a Christian man who buried his father according to the rites of his faith.
Canning said the Prime Minister’s visit to a church on Christmas Day could be a shift. “It can perhaps send out a new message... We have to wait and see how the situation unfolds,” he said.
At the news conference, the bishop thanked chief minister Mamata Banerjee for reaching out and showing concern towards Christians.
In a release issued on Monday, the bishop said: “We earnestly appeal to the Government of India and the government of West Bengal to unequivocally distance themselves from acts of violence and intimidation perpetrated by ill-informed miscreants.”
The council called on both governments to condemn attacks on the Christian community “in the strongest possible terms” and to initiate suo motu and decisive police action against those responsible. “Such steps alone will ensure that the goodwill gestures extended by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on Christmas Day... are seen as meaningful commitments,” the release said.
Tuesday’s rally will begin at 1pm. “We want to live in peace, and we hope everyone lives in peace,” the bishop said.