Minorities in India have billed the start of its eighteenth general election, the largest democratic exercise in the world, as a referendum on the state’s constitutional values.
Christians and Muslims were expected to respond at the polls to attacks they have endured, allegedly encouraged by the Hindu nationalist regime. Rights campaigners argue its communal agenda threatens their protections under the constitution.
An electorate of nearly 969 million people are eligible to vote between 19 April and 1 June for the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha (the Indian parliament’s lower house).
The parliamentary contest is dominated by two coalitions, the governing National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the main opposition, the Indian National Congress.
Church leaders have encouraged Catholics to exercise their franchise in favour of candidates who will uphold the pluralistic and secular ethos of the constitution.
“Elect representatives who stand for plurality and secularism and who will uphold the Constitutional principles of equality, justice, liberty, fraternity and prosperity for all citizens,” said a joint statement from the heads of the main Christian denominations, comprising the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the National Council of Churches of India (NCCI) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI).
They said that “divisive attitudes, hate speeches, and hate crimes” have marked the decade under the BJP regime. According to an EFI report, 601 cases of Christian persecution were recorded in 2023, including attacks on educational and health care institutions.
India’s 28 million Christians make up 2.3 percent of the population, a proportion that has remained largely static since 2001. However, the churches are regularly of pursuing large-scale proselytisation and many states have passed strict anti-conversion laws.
“Violence in the name of religion is deeply distressing when there is a constitution in place to safeguard our rights. It is imperative to vote for leaders who will abide by the constitution,” said Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, the head of Syro-Malabar Church.
Archbishop Thomas Netto of Trivandrum, who heads the Latin Church in the state of Kerala, asked the faithful to “use the ballot to express your opinion. Christians in Manipur, north and central India are being relentlessly attacked. But there has been no effective intervention by the federal government.”
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa, urged Catholics who make up a quarter of the state of Goa’s population to exercise their “sacred duty” and “civic responsibility” to vote for candidates “with secular credentials, who are truly committed to work for the good of all the people”.
The BJP has threatened to undermine the constitutional commitment to secularism during its ten years in power, and its politicians have even suggested the constitution could be ignored in the third term opinion polling suggests it will win.
Religious tensions, inflation and a lack of jobs were the top concerns emerging from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule, according to a survey of 1,290 first-time voters in New Delhi. This year’s electorate includes 18 million first-time voters who are 18 years old, and 197 million more who are in their 20s.
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