Hindu leader and social media influencer Aadesh Soni has called for a rally against Christians in India\u2019s Chhattisgarh State in a widely circulated video and open letter which claimed that Christians in the state are responsible for cattle slaughter and should face retribution for their actions.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chhattisgarh Christian Forum (CGCF), an organisation which supports persecuted Christians in the state, was the first to condemn<\/a> the remarks made in the video and letter posted on Mr Soni’s own social media accounts in which he called for a rally on 1 March across three Christian majority villages in Chhattisgarh, with the aim of gathering over 50,000 people to kill the people there and carry out acts of sexual violence against their women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the news went viral, several international Christian organisations also condemned<\/a> the video, upon which Mr Soni released another video<\/a> in which he denied making any of those claims. Mr Soni also made attempts to get Christian leaders to testify<\/a> to his character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The National Co-ordinator of the United Christian Forum (UCF), Mr A.C Michael, raised concerns about Mr Soni\u2019s actions to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) in India, who in turn called on the government of Chhattisgarh to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of Christian community in the state in a letter seen by CSW dated 25 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the UCF, which provides a helpline service for persecuted Christians, Chhattisgarh has been a hotspot for targeted attacks on Christians in recent years. The UCF also reports that the number of targeted attacks against Christians in India has risen from 127 in 2014 to 834 cases in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Soni has filed a First Information Report against the President of the CGCF Arun Pannalal, accusing him of spreading false information. However, Mr Pannalal maintains his stance that the information he provided is true. The police have already investigated his phone and other devices and have not found any evidence that he has been spreading rumours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CSW\u2019s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: \u2018CSW is deeply concerned by these blatant calls to attack religious minorities, in this instance Christians, in India\u2019s Chhattisgarh State. We urge the relevant authorities investigate these claims thoroughly, and if they are found to be true to ensure that Mr Soni and anyone who has supported him faces appropriate legal consequences. We also call on local law enforcement to take measures to ensure that the Christians who will be directly affected by what has been said are guaranteed protection.\u2019<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hindu leader and social media influencer Aadesh Soni has called for a rally against Christians in Indias Chhattisgarh State.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44061,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[124,121],"class_list":["post-29925","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-india","regions-south-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40510,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/29925\/revisions\/40510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29925"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=29925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}