India

Hundreds of members of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) stormed the ‘maqbara’ (tomb) of Nawab Abdus Samad despite police barricades. According to extremist leaders, a Hindu temple once stood on the site. Local bishops appeal for tolerance.

In 2024, a record number of Indian fishermen were arrested, over 500 in one year. The problem has grown since the end of the internal conflict in 2009. The people of the north, already scarred by war, are paying the price. Calls for the application of international standards in the sector.

The court has suspended the “Land Pooling Policy 2025” for four weeks. Launched by the Aam Aadmi Party government to acquire 65,533 acres of agricultural land for residential and industrial purposes, the measure is contested by farmers and the opposition who say it was approved without consultation with village assemblies. Trade unions, which have organised several protests in recent days, denounce inadequate compensation, risks to the livelihoods of labourers and benefits only for large real estate groups.

Gopichand Padalkar, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, mocked the foundations of the Christian faith at a rally and promised money for attacks against believers. He also linked the suicide of a woman in Jalna to alleged “forced conversions”. For weeks, despite protests and complaints, the judiciary refused to open a case file.

More than 600 young men and women from dioceses across India are currently taking part in the large gathering with Leo XIV at Tor Vergata. Many had something to say to AsiaNews. “I came with doubts, but I leave with deep gratitude,” said one. “I felt like I was part of a huge global Catholic family,” said another. “The songs and dances of our culture have found friends here,” said a third. For Father Chetan Machado, these youths show that “the Church is alive and vibrant in India.”

The US president's decision to impose such a high tariff is causing economic and diplomatic upheaval in New Delhi. The measure includes sanctions over India's relations with Russia and its membership in the BRICS group. While the opposition calls it a “catastrophic failure of foreign policy”, the Modi government says it wants to negotiate a "fair deal" again in August. But US aggressiveness is pushing New Delhi to consider a tactical rapprochement with Beijing, while Washington is boosting ties with Islamabad, fuelling tensions in an already fragile regional context.

Leo XIV has appointed Fr D’Souza as the new director of the Vatican Observatory. A scholar of the origins of galaxies, he grew up in India fascinated by Matteo Ricci. He studied physics in Mumbai before specialising in Germany and the United States. Speaking to AsiaNews, he said: "We don't look to the sky to investigate God, but to the complexity and beauty of the universe,” which offers us “new reasons to praise God through a better understanding of his work.”

Pragya Singh Thakur, leader of the extreme right-wing nationalist party, and six other defendants have been acquitted of a 2008 attack that killed seven people in Malegaon ‘due to lack of evidence’. Meanwhile, in Chhattisgarh, two nuns remain in prison after being accused of forced conversions despite no evidence to support the charge. The case is sparking political protests and new accusations of repression against religious minorities.

New data released yesterday by the FAO in Addis Ababa show a slight improvement, with the global population suffering from undernourishment dropping to 8.2 per cent (approximately 672 million people). However, large increases in Africa and the Middle East have offset much of the gains made by 19.4 million Indians leaving the most at-risk group.

The Indian Bishops' Conference denounces the arrest of two nuns in Agra on blatantly false charges of “forced conversions”. ‘Christian nuns are increasingly being followed by social agitators, who surround them at railway stations, incite the crowd and use offensive language.’ Appeal to local and central governments in Delhi to guarantee their safety. Rahul Gandhi: ‘This is BJP street justice. The two nuns must be released immediately.’

In a report released yesterday, the human rights group accuses India of expelling 1,500 Muslims to Bangladesh between May and June without due process, fuelling religious and ethnic discrimination. Those expelled include Indian citizens with valid papers, as several witnesses testified. In Assam, where the situation is most critical, evictions and home demolitions have been ongoing for months, involving thousands of families, expelled or detained, partly to make way for business development.

In Trichy, Tamil Nadu, “outcastes” are marginalised even during annual Catholic celebrations. Bishop Amalanathan noted that inside the Church, Dalits “participate in the choir, do the readings, prayers, collections, etc.”, but the problem lies “outside celebrations”. For him, “all should be treated equally.”