NEW DELHI: India’s Hindutva organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) violent activists have continued attacks on Christian prayer gatherings and institutions in West Bengal state as its chief Mohan Bhagwat spoke of “love” and religious harmony during an overseas tour.
Several incidents of violent mob attacks, church vandalism, attacks on prayer meetings and the harassment of Christians have been reported in West Bengal in recent weeks.
The incidents have involved RSS activists or organisations affiliated with the RSS, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), its youth wing Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagran Manch.
The RSS is an Indian Hindu nationalist organisation and the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On August 26, about 50 people gathered at the home of Goutam Bera in Ranichak village in Sutahata, eastern West Bengal, for Bible study and prayer.
Many of those attending were Hindus who were friends or acquaintances of the Bera family, according to The Diplomat.
Members of Hindutva organisations stormed the gathering. The attackers abused those attending the gathering, ordered people out and manhandled some of the attendees.
Videos from the incident showed men carrying saffron flags ordering those at the gathering to chant Hindu religious slogans, including “Hare Krishna, Hare Ram” and “Jai Shree Ram”.
Police later took the prayer attendees to a local health centre and then to a police station.
Joy Kumar Ghughu, the pastor who had been reading from the Bible, told The Diplomat that 17 people were initially taken for medical examinations and treatment. He said they were subsequently questioned at the police station about the purpose of the gathering and that their mobile phones were examined.
RSS attacks violation of Indian Constitution
Ghughu said the group did not file a police complaint against the attackers because, he said, “Jesus teaches forgiveness”.
He also questioned objections to Christian preaching, citing Article 25 of India’s Constitution, which provides for freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion.
BJP leader Amit Malviya described the Sutahata incident and two others as “isolated local objections to prayer gatherings”.
However, videos posted on social media by people involved in the incident presented a different account.
The attackers identified themselves as members of Shree Ram Janmotsab Samity. The organisation’s Facebook page regularly carries invitations to RSS and affiliate events, including those of the VHP.
A person recording the incident at Sutahata also identified himself and others as members of the VHP, the Diplomat reported.
In one video, a participant called for people shown in recordings of the prayer gathering to be beaten whenever they were encountered.
Another video, uploaded to a Facebook page associated with Bajrang Dal, showed participants identifying themselves as members of the VHP’s Chaitanyapur unit and asking people to report the presence of individuals they had identified.
The Shree Ram Janmotsab Samity later posted on Facebook that the incident should serve as a warning to people.
Series of RSS activists’ attacks on Christians
The Sutahata incident came amid a series of attacks on Christian gatherings in West Bengal.
On August 23 a mob entered church premises in Uluberia in Howrah district, vandalised a prayer room and attacked several people attending prayers.
Bajrang Dal activists also went to close a Christian house prayer ceremony in Baniberia in Mograhat, South 24 Parganas district.
On August 30, Bajrang Dal activists assaulted a lawyer for hosting Christian prayers at his home in Baripur, South 24 Parganas. A Sunday prayer gathering in Jagatballabhpur, Howrah district, was also disrupted, while another prayer venue was vandalised in Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas.
On September 1, Hindu Jagran Manch, another RSS affiliate, locked a Christian-run school.
The incidents occurred during the same period that Bhagwat was travelling through the United States, Canada and Britain as part of events marking the RSS’s centenary.
Speaking in London on September 6, Bhagwat rejected descriptions of the RSS as being driven by hatred.
“I heard some people say intense hatred is the basis of our work. It is just the reverse. ‘Shuddha Satvik Prem’ (pure and divine love) is the basis of our work,” he said.
The statements came as activists from RSS-linked organisations were disrupting Christian prayer gatherings in West Bengal.
US Commission expresses concerns over violence against minorities
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has also raised concerns about the treatment of religious minorities in India.
In a statement dated August 26, the commission said members of RSS subgroups had been responsible for violent attacks against religious minorities, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Dalits.
USCIRF said religious freedom conditions in India had deteriorated and accused authorities of failing to prevent, investigate or punish serious mob violence against Muslims and Christians.
It also linked vigilante violence to enforcement of anti-conversion laws, which it said predominantly affected Christians and other religious minorities.
The commission called on the US government to consider targeted sanctions against RSS members and Indian officials complicit in religious freedom violations. It also called for Bhagwat’s US visa to be revoked and for him to be made ineligible for future entry.
In its 2026 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the US State Department designate India a “Country of Particular Concern” over systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.
USCIRF also highlighted religious freedom conditions in India during a May 2026 hearing.
