Church protests Indian legislator’s call to 'weed out' Christianity

Christians in India’s southern Karnataka state have decried the public call by a Hindu-nationalist legislator for a campaign to purge Christians.

“People must remain watchful about the spread of these seeds of Christianity,” said Prahlad Remani, an elected representative of the BJP party that controls Karnataka. At an independence-day celebration attended by top civic officials, he called upon India’s leaders to “weed out Christianity.”

“We are shocked by such a statement by an elected representative of the people. He does not know what he is saying,” Bishop Peter Machado of Belgaum told CWNews August 17. Local Catholics have already filed a complaint against Remani, citing him for “inflammatory” speech. Bishop Macado said that Catholics will lead a march on August 18 to protest the offense against the Christian community.