In a country as ancient and diverse as India, the essence of true culture cannot be confined to the boundaries of religious sentiment alone. Rather, it is reflected in the progress of socio-cultural values, in the scientific temper of the people, and in the compassion extended toward the most vulnerable sections of society. However, even today, if one travels through parts of India, particularly certain northern states, one might feel as though time has frozen in the age of feudalism and superstition. The shocking treatment of two Catholic nuns in Chhattisgarh stands as a grim reminder of how far we have yet to travel as a modern, democratic society.

These nuns were not smugglers or conspirators; they were caregivers, women of faith and medical training, who left the comfort of home to serve the sick and destitute. Their “crime,” it seems, was helping a group of unemployed girls in search of work a perfectly legal and humane act. Yet, they were interrogated publicly at Durg railway station, humiliated by a railway employee who had no jurisdiction over religious matters, and handed over to a radical outfit, Bajrang Dal. A mob-style trial ensued, resulting in their arrest under fabricated charges of forced conversion and human trafficking.

This is not just a legal failure it is a moral collapse. When citizens can no longer think, live, or act freely within their constitutional rights, what remains of our democracy?
India takes pride in being the world’s largest democracy, and yet in some corners, it still upholds social structures reminiscent of slavery. Systems resembling the outdated landlord-tenant hierarchy long abolished in Kerala are still active in parts of northern India. When nuns and Christian missionaries attempt to break these chains bringing education, nutrition, and dignity to the marginalized they are vilified and falsely accused.

Their work is not political; it is spiritual and humanitarian. These women are not taking girls to Syria or Afghanistan for radical purposes they are simply helping them seek livelihood with dignity. But for communal forces, anything outside their narrow worldview is perceived as a threat. For them, religious domination is more important than individual prosperity.

Christian missionaries have long served the sick, the hungry, and the uneducated not only in India but across the globe. Figures like Dr. George Livingstone in Africa endured unimaginable hardships not to dominate native people but to uplift them. In India too, missionaries doctors, teachers, and nurses have worked in places where the state often fails to reach.

The Christian community, though just 2.1% of India’s population, has made disproportionate contributions to education, healthcare, and social reform. Not to gain power, not to fill ballot boxes, but to build lives. The strength of the Christian faith lies in the love of Christ, and that love manifests in service.

The Indian Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to life, liberty, and the freedom to profess and propagate their faith. Article 21 enshrines these values, and yet in today’s India, those who live by them find themselves persecuted.

Even the Bhagavad Gita encourages selfless action doing good without attachment to the outcome. Why then is Christian service seen through the lens of suspicion? Why are the good deeds that the rich and powerful neglect to do so quickly condemned when done by the poor and faithful?

This is not secularism. This is not democracy. This is hypocrisy.
History is filled with examples of Christian martyrs who stood up against tyranny—not with weapons, but with love. In ancient Rome, Christians were thrown to wild beasts in the Colosseum.

Saint Peter was crucified upside down by Emperor Nero for challenging idol worship. And yet, centuries later, the Vatican stands in that very city as a testament to faith’s endurance.

Today, the nuns of Chhattisgarh and countless other Christians across Indian states are being persecuted not unlike those early believers. Churches are vandalized. Missionaries are jailed. The innocent are slandered.

Still, Christian faith does not respond with hate. It responds with service, with medicine for the sick, with food for the hungry, with books for the unlettered.

I remember my own days in Gurdaspur, Punjab riding a bicycle with Fr. Timothy and a few nuns as we delivered medicine to poor villages. A Hindu friend, Raveendran, often accompanied us. We were a team, driven not by religion but by compassion. That is the India we believe in a nation where humanity comes before religious identity.

If Christians in India have done anything, it is to open doors of opportunity for the poor, to heal the wounded, and to teach the forgotten. Is that the injustice they are accused of?

Let’s not forget: even our national security relies, in part, on Christian-majority countries like the U.S., U.K., France, and Russia nations that have stood by India with advanced weapons, aid, and strategic support. And yet, Christian missionaries on Indian soil are treated like criminals.

It’s time to open our eyes.
Governments must uphold the constitutional promise of equality and justice for all. They must abandon the appeasement of religious mobs and safeguard the rights of every minority citizen. Restoring faith in India’s secularism requires more than speeches—it demands action.

Religious fundamentalists may cry that the sky is falling, but the Gospel of peace, love, and compassion will continue to spread. Nuns, priests, pastors, and laypeople will continue to serve because their mission is not one of conversion, but of healing. They will go where no one else will go, touch the untouchables, lift the fallen, and teach the forgotten.

Let the ignorant look on with envy. Let the fanatics seethe in hatred. But the blood of martyrs, as history proves, will never be wasted. From that blood will grow new seeds of hope, petals of justice, and a rising generation of believers not just in Christ, but in humanity.

This is the moment for India to choose: to uphold the values it proudly proclaims, or to slip deeper into a darkness where compassion is criminal and service is a sin.

Let us not silence those who carry the lamp of love into the world’s darkest corners. Instead, let us protect them, honor them, and walk with them because they walk for us all.