Pastor Ganesh Vijay Koli and Assistant Pastor Benjamin Gamit were assaulted in Surat, Gujarat state, India on April 20, 2025. (Morning Star News)
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – More than a month after Hindu nationalist groups in India targeted two Christian congregations on Easter, the churches remain shut while awaiting police action, sources said.
The Hindu extremists intimidated congregation members and leaders at both churches in the western coastal state of Gujarat, and one of the churches was ransacked and its pastors assaulted, sources said. Three other churches were attacked in the state, two on Easter Sunday (April 20) and another the following Sunday, according to unconfirmed reports.
“They [Hindu groups] knew Easter is a big day for us; our churches have maximum attendance, so they intentionally chose Easter Day to disrupt our special’ services,” said Pastor Dinesh Parmar of Western India Pentecostal Church in Ahmedabad and Gujarat President of the All India Christian Federation.
About 25 members of the Hindu extremist Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, youth wing of VHP, stormed into the private hall of Pastor Parmar’s church in the Odhav area of Ahmedabad during the Easter service, wielding wooden sticks and chanting Hindu slogans, he said.
With about 125 Christians in attendance for the service scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Hindu nationalists intruded at 11 a.m., accusing the pastor of forced conversions, Pastor Parmar said. Using derogatory language, they began interrogating congregation members, demanding proof of identity, inquiring about their names and checking their religion.
Striking the walls, pulpit and pillars with wooden sticks, they questioned why people of Hindu background were gathered for the church service, Pastor Parmar said.
“The Christians witnessed that they believe in Jesus, and that they have experienced the power of prayer in their lives,” he told Morning Star News.
Some of the congregation members recorded videos of the intrusion, which soon reached many viewers on social media. Several young children are seen in the church, intimidated and frightened, while the Hindu nationalist mob verbally threatens the Christians.
The church members confronted the mob. When the Hindu nationalists praised their gods with chants of “Jai Shree Ram [Hail lord Rama],” the Christians responded with “Hallelujah,” the video shows.
Police were called, and when officers arrived, the Hindu mob fled.
“We were able to continue and complete our Easter service, serve special goodies to the congregation and return home without any physical injuries but with a lot of mental trauma,” said the pastor, who leads the church in a rented facility.
Surat Attack
In Surat, 162 miles from Ahmedabad, Hindu nationalists attacked another Easter service on Easter Sunday.
About 15 Hindu nationalists entered the Yeshu Raja Satsang church with wooden sticks and began beating Pastor Ganesh Vijay Koli, senior pastor, and Assistant Pastor Benjamin Gamit.
“They did not say a word. They just entered and immediately started to beat us,” Pastor Koli told Morning Star News.
Only later did the Hindu nationalists accuse the pastors of forced conversions and demanded they immediately cease. They threw chairs and the pulpit lectern, and one of them hit Pastor Koli with a church guitar, despite efforts by a woman from the congregation to block it with her hand, he said.
“The guitar string broke and hit her hand, and her hand started to bleed,” Pastor Koli said. “One of the strings hit my ear and cut my ear, which began to bleed.”
The assailants also beat Pastor Benjamin with thick wooden sticks on his back, and he developed swelling, Pastor Koli said.
“While he was being beaten, he got dizzy and fell unconscious,” he said.
The pastors had begun the service at 9:30 a.m., and they were attacked 15 minutes into the service, when only 16 of the regularly attending 60 members were present. During the assault, congregation members became frightened and were unable to record video of the assault, he said.
“While 35 percent are longtime believers, 65 percent are young seekers from different faiths,” the pastor said.
Christian leaders in the area reported that three more churches were attacked – one in Baroda and another in Dahod, both on Easter Sunday, while another in Surat in a different area was attacked the following Sunday, though Morning Star News was unable to confirm these incidents. All three churches are Pentecostal.
Police Response
After the Western India Pentecostal Church service in Ahmedabad ended, about 12 church members went to police to register a formal complaint.
“The police initially refused to register a formal complaint,” Pastor Parmar said. “They insisted that we delete all the video evidence from our cell phones. They said if we pursue the matter, it might trigger future attacks.”
The video had already gone viral by then, and police had no option but to register a complaint, he said.
Officers at the police station composed the complaint themselves and pressured Pastor Parmar to sign it. Around 10 p.m. the same night, police visited him and took another written complaint from him. A First Information Report was registered the next day.
Police also received a counter-complaint against the Christians from a local Bajrang Dal representative.
In the Surat attack, after the Christians filed a formal complaint, police detained some of the assailants, said Pastor Koli. They held them and the Christians for six to seven hours in the station and insisted they draft a compromise agreement.
“There were 150 to 200 Hindu right-wing crowd members outside the police station,” Pastor Koli said. “The police made them say sorry to the Christian women who sustained injuries and also made them write an apology letter, so we agreed to a compromise and withdrew our complaint.”
Though several Christian leaders did not agree with the decision to compromise, Pastor Koli said he did not want the Hindu nationalist groups to focus on him.
“We then would not be able to do ministry there – they would target us if we had filed a case against them,” he said.
Choking Churches
Days after the Easter service, the Hindu nationalist groups approached the landlord of Pastor Parmar’s residence, demanding he expel the church leader.
“The troublemakers not only went to my house landlord but also approached the owner of the property where I conduct my church every Sunday,” Pastor Parmar said. “The owner of the property immediately refused to allow the property to be used to conduct church in the future.”
He has been conducting church services online since the week after Easter.
“I approached several property owners to rent their spaces to conduct church, but all of them are refusing to give me any space for rent,” he said. “I am left with no other option but to conduct my church online.”
The congregation members come mostly from slum areas and cannot afford smartphones, and they are not educated enough to join church online, he said.
In Surat, Pastor Koli also had to shut his church after the Easter service.
“Our landlord refused to give us the hall in the future after the place was vandalized,” said Pastor Koli, who now meets in a small home that accommodates no more than four families.
Members of his church are too frightened to gather for church. The assailants had threatened Pastor Koli in the police station in the presence of officers, saying, “If we see you at the same place, we will not spare you,” even though police rebuked them and warned them, he said.
Several independent churches without a traditional church building have been forced to shut down, said Reta Gamit, a Christian leader from Vyara, Gujarat.
“Since Christmas 2024, there has been a lot of pressure on all the independent churches, small churches and those churches that operate from homes,” Gamit told Morning Star News. “They are all being forced to shut by the authorities. No permission is given for Christian meetings.”
Several Christians have moved to different areas out of fear and due to threats from Hindu nationalist groups, she said.
“People are scared to come to weekly prayer meetings conducted in homes,” Gamit said.
Pastor Parmar continues to remain in the predominantly Hindu area, though several Christians have suggested he move to a new location.
“It scares us to live in this area,” he acknowledged, “but this is what we opted for when we accepted Christ in our lives – if we live, we live for Him and if we die, we die for Him.”
The pastor has submitted applications for action to be taken against the Hindu nationalist groups threatening to harm him if he continues to conduct church services. He sent the applications to the office of the Superintendent of Police, the area police station and the administrative headquarters, to name a few, and he still awaits action.
“Our nation is a democratic nation – we have the freedom to follow whatever faith we please and worship whom we want to, but this incident shows us that some people have taken the law into their hands,” he said. “They have no fear of law or the system.”
Christian support organization Open Doors ranks India 11th on its 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution. India stood at 31st place in 2013 but has steadily fallen in the rankings since Narendra Modi came to power as prime minister.
Religious rights advocates point to the hostile tone of the National Democratic Alliance government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which they say has emboldened Hindu extremists in India since Modi took power in May 2014.
If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/donate/?
###
© 2025 Morning Star News. Articles/photos may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News. https://morningstarnews.org
Tweet: https://twitter.com/morningstarnewz/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorningStarNews
Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. By providing reliable news on the suffering church, Morning Star News’ mission is to empower those in the free world to help and to encourage persecuted Christians that they are not forgotten or alone. For free subscription, contact [email protected]; to make tax-deductible donations, visit https://morningstarnews.org/donate/? or send check to Morning Star News, 34281 Doheny Park Rd., # 7022, Capistrano Beach, CA 92624, USA.
-
- Pastor Ganesh Vijay Koli and Assistant Pastor Benjamin Gamit were assaulted in Surat, Gujarat state, India on April 20, 2025. (Morning Star News)
Speak Your Mind