Hi,

Minorities in India often face persecution, abuse & violence at the hands of the Sanghi ecosystem. These organisations often attack churches and Christians across India under the pretext of conversions despite the rapid drop in our population figures since independence. However, when the Narendra Modi government at the centre and Fadnavis government in the state of Maharashtra deliberately target the Christian community through draconian legislations like the FCRA amendment and hideous anti-Christian policies, several red lines get crossed and remedial actions are the need of the hour.

While a lot has been spoken about the demerits and concerns of the FCRA amendment, the statewide decision of the Fadnavis government in Maharashtra to audit properties of only churches (and no other type of religious institutions) hasn't drawn much attention as it deserves. It's an alarming policy that strikes at the very root of equality, secularism and justice in India, particularly for Christians and churches (of all denominations) across Maharashtra. This act is unconstitutional and goes against Articles 14 & 15 of the Indian constitution for targeting a particular community and its institutions.

This anti-Christian move will be applied one church (and one denomination) at a time and so every church and its parishioners will have to fight it out in government offices and courts and may still get robbed of their land, funds & schools. It's time for these churches, bishops and other community leaders to awaken to this dangerous policy, unite and protest vehemently against it. They must see the evil as a whole and not think that it's not their problem until the individual notice is received.

Please take into account the following:
1) Christian churches & their NGOs in Maharastra have done commendable services especially through their schools, colleges & hospitals which have played a major role in the development and welfare of the state and the country.
2) Many churches in Maharashtra have been around for over 400 to 500 years and the paperwork for proof of acquisition of property may not be aligned with today's standards - although the properties are rarely disputed except by greedy land grabbers who are aligned with the modern political class and government.
3) The church properties in Maharashtra could be worth well over thousands of crores in INR (viz. several billion in dollars) as the property value is high in the state.
4) Ironically, this same Maharashtra government, this same chief minister and this same revenue minister, namely Fadnavis and Bawankule are giving away state owned land freely to lakhs of encroachers (land-grabbers) just to win votes.

Keeping this in mind, this statewide policy of auditing all church properties in Maharashtra sounds motivated and we implore you to take immediate action to prevent this gross misuse of power and the targeting of churches and a community that has given so much to the nation.