by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A group of Hindu nationalists vandalized a Gideons Bible stall set up at the New Delhi World Book Fair in India last week, accusing the volunteers running it of “trapping” Hindus into Christianity, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
Shouting slogans, the Hindus tore posters, removed books, and broke up the distribution of free copies of the Bible from the Gideon Bible ministry stall at the fair, New Dehli TV reported. Video footage of part of the angry scene that went viral on social media shows a group of men demanding that Gideon volunteers stop handing out Bibles.
One of the protestors identified himself as the Delhi head of Hindu United Front, CP reports. Other members of the mob were from the Hindu nationalist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP); they accused Christian groups of “trapping the Hindus,” CP reports.
VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal told New Delhi TV: “The [Hindu nationalist] members protesting were not related to us directly. Distributing free books or not isn’t the matter ... It is basically a question of mentality. It is the way they were distributing, pursuing or cheating people, denigrating other religions that’s what got the people agitated.”
However, volunteers at the Gideon stall were quoted as saying they are not forcing anyone to take the Bible. “I have been manning a stall at the book fair for 10 years, but this is the first time something like this happened,” one volunteer was quoted as saying.
Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014, India ranks 11th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.