By: The Wire Staff >> Published in: *The Wire* >> Date: January 5, 2026 >> > Source: > https://thewire.in/communalism/supreme-head-of-malankara-orthodox-syrian-church-baselios-marthoma-mathews-iii-christian-hate-crime-rss > 'It is the truth that if the RSS has a major motto which says, 'India for Hindus' – much like Trump saying 'America for Americans' – it is not going to work in this India. It will never happen.'
*In a significant departure from his earlier position, the Supreme Head of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church has hit out at the Sangh Parivar for patronising and encouraging hate crimes against Christians. Baselios Marthoma Mathews III is the Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan – the Supreme Head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.* *His remarks came against the backdrop of targeted violence against churches and Christmas celebrations across the country during the end of 2025. His comments are significant as he had earlier viewed hate crimes against Christians as sporadic and restricted to only a few regions. He had also met prime minister Narendra Modi in April 2023 and praised his development initiatives and believed that dialogue with the BJP and the union government could resolve concerns of discrimination and targeting raised by some Christian institutions.* *Below is the full translated text of his address <https://www.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/orthodox-church-criticises-union-government-over-attack-on-christians-hev940zw> while delivering the feast message at St. Mary’s Church in Panayampala, Kottayam, on January 2 this year.* § Here, today, one thing that we are forced to face are the attacks against the Christian community. It is necessary to create proper awareness about this. In what is a very wrong approach, RSS affiliates like the Bajrang Dal and VHP are attacking Christians and other religious minorities of this society. It is a fact. I saw it in the *Malayala* *Manorama* and other media. We know that after the nuns, now it is the turn of the priests (to be attacked). Now that they have destroyed the Christmas celebrations outside the church, it won’t be long before they enter inside the church. Maybe, the coming attacks will be against worship inside the church. We must surely expect that. Every religion gives a message of truth, justice, and love, but in any religion there can be religious fanatics. Whatever the country, it is the people who govern the country who are responsible for controlling such fanatics, regardless of the community or religion. We all have the freedom of religion and the right to practice our rituals. All the people of India are equally free before the constitution, without any distinctions of majority religion or minority religion. Every religion has equal rights and there is the right to believe in, practice, and propagate any religion. No one can deny the right to propagate. The freedom to build places of worship or to worship is granted to all religions equally by God, and by this constitution. A few extremists or terrorist groups have no right to act contrary to this. It is the rulers governing this country who must control them. When they remain silent without raising their voice against it or condemning it, Christians or minorities can only understand it as being part of their programme. Everyone knows that if they do not condemn or control it, they are silently approving it. The other day, the people who destroyed the symbols set up for Christmas celebrations in a mall, while standing outside a church afterwards, chanted slogans in Hindi which said, ‘We don’t want foreigners or foreign religions here.’ Hearing that, I felt like laughing. Why? In America, Trump says ‘America for Americans’. In the same manner, if it is said here that Hindus constitute 80% of the population, and so no foreigners are allowed here. Any person who knows history will understand what a wrong notion they are expressing. Who are the Hindus? Hinduism is a religion that emerged here after the Aryans, who migrated from Iran around 2000 BC, established Brahmanical worship. There is no Aryan or Hindu who originated solely from India; everyone came from the aforementioned Iranian region. But when they arrived, they did one thing. At that time, there was the very powerful Indus Valley Civilisation. We have studied about Mohenjodaro and Harappa and that the Indus Valley civilisation was created by Dravidians at around 4000 BC. The Dravidians are not originally from here either; they reached India from Africa through Iran. However, they were living in the Indus Valley civilisation until the Aryans came in 2000 BC and took over, seizing all the regions and pushing the Dravidians to the south. The Dravidians who thus fled and migrated south are living in South India today – those who speak Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam. The speakers of these four languages are the Dravidians. Now, people who arrived in 2000 BC are saying that all ‘foreigners’ must go back. Who is the foreigner? The Aryans were early migrants. Before them, the Dravidians.Everyone lives according to their faith. The Hindus of today are born and raised in India within the Hindu faith. The Christians here are also born and raised here, having embraced Christianity since 52 AD. They are citizens of this country. No Christian is here who has come from Israel. No Christian is here who has come from Arab countries. The people here are of Indian origin; they are born and raised in India. It is the same for the Muslims here; they are born and raised here. There are no Muslims here from the Middle East. Only Muslims born and raised here are present here. Therefore, that religion has the right to exist here, as does Christianity and Hinduism. Those who know how these religions originated and understand their history can only lament the ignorance of those who demand that ‘foreigners’ should leave. But when there are rulers here who support that ignorance and sing hosannas to it, the truth is that minorities will be suppressed. We need to know these truths so that when attacks against us occur – not just against us, but against any minority group – we are able to convince them of the facts. It is the truth that if the RSS has a major motto which says, ‘India for Hindus’ – much like Trump saying ‘America for Americans’ – it is not going to work in this India. It will never happen. Christians have no hesitation in becoming martyrs for this cause because the Christian religion was formed through martyrdom and persecution. Resistance against persecution began in the first century. When St. Thomas came to India and preached the Gospel, the people here accepted it. No one here attempted forced conversions. If that were the case, Christians would not have accounted for only 2.7% of the Indian population today.
