NEW DELHI, India - The Indian government said on Wednesday
it had boosted security around hundreds of churches in New Delhi after a spate
of attacks on religious institutions unnerved minority Christians .
Days before, hundreds of Christian protesters had clashed
with police on the streets of New Delhi to demand government protection
following concerns that minorities were being 
increasingly targeted by Hindu
extremist groups.
increasingly targeted by Hindu
extremist groups.
Since December, five churches in the capital have reported
incidents of arson or theft. On Wednesday, a church in the southern state of
Karnataka was vandalised, a police official in the city of Mangalore told
Reuters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a declared Hindu nationalist,
vowed earlier this month to protect all religious groups at an event organised
by the Catholic community -- a long-awaited reassurance widely seen as a
response to the violence.
After Modi came to power last May, systematic campaigns by
conservative groups to convert Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, as well as
acts of vandalism and theft at churches, have outraged religious minorities.
About a fifth of India's 1.27 billion people identify
themselves as belonging to faiths other than Hinduism.
Source: Reuters
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