Young Indian Christian Refused Job Opportunity Because of Her Faith
Over the last six years, increased persecution in India has made international headlines. Year after year, the number of attacks on Christians and their places of worship has continued to grow.
Age 25, Shanthi Gundiya (whose name has been changed for security reasons) was recently refused a job opportunity due to pressure put on her potential employer by radical Hindu nationalists.
One of seven siblings, Shanthi comes from a village in the Jhabua District of Madhya Pradesh.
In February, Shanthi was among 17 people who applied for an administrative position with the local government. Because of her high academic marks, Shanthi was selected for the job.
“I was anxiously awaiting my official appointment letter,” told Shanthi. “I was selected because they were giving the job based on academic merits. Things turned against me, however, when news of my selection was leaked to other people in the village.”
They told the hiring officer not to appoint Shanthi to the position because she is a practicing Christian.
“On February 24, I went the hiring officer the enquire about my offer letter,” told Shanthi. “The hiring officer told me that RSS leaders and the village president had opposed my appointment because I go to church. He advised me to consult a higher authority at the district level to see if I could still be appointed for the job.”
“I was shocked when I found out that the RSS leaders and village president had already been to the district office to block my appointment,” Shanthi continued. “It was hard and very disappointing to give up on this job.”
In the end, Shanthi decided not to pursue justice because she feared it would bring greater persecution to her community. This was a difficult decision given the sacrifices her parents made to support her education.
“It was challenging for my parents,” told Shanthi. “They said we were not going to compromise our faith for any reason. We will continue to serve Jesus even if a good job is taken away.”
Shanthi and her family are among the thousands of Indians that experience persecution every year because of their Christian faith. Reports of physical assaults, closures of churches, destruction of property, intimidations, discriminations, and false criminal accusations are a daily reminder for Shanthi and her family of the persecution their community continues to experience.
“It is concerning. But we trust that our lives are in God’s hands” told Shanti.
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