“Don't we have the right to love Jesus in this country?” That was the question a Christian resident of Ghushipara, in Barrackpore's Ward 24 in West Bengal asked, days after an alleged mob forced its way into the homes of Christians, disrupting the private prayer services and assaulting residents on 11 August.For Father Paul Victor of the Barrackpore Assembly of Christ, the incident was almost beyond imagination. “I have been here for 50 years and it is the first time I have witnessed this type of incident."The prayer meeting that evening was hardly the kind of gathering that would suggest an attempt at religious mobilisation. It was being held inside a Christian family's home to remember a deceased person.There was no microphone. No public programme. No large crowd. Yet, at around 7 pm, non-Christian local residents arrived at the neighbourhood and began accusing the Christians of conducting religious conversions.Targeting Innocent FamiliesRecalling the attack, Father Paul said, “I was scared of getting attacked hence I rushed into my car and left.”The prayer meeting was disrupted. The alleged mob then went to Christian homes in the neighbourhood. There are reportedly only around five Christian households in the area.Residents allege that some were assaulted. A Christian ASHA worker was allegedly threatened about losing her job, while Christian toto (e-rickshaw) drivers were allegedly warned that they would no longer be allowed to work.The incident was also livestreamed on Facebook, with the alleged attackers tagging Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kaustav Bagchi.'Living in Dread': Inside the Hindu Right's Raids on Poor Christians in MP‘Hallelujah’ Became a ProblemA woman, who requested anonymity, said the attackers objected to Christians saying “Hallelujah” and “Joy Jesus”. She was allegedly threatened with losing her job. However no official action has been taken against her so far, she said.“They told us not to bring anyone from outside,” she told The Quint.Another Christian resident in his 20s alleged that he was slapped and physically forced to chant slogans invoking Hindu gods. A man in his 40s described something deeper than the immediate fear of physical violence: the feeling that the rules of everyday life in his neighbourhood had suddenly changed.“They say we converted because we were paid. By whom, and if so, where is the money? We still have to work hard to make a living" We are Christian because we love and follow Jesus Christ. It is a legal right.” The man said his family had become Christian 11 years ago, although they had been attending church even before that. “We have worked and lived here under the CPI(M) government and then the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government. Nobody treated us like this. This is the first time," he said.Another young Christian resident told The Quint:“We can see what is happening to Christians in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. We understand what could happen next. We have to think about our security."That fear is significant.Because what happened in Ghushipara was not an isolated allegation of a neighbourhood dispute.Across West Bengal, cases of Christians facing accusations of “forced conversion”—sometimes followed by disruptions of prayer meetings, attacks on churches and threats against individual worshippers—has been on the rise. Barrackpore's Christian community residents The Quint spoke with feel the pattern from other BJP-ruled states is being repeated in Bengal.‘Conversion’ Allegations to Attacks on the RiseOn 6 May, shortly after the Assembly election results were announced in Bengal, 25–30 BJP activists allegedly vandalised the home of Barnali Chatterjee, a Christian widow living near Muktidham Church in Murshidabad.According to the FIR lodged pertaining to the case, activist Chandran Das and a group of alleged cadres forcibly entered her house, vandalised property and threatened her over worshipping Jesus and organising prayer meetings.They allegedly demanded that she hand over her house so that it could be converted into a Hindu temple.On 21 June, members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal disrupted a Sunday prayer meeting in Raniganj, Paschim Bardhaman, alleging forced conversions.According to accounts of the incident, some women told those present that they had converted to Christianity voluntarily. They were allegedly threatened for saying so. Around 25 people were handed over to the police.West Bengal, however, does not have an anti-conversion law.Then came 5 July when a mob in Subhashgram, South 24 Parganas, allegedly stormed an under-construction church, broke windows, damaged the altar and musical instruments and pulled down crosses from the roof.A man vandalising the church during the mob attack in SubhashgramThe attackers reportedly shouted “Jai Shri Ram” and other Hindu nationalist slogans.The same day, Grace Church in Faridpur, Purba Bardhaman, was reportedly attacked during Sunday worship.In Bankura, a prayer meeting led by Pastor Rajib Das was allegedly disrupted. Bibles were confiscated and worshippers, including women and children, were briefly detained before being released without charges.The incidents have a common thread: allegations of religious conversion.But for the people accused, the allegation itself can become the trigger for intimidation.Sanu Ghosh, the BJP's local mandal IT-cell office-bearer, defended the "protest" in Ghushipara, alleging that Christians in the area had been running a “conversion racket” for years.“They bring priests from outside and organise prayer meetings to influence people,” Ghosh alleged.He also claimed, without providing evidence, that poor people were being offered Rs 10,000–20,000 to convert.“We protested to protect our religion,” he said.Ghosh alleged that Christians had threatened them in return and said they were considering filing a mass complaint with the police.These allegations, however, sit uneasily alongside the account given by the Christians who attended the prayer meeting.They say there was no public campaign, no mass gathering and no attempt to convert anyone. It was a private prayer meeting inside a home.'A New Trend in Violence': The Precarious Lives of Vishwasi Christians in BastarAcross the state, Hindutva groups are increasingly recording and uploading videos of themselves confronting and allegedly harassing Christian evangelists. Ironically, these very videos are emerging as evidence of a pattern of harassment and intimidation targeting Christians. Yet, strikingly few of these incidents are being formally reported. Unlike many sections of the Muslim community, Christians appear far less vocal about their experiences of persecution—and even fewer seem to be approaching the police to file complaints.Christians, Muslims Losing Trust in Police & State There is another striking detail in the Barrackpore incident.Despite police visiting the neighbourhood on 12 August, none of the affected families filed a written complaint. But that does not mean they said nothing happened.Instead, they repeatedly said the alleged attackers were their neighbours. “We grew up playing with them. We don't want to complain against them,” one resident said.Another explained the reason for the hesitation more bluntly: “It is their government now. If we complain to the police, it could backfire on us.”The response from the police was straightforward.Sub-Inspector Somnath Samanta of Titagarh Police Station told The Quint officers had visited the area and assured the residents that they had nothing to fear.Somnath Samanta “We told them to file a complaint and that we would take action. But nobody has submitted a written complaint yet. What can we do without a complaint?”And so the incident remains trapped in an uncomfortable limbo—serious enough to frighten an entire neighbourhood, but without a formal police complaint that could trigger a criminal investigation.The Christian residents' anxiety also needs to be viewed alongside what Muslim residents in the same part of Barrackpore say they have experienced.After the recent Assembly election results, Muslim toto drivers were allegedly stopped from operating on the Chalbazar–Lalkuthi route.An effected driver told The Quint: “They have taken away our stand. Now that the BJP government has come, we have to accept whatever happens. I am not going on that route anymore.”The pattern matters.West Bengal's Muslim population is around 27 percent, while Christians account for only 0.72 percent of the state's population, according to the 2011 Census. Yet both communities are now reporting something similar: fear of being singled out on the basis of religion.A Wider Pattern of Post-Election ViolenceThe conversion allegations against Christians come amid a wider debate over violence following the BJP's victory in the 2026 Assembly election.The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) documented 34 incidents of alleged violence, intimidation and attacks targeting Muslims and political opponents between 4 May and 7 May across at least eight districts, immediately after announcement of election results.The organisation said the incidents included attacks on mosques, Muslim homes, shops and meat businesses and claimed that at least two people died.Cooch Behar, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Murshidabad, Howrah, Malda, and Birbhum were among the areas mentioned in the report.Jingle Hell? Hate Crimes Against Christians See a Spike Around Christmas Again‘Don't Know If We Can Celebrate Christmas Anymore’The increase has hostility does not just impacted safety but also led to larger questions of identity and religious expression. Father Paul keeps coming back to one thing. Before this incident, Christians in the neighbourhood would organise Christmas celebrations openly. They would put up a stage and celebrate together.Now, he is unsure if they would be able to do it anymore.“Perhaps people here are being encouraged by the attacks on Christians taking place in other states,” he said. “Earlier, we used to put up a stage in the Christian neighbourhood and organise Christmas celebrations. I don't know whether we will be able to do that anymore.”This loss of faith may be the most revealing part of the Barrackpore story. The issue is not merely whether one prayer meeting was disrupted. It is whether a community that has lived in the same neighbourhood for decades can continue to say “Hallelujah”, organise a Christmas celebration, pray inside its own home—and simply remain Christian — without being treated as a threat.(Soumo Mondal is an independent journalist reporting on news and politics from West Bengal.)