India, Dec. 15 -- The organisers had instructions for speakers to not criticise the top political leaders, the government or the ruling party in the "National Christian Convention" at the New Delhi's Jantar Mantar protest site, but that did not stop Dalit and other speakers from articulating their angst, right under the noses of hordes of police personnel, some armed in battle gear, others in electronic cameras.

Among them was an Adivasi speaker who spoke something no one else had uttered from the convention stage - that across the forests and small towns of a belt that stretches from northern Gujarat and southern Rajasthan through much central and eastern parts of India, Adivasi Christians live today in a state of siege, an existential ...