The reality of conversions in Punjab is widely known, but it has received little attention. The state is witnessing the most intense wave of proselytization since Indian independence. This wave has been a result of mass gatherings by widely celebrated Pastors, who claim to do miracles to cure diseases and put things in place.

According to the latest issue of India Today magazine, the stars of this new upsurge are a handful of prominent pastors. About a dozen of them, including doctors, engineers, lawyers, police, government officials, business owners, and landlords, have either quit their employment or preach on Sundays. Here in this report, we will delve into the findings made by India Today, elaborating on the menace of charismatic pastors in the state.

Dramatic proselytization throughout the state

There are pastors with enormous congregations, many centres throughout Punjab, a vast YouTube following and most significantly, they claim the power of miracles and wonderful acts of faith healing. Their claims vary depending on how dramatic they want to be, including vanquishing ghosts, healing everything from cancer to joint pain to infertility, and helping people with everything from deaddiction to jobs, matrimonial matches, and visas for other countries.

On the other end of the spectrum are the village pastors. Sunday sermons are regularly given by assistant sub-inspectors, modest cloth merchants, part-time tailors, and agricultural workers from a nook in their own homes. They cater to followers in more conventional ways, openly embracing Punjab’s cultural signifiers—turban, Langar, Tappa, and Gidda—in their sermons.

Their Satsangs mimic communal prayer services from any of the three major religions practised in Punjab: Sikh, Hindu, and Sufi Islam. The majority of their followers come from the Dalit/tribal groups that are most oppressed, including the Mazhabi Sikh-Balmiki, Sansi, Rai Sikh, Bawaria, Bazigar, Barad, Bangala, Gadhile, and Nat, who are not allowed to participate in Punjab’s religious institutions that are “elite-controlled” or its arc of prosperity.

Here is a list of pastors enjoying massive support in the state which struggles with drug addiction in the youth and deteriorating law & order since the previous dispensation led by Congress was in power.

Ankur Yoseph Narula, Jalandhar

Narula, who was raised in Jalandhar by a Hindu Khatri business family, was profoundly influenced by the sermons of South African preachers. Later, he claims, Jesus invited him to become a Christian in a dream appearance. In 2008, he established his ministry and had just three adherents. With over 100,000 Sunday attendees and a 300,000 global membership, it is now the largest church in Punjab.

On YouTube, he has 1.23 million subscribers. Narula, who calls himself a faith healer, asserts that he has the power to cure any illness, including cancer, arthritis, and even the dead. Although he likes the word “Apostle,” his fans refer to him as “Papa”.

Anilesh S. Mahajan and Sunil Menon, who contributed to the piece in the Indian Today Magazine, assert that visiting the Ankur Narula Ministry on a Sunday is similar to visiting Delhi’s Akshardham complex, albeit it is larger because of its 65 acres of land. The ministry operates out of a facility that is still under construction. They assert that when completed, it will be Asia’s largest church.

Gurnam Singh, Ajnala

Gurnam Singh, aged 53, is a Punjab Police Assistant Sub Inspector who converted to Christianity in 1998 after breaking up with his family. “As my wife was unable to bear a child, my family wanted me to dump her and remarry,” he claims. “It was unacceptable to me. I moved to Amritsar. There, I got in touch with some pastors. With their prayers, I have three children now,” he stated.

Singh, a Mazhabi Sikh, wears a turban to work and preaches the Bible when he gets home. He’s turned his backyard into a church, and his Sunday sermon draws around 50 people. “I don’t convert people,” he says emphatically. “I only preach the Bible,” he concludes.

Harpreet Deol, Kapurthala

Harpreet Deol (42), like most young people from Punjab’s Doaba district, was eager to migrate to and establish himself in Canada when he was in his twenties. But fate had other intentions, and his visa was denied. Deol’s father, Harbhajan Singh, was already a well-known preacher who had converted in 1988 under the persuasion of an Australian pastor—against the trend given his background as a member of the prominent Jat Sikh society. 

Deol inherited his father’s Open Door Church, one of Punjab’s oldest Pentecostal congregations. “My father was, but I was never devoutly religious. My experiences with his colleagues, their respect for him and, above all, my own experience with Christian leaders transformed me,” Deol says.

On a one-acre parcel of land near his ministry, he has been preaching since 2012 and is currently erecting a church. He claims to have successfully healed cancer patients with the power of prayer during his well-attended healing sessions and Sunday sermons. Through PCPC (the Pentecostal Church Prabandhak Committee), which he founded and is now in charge of, Deol is now aggressively organising Pentecostal pastors.

Gurnam Singh Khera, Gurdaspur

Gurnam Singh Khera was well-known in the Gurdaspur region for two reasons, first, he was a renowned physician, and second, he was the younger brother of Jaswant Singh Khera, a fighter in the Khalistan Commando Force and a close confidant of the militant Wassan Singh Zaffarwal. Jaswant converted to Christianity in 2006 after learning from a local pastor about the various ways he may ‘achieve’ God. Gurnam and his family embraced the same a year later.

Gurnam begins, “I have seen miracles, some have happened through me.” But he still sports the turban while presiding over sermons. “Recently, a few Sikh organisations complained to the cops. I categorically told them that I was open to removing my turban if it was against the Constitution or was illegal, not because some Sikh organisation has objections,” he added.

When they refused to let his father be cremated at the Sikh crematorium three years ago, Gurnam had another run-in with the neighbourhood. He was forced to transport his father’s remains to a Christian cemetery when authorities and local officials interfered.

Manohar Singh, Amritsar

Manohar Singh, 56, runs the Manohar Singh Ministries in Naraingarh, Amritsar. People often question his appearance. When a stranger learns that Manohar Singh is a practising Christian, the first thing they ask is about his looks. Manohar, a former cloth trader, still wears his Sikh turban and has a thick beard.

He remarked, “When asked, I tell them that it’s part of my culture and upbringing. Even Christian prophets used to wear the turbans of their respective cultures.”

Manohar, a native of the Lubanas merchant community, became a Christian following the passing of his adolescent daughter. He was already under stress due to his son’s accident, which had occurred. He claims that “Some pastors came to my rescue and gave me mental peace.” “I started reading the Bible thereafter. Now, even though I have a smaller house, lesser resources and am perhaps a man of very few means, I am at peace,” he added.

Sweeping conversions through Pentecostalism

Naturally, the possibility of sweeping conversions has angered everyone. According to the report, among Punjab’s 23 districts, the Majha and Doaba belts, as well as the border regions of Ferozepur and Fazilka in Malwa have the highest number of neo-Christian ministries. Although there are no precise figures, one estimate tallies the number of pastors at an astonishing 65,000. This recent upsurge has even large organisations, like the Catholic hierarchy, confused since Pentecostalism is wooing their adherents away.

For the unserved, Pentecostalism is a branch of Christianity that places a strong focus on the activity of the Holy Spirit and the believer’s personal encounters with God. Pentecostals hold that true faith cannot be attained only by ceremony or thought, but must instead be profoundly experienced. Pentecostalism is lively and spirited.

The caste factor

Dalits make up 31.9 per cent of the population of modern-day Punjab, the greatest proportion of any Indian state. Being the most stigmatised of the castes, they account for the majority of conversions over the first half-century.

The waves of Conversion

Christianity is not rare in Punjab. Indeed, its unintentional entry in the mid-nineteenth century constituted a seminal event in its religious and social history. The Christian population of undivided Punjab increased from a few thousand in 1870 to half a million in 1930 before the wave subsided. The majority of them were dumped on the other side of the Radcliffe Line after partition. After that, the old churches became lovely variants on city vistas, settling into the customary humanitarian work—schools, universities, and hospitals.

Things began to alter in the 2000s when Tamil preacher Paul Dhinakaran arrived with his Pentecostal toolset crafted in the excessively dramatic American TV evangelical style. The Pentecostal spiritual buffet was spread by the Narula, who was mentioned previously, and others in his wake. This included trance-like glossolalia, also known as “speaking in tongues,” prayer as a direct bodily union with God attained through music and dance, ecstatic delusions, and amazing acts of faith healing, and thus, Punjab became the target of the dissemination of the sweet Jesus wave. Fears of a demographic transition have driven the monster that has become Christian conversions in recent years.