Parties find it hard to ignore growing influence of self-styled pastors of Pentecostal churches

However, the self-styled pastors with their rising influence in 2025 have been at the centre of several legal and social controversies, primarily involving high-profile criminal convictions and stricter laws against conversion.

In March this year, a Mohali court convicted self-styled prophet Bajinder Singh (of the Church of Glory and Wisdom) in a case of repeated rape of a 22-year-old woman in 2018, besides raids on his properties by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with alleged money laundering.

In previous years, there have been income tax raids on pastor Harpreet Singh Deol, who manages "The Open Door Church" in Kapurthala and on another prominent pastor, Ankur Narula, leader of the massive Church of Signs and Wonders.

Amid the controversies, the ruling party in August 2025, appointed Jatinder Masih ‘Gaurav’, an aide to pastor Ankur Narula, as chairman of the Punjab State Minorities Commission. The political appointment marks the first time a Pentecostal-linked person to be given a position by the state government.

Political analysts feel that the Pentecostal churches in Punjab, a growing force due to recent conversions, are increasingly engaging in politics, forming new parties like the United Punjab Party (UPP) to act as a pressure group for Christian voters who seemingly supported the ruling party in the Jalandhar by-election.

Pentecostal churches headed by individual pastors, both in terms of their numbers and following, have shown phenomenal growth in Punjab in the last few years. Apart from people in Punjab, they also attract migrants from other states living in Punjab, and are also gaining traction in other states.

A senior Congress leader said, “The BJP ahead of the next Assembly elections is eyeing nearly 250 small and large deras across Punjab with an eye on other communities, including Ravidassias, Valmikis and OBCs that hold varying degrees of influence over local constituencies as part of more structured and long-term approach. The self-styled pastors are emerging as deras with equally growing influence, poltically.”

But the Pentecostal churches have drawn the ire of Sikh organisations that allege the "Punjabisation" of Christianity where churches are designed to look like gurdwaras and hymns mimic Sikh kirtan to attract Dalit Sikhs. Former Akal Tahkt Jatehdar Giani Harpreet Singh has raised the issue of “forced conversions” in Christianity and the need for an anti-conversion law” in Punjab.

Although almost all BJP-ruled states in North India have promulgated stringent anti-conversion laws that are used to intimidate and curtail the practice and the propagation of Christianity, Punjab does not have any such laws.

The anti-conversion laws, effective in nearly 12 states, have been questioned by civil rights groups and many advocacy groups, as India is a secular democracy with Article 25 of the Constitution of India giving individuals the right to practise a religion of their choice or not to practise any religion.

Recently, Jagdish Masih of the National Christian League and Sukhjinder Gill of the Masih Ekta Sabha, and other Christian leaders from across Punjab had unanimously opposed the non-Biblical procession taken out by the self-styled pastors with bhangra, boliyan, giddha, loudspeakers and DJs, terming it against the Christian values and culture.

Demanding a ban on social media accounts spreading superstition, they said for the past few years in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, some individuals, under the guise of Christian preaching, had been spreading false propaganda, exploiting innocent people by selling bottles of water and oil in the name of curing diseases and problems and by making predictions about people’s lives, thereby promoting superstition.

Recently, a Jalandhar-based activist Tejasvi Minhas, president of the Punjab Bachao Morcha, arrested for being vocal on the issue of conversions in the state, had been speaking openly against large-scale conversions using “miracle cures” being done by Christian missionaries.