On 18 February, Pastor Shajin from Devasabai church led a team of seven pastors from Rameswaram town to Sathankulam, where they were met by Pastor Lazar Barnabas and embarked on a four-day ministry distributing Christian literature. At approximately 9am on 21 February, the men were confronted by a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named Ponniah who seized their tracts and accused them of converting people by force. Ponniah informed the local police, who arrived at the scene of the incident and escorted the pastors to the police station. Local sources report that once in the police station, police officers did not question the pastors about their activities but instead proceeded to assault the group, one of whom was handicapped. Sources close to Pastor Barnabas report that he was severely beaten with a ‘lathi’ (bamboo baton) by Sub Inspector Raghu Ganesh while other police officers looked on, and sustained injuries to his back and legs. On the same day, Ponniah, accompanied by members of a local Hindu ‘Munani’ (Radical nationalist) group, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the nine Christians for attempting to convert him by force. The Christians were held in custody until 5:30pm and only released after local human rights activists intervened. CSW sources report that an FIR has been registered against the police. Pastor Barnabas, who had initially received medical attention in a government hospital for his injuries following the assault, is currently receiving treatment in a private hospital.

Editor of Sudarshan News, Suresh Chavanke, gathered businessmen and industrialists at Hotel Chanakya, Ranchi and took an oath that they would economically boycott rioters involved in the Delhi 2020 pogrom by not providing them with jobs and by not being involved in any business transaction with them. He also prayed that God give them strength and willpower to undertake this very vow after which the video of this 'oath-taking' ceremony was posted on Twitter and thereafter highly circulated.

On Thursday 20 Feb 2020, the Union minister for animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries Giriraj Singh said “The time has come to dedicate ourselves to the cause of country. Before 1947, our ancestors had been fighting for the independence of the country and Jinnah was planning to make India an Islamic state. Our ancestors committed a major lapse for which we are paying the price today – if at that time the Muslims had been sent there [Pakistan], we would not have had to face this situation,” . Giriraj Singh is a well-known member of the government who has openly voiced his strong dislike for Muslims many times and is rarely pulled up by the BJP. Just four days ago, Mr Singh was reportedly summoned by BJP chief JP Nadda over his comment alleging that the Islamic seminary Deoband in Uttar Pradesh is an "aatankvaad ki Gangotri (fountainhead of terrorism)".