By HH Mohrmen
It is a march like any other; but no other march in the state has ever sparked as lively and prolonged a debate as the RSS march in Shillong recently and I think the debate is good for democracy and the society at large. Incidentally, the RSS march also occurred around the same time that a PIL was filed in the court seeking minority status for the followers of Niamtre Niam Khasi in the state. This of course is sheer coincidence, but it is good that it happened the way it was meant to be. I also think it is not wise to separate the march and the case on the minority status of the members of traditional religion from each other. The two issues are but the symptoms of what is prevailing deep in the two organizations. We need to take a holistic view of the issue for they are two issues no doubt, yet, they cannot be treated in isolation because the two are interconnected if not two sides of the same coin.
To understand the issue, the first question that needs to be asked is how come Niam Khasi and Niamtre became minorities in the state? Niamtre and Niam Khasi was originally the only religion in the area, but now even in places where till very recently the traditional religion was in majority, they are now in minority. What led to the Niam Khasi Niamtre becoming a minority? The answer is because the followers of the native religion converted to Christianity. Almost everywhere the remnants of the followers of Niamtre Niam Khasi converted en-mass to Christianity. The truth is also because the followers of Niamtre and Niam Khasi are being targeted for conversion by every Christian denomination and they are virtually being wooed from all directions every day. We are not denying that people also convert out of their own free will, but let us go deeper and ask why do people convert to Christianity?
Let us call a spade a spade and ask ourselves whether it is not true that every Christian denomination targets the non-Christians and use every trick they know to woo them to their fold? Isn’t it true that they entice or even threaten the followers of Niamtre Niam Khasi with hell fire if they do not convert? The first trick that was used to attract them was to call them pagans or non-believers because they did not accept Christianity. Then their beliefs system was also branded superstitious. Followers of Niamtre Niam Khasi were being condemned to hell and told that they have no place in heaven or they will not be saved until and unless they accept Jesus Christ as their saviour. I am not saying that Churches should not convert people. Indeed it is within the church’s right to woo people to its fold, but what I am trying to do is to ask the readers of this column to put themselves in the shoes of the adherents of Niamtre Niam Khasi and ask themselves how they would react if they were in the same situation? And if people keep pestering them to convert, what would they do?
How would you react if one says that heaven is only for Christians and not for non-Christians? How would you feel if you were condemned to hell for no fault of yours? How would you feel if people say that non-Christians cannot go to heaven simply because they were born in the “wrong” religion? The other question is : Isn’t this a classic case of Christians having a holier-than-thou attitude towards non-Christians? The moot question also is whether this is not a case spiritual arrogance? What happened to the Beatitudes “Blessed are the meek?” Where is Christ’s humility in this case?
Even in matters of holy matrimonial, (although the Bible says, “For what God had united let no man divide) yet, almost all churches do not encourage inter-denominational marriages, and if a Christian marries a non-Christian the church would not even solemnize the wedding until and unless the non-Christian converts to Christianity. There are churches which suspend their members for having a live-in relationship with a non-Christian and in some cases even the children born out of the wedlock are not baptized till the spouse converts. People are saying that the case of Niam Khasi Niamtre seeking minority status will only divide the Jaitbynriew, but do we care to ask how many broken families have we have created just because the couple belong to different religion and were separated because they do not wish to convert to another religion? How many young couples who love each other dearly have their relationship estranged just because they belong to different religions?
In Jaintia hills village settlements were divided on religious line like Pohchnong (where non-Christians live) and Pohskur (where Christians live) and in some villages where there are no Niamtre, the settlements are divided into Presbyterian and Catholic settlements and called lum Pres/dong Pres/lum Raman/dong Raman, lum Trom/dong Trom etc. Sometimes the village is divided into ‘A’ and ‘B’ but on a closer look one will realize that the village is divided on religious lines – an invisible line that divides the jaitbynriew.
There is nothing wrong in people converting to any religion. The citizens of the country have every right to change their religion, but if one is to look at the issue from the Niamtre Niam Khasi perspective, the question to ask is what would Christians do if they were in that place? The answer is that one would try as much as one could to keep one’s members within one’s fold and prevent any further conversion, right? That is only natural. People will be defensive and resent the dwindling of membership in the Niam Khasi Niamtre. It is a threat to the group’s survival and their very own existence and it is from within the jaitbynriew. Hence they have no other option but to look for help from outside the community.
For those who are ill informed, members of RSS have been in the Khasi and Jaintia hills since the late eighties. In fact one should pity the RSS that after working for about three decades they could only manage to get 200 people to march on the streets. Besides, I do not see anything wrong in anybody joining any organization as long as the organization is legal. The fear that was created out of the march of mere 200 people is uncalled for. It is a case of calling a tree a forest. We don’t yet know what RSS will do and so far they have not done anything wrong in the state. In the future if the RSS creates communal hatred in the community then we will deal with it. We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it.
This write-up is not meant to be an apologist for any group. This is simply putting things in the correct perspective as one is given to understand. If one would like to understand why the flowers of Niamtre Niam Khasi react as such, the answer is because they have been forced to do so. The followers of Niamtre Niam Khasi had to file a court case in anticipation of state protection from the onslaught of being targets of proselytization by different religious groups. Perhaps it is the last resort they took to retain their identity. They became close with the RSS because when everybody around them looks at them as easy preys to be converted to their churches, the RSS is the only organization which genuinely wants to help them grow and progress.
Therefore the Niamtre and Niam Khasi are not to be blamed here. They are at the receiving end all along. And rather than asking why they have to seek minority status, or why they are getting closer to the RSS we should rather ask, what the are circumstances that led them to becoming a minority. Are we not to be blame for Niamtre Niam Khasi turning into a minority? And rather than blaming them for getting close to the RSS, we should ask ourselves what compelled them to do so. Have we been able to support or help them grow? Or do we still look at them as potential converts that we can bring to our fold to increase membership in our church?
Khasi-Pnar Christians need to introspect and ask ourselves if we have really been fair to our Niamtre Niam Khasi brethren. What kind of relationship or attitude do we have towards them? Do we really treat them with equal respect?