Church scan plan in Assam worries BJP

SHILLONG, Dec 28: An Assam Police letter purportedly seeking data on religious conversions and the number of churches in Assam appears to have put the BJP on the back foot in poll-bound Meghalaya and Nagaland, if not in Tripura.
The BJP has gone into damage control mode by dissociating itself from the letter which has given the Trinamool Congress, the principal opposition party in Meghalaya the ammunition to target the saffron brigade relentlessly.
The churches in Meghalaya have also started speaking against the content of the letter with the BJP trying desperately to present a secular face.
Ronald Andrew Wallang, the pastor in charge of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Laitumkhrah, termed the letter as disturbing.
“How can a government single out the Christian leaders? It is unfair as we live in a country where everyone has the right to express his or her religious views but my rights should not infringe upon the rights of expression of others,” he said.
Stating that conversion from any religion to another is personal, he asked how can a state can embark upon the exercise mentioned in the controversial letter. The issue needs deliberation, he said.
“Getting into the personal life of individuals is malicious,” he added, ruing the propaganda that Christians convert people.
“If this were the case, the whole of India would have been Christian,” Wallang said.
The Vicar-General of Shillong Archdiocese, Fr Richard Majaw said they are holding a meeting to discuss the matter on Thursday.
Apart from the TMC, the political parties including the NPP, UDP and PDF have been mum on the issue.
Mawlai MLA Process T Sawkmie, however, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene in the matter involving the Assam Police’s plan to keep tabs on the Christians.
“This order may affect the sentiment of the Christians in Assam and elsewhere in the Northeast and the country. The proposed survey should be stopped for peace and tranquillity in the country,” he said.
The BJP’s Meghalaya in charge, M Chuba Ao said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has already clarified on the matter. “I have left it to the state unit of our party to look into the matter,” he said.