Those closely watching the situation unfolding in India rue the gradual normalising of some of the things they would not have tolerated ten or twenty years ago. On Christmas Day Christian leaders were invited to the Prime Minister’s residence for a goodwill meet. That was a great opportunity for the Christian leadership to draw the attention of the Prime Minister to the violence in Manipur which resulted in the burning of over 300 churches. If as is claimed by the BJP-led Government of Manipur that the violence is due to the Government’s war on drugs and poppy growers and had nothing to do with religion then why were the churches targeted and burnt to ashes? What is the logic there? If the church leaders were truly representing Christ on earth they would have used the opportunity to question the Prime Minister on his studied silence over the Manipur conflict which claimed over 200 lives and resulted in internal displacement of over 60,000 whose houses were burnt and who till date live in relief camps with even the bare necessities of life unmet. They could have asked the Prime Minister why he did not deign to make a single visit to Manipur
Church leaders who represent the Christian community of this country should have asked why the Prime Minister’s party the BJP and its sister organisation the RSS and other fringe elements continue to attack Christians in different parts of the country. On the contrary the church leaders sang a different tune. They lauded the Prime Minister for his contribution towards the Christian community which is a minority in India. Irony could not have been starker than this! What has made these Christian leaders so subservient and so lacking in courage to stand for the truth as Christ would have wanted them to. Which chapter of the Bible are they following when they seem to have forgotten the atrocities meted out on their flock? The Christmas spirit should not dilute the sufferings of ordinary Christians who daily suffer from the impunity of their state governments such as is happening in Tripura and brazen acts of the political fringe which does not have any respect for the Constitution of India and its guarantees of freedoms to the citizens.
In Meghalaya, the Christian members of the BJP have been complicit in their silence over what happened in Manipur and elsewhere, where Christians are persecuted. Videos showing how Christians have been told to trash their Bibles and are being mercilessly flogged for believing in Christ have gone viral but there has not been a single condemnation from the BJP in Meghalaya or any of the North Eastern states; not even the Christian majority states of Nagaland and Mizoram. This complacency of Christians who have embraced the BJP is very troubling indeed. It just goes to show that the hunger for power trumps over their religion.
