Church must stand up for justice
Editor,
A fanatical right wing group from Assam the Kutumba Suraksha Parishad (KSP), led by an Assamese has been spreading the poison of right wing religious overreach which even his own compatriots from Assam find quite strange. This is the result of the overdrive by the saffron party in Assam led by its Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma to promote communal disharmony among citizens. The fact that churches are attacked in parts of Assam is not without reason. Those who attack religious sites and buildings are enemies of an India that stands for diversity and equal respect for all religions and cultures. The political leaders of Meghalaya should speak up and keep at bay such religious fanatics whose only intent is to spread communal disharmony. The KSP has been interfering in Meghalaya’s affairs time and again. Unfortunately, the BJP in Meghalaya has been silent against organisations like the KSP. The BJP leadership should have been more vocal on such issues and not remain silent for silence is consent.
Meanwhile the Khasi-Jaintia Christian Leaders Forum (KJCLF) religious forum has given a statement condemning the KSP but the same Forum needs to get to the root of the matter as far as the case of the Ramakrishna Mission School in Mawkynrew is concerned. The KJCLF ought to do more than just give out press releases from time to time. It should get more active and involved in issues afflicting Meghalaya. After all, what is the mandate of the Church if not to heal the wounds of society. The Forum has remained silent on many key issues such as the rise in poverty levels in the state; the very high numbers of school drop outs and also the rise in teenage pregnancies which is the reason for the replication of poverty in Meghalaya. Perhaps the time has come for the Church to stand with those most in need of its embrace rather than simply holding services every Sunday without making an effort to look for the lost sheep who have become church drop-outs for various reasons.
There are church leaders in Mawkynrew too but have they said anything on the recent violence or have the church leaders remained silent spectators because the school facing the violence is a non-Christian school. They forget that the Ramakrishna Mission as an institution does more missionary work than most religious institutions. The poor still turn to Ramakrishna Mission dispensaries and hospitals where they are given free treatment and medicines and now have also equipped themselves with the necessary diagnostic facilities and also treatment. For this aspect at least we ought to be grateful to the Ramakrishna Mission instead of attacking its noble mission of setting up a school in rural areas.
The church must speak up boldly on all issues affecting the citizens of Meghalaya. The church cannot get away by saying that it does not wish to enter into the domain of politics because everything that humans do is political.
Yours etc.,
Manston Dohling,
Via email
Sub-standard Smart City Projects
Editor,
The recently installed LED screen have gone kaput as per the news item in your esteemed daily. The project under the smart city has raised many questions about the efficiency of the contractor who undertook the work worth Rs 220 crore. This project had high hopes if the operational part was to have been taken care of as it would have dealt with a number of problems that the State or Shillong in particular is facing. I need not mention the problems which could have been solved. But alas, like previous projects like traffic signal lights, CCTV cameras in the strategic locations and so on and so forth. The Govt only the other day had mentioned that the most prominent projects under the smart city will be completed within 2025. It is doubtful whether these projects will see the light of day. We have seen in the past many promises by the Government which never took shape or are still in the pipeline waiting for completion.
How long will people be kept in dark by these false promises. Now even the major projects which were announced earlier like the sky-walk are put on hold. It appears that the Government is fickle-minded as it cannot guarantee any completion of the projects announced earlier. The Hon’ble Chief Minister says that there is no room for over-confidence. If is is so then why are the projects announced with great confidence but have gone kaput or will go the same way in future.
Yours etc.,
SL Singhania,
Via email