Kolkata/Itanagar, March 11: The Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA) on Tuesday demanded that the Arunachal Pradesh government notify the rules of Religious Freedom Act, 1978 immediately and ensure its strict implementation to stop conversions based on greed, pressure and fraudulent means.
The demand was made by ABVKA’s National President Satyendra Singh and Vice President Techi Govind in a press conference held in Kolkata on Tuesday. Speaking to the media, Satyendra Singh said, “To protect the indigenous faith and culture of Janjatis (tribes) of Arunachal Pradesh and to prevent conversions under greed, pressure or fraudulent means, the then Janata Party government had passed the Arunachal Pradesh Religious Freedom Act in 1978.
Unfortunately, due to its rules not being framed yet, this law has not been implemented for the last 47 years, due to which the Christian population in the state increased to 31 per cent by 2011, which was only 1 per cent before the law was made.”
The Itanagar permanent bench of the Guwahati High Court had ordered the state government to notify rules for implementing this law within 6 months from the day of the order.
Underlining this, Satyendra Singh said that as this period was approaching closer, the church and organisations inspired by it had started opposing the court’s order and the state government’s efforts to frame rules.
Expressing serious concerns over the consequences of conversion, the ABVKA chief said that in these 50 years, conversion has swallowed almost half the population of the Sanatan – Swadharmi tribal society of Arunachal Pradesh, its indigenous faith and culture. “In this small state with 15 lakh population, two bishops and thousands of people inspired by churches are protesting against High Court order,” he said.
Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram also expressed concern over various political parties’ stand and their silence on the issue. “Till now, the state government has largely shown gross negligence in the matter. Therefore, fulfilling its constitutional responsibility, it should immediately notify these rules and start strict implementation of this law,” the Kalyan Ashram said in the press conference.
ABVKA also made a request to the Union Home Ministry to make necessary interventions in this matter to protect the cultural identity of the tribes in the border state.
IANS