SHILLONG: The Congress party tried to trigger the religious sentiments of the Christian-majority state of Meghalaya by reminding the citizens about the survey of the Church-related activities in the neighbouring state of Assam.
The opposition party during the tenure of the previous Meghalaya Assembly, the Indian National Congress pointed out the recent survey ordered by the Assam Police towards the Chuch-related activities in the state and called it an instance of ‘religious profiling of Christians’. They also questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party about the steps taken towards any repetition of any such incident.
The leaders of the congress party mentioned “Religious profiling of Christians in neighbouring Assam is a dangerous precedence. What guarantee is there that it will not happen in Meghalaya and other Christian states?”. It is important to note that the Northeastern state of Meghalaya has a nearly 75 % Christian population.
The state previously had a National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government in power and the Bharatiya Janata Party was a partner in this coalition. But this year, both the parties have parted ways and decided to contest the upcoming assembly elections on their own. National People’s Party and United Democratic Party are the local parties expected to fight out in the upcoming elections while the national parties Bharatiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress are also expected to add to the competition in the state.
“Recently, the Janajati Dharma Sanskriti Suraksha Manch (an organisation backed by the RSS) demanded the removal of the Scheduled Tribe status of converted Christians. This is against the spirit of respecting the indigenous ethnic origin of the Scheduled Tribes of the Northeast, especially the Christian community in Meghalaya and Nagaland. Will the BJP let us know if they plan to implement this if they come to power in Meghalaya?” the Congress media coordinator has questioned.
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