By Allen Brooks
Guwahati, Nov 24, 2022: Christian leaders in northeastern India on November 24 voiced great anxiety about “alarmist news” being spread in connection with the issue of conversion.
Such “painful developments” are “nothing but an effort to malign our community which has rendered yeoman service in the field of education, health and social development to all sections in society irrespective of caste, creed, or ethnicity,” said the leaders who met at Guwahati, the commercial capital of Assam state and nerve center of northeastern India.
“We have been the first to denounce any sort of “forced” conversion. At the same time, we also affirm the right of every citizen to choose any religion of his/her own choice that the Constitution guarantees, see Article 25-28,” asserts a press statement the leaders issued after the meeting.
They termed as “very wrong to make false allegations of ‘conversion’ by force, fraud or inducement with the intention of humiliating our community. We feel that such accusations are made with the deliberate intention of dividing our society.”
The leaders represented the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India, Church of North India, Presbyterian Church of India, North East Christian Council ( All Protestant Churches), Evangelical Fellowship Of India (All Pentecostal Churches) and the Regional Catholic Bishops Conference of North East India (All Catholic Churchs of the region).
“What we feel embarrassed about most is that it is the very identity and cultural ethos of the North-Eastern region and of Assam that are being eroded by people who seek to take their models from those areas of our country, where, unfortunately, communal violence has found ideological acceptance. North-eastern society has always been open-minded and liberal, with an eagerness to promote enlightened thinking and refined relationships,” the Christian leaders explained.
People in the Northeast, they added, have always vigorously opposed the imposition of value-systems, divisive thinking and narrow-mindedness that are totally alien to our collective ethos. “We have always believed in harmony and cooperation and warm-hearted relationships. Our mind has always been ‘inclusive’,” they added.
The leaders expressed their pain at the “unpleasant incidents that have happened at the inter-state borders and express our solidarity with all those who are trying to settle the problems amicably. We appeal to all parties of good will to approach the entire matter with a sense of history and fair-mindedness.”
“What we want more than anything else is that an atmosphere of peace, collaboration and mutual assistance prevails among us in these days of growing political and economic anxieties. United we shall never fail,” the leaders warned.