The law was passed in 1978 primarily to check proselytisation
The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Arunachal Pradesh may lift a 40-year-old anti-conversion law to uphold secularism.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday said his government could repeal the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, an anti-conversion law, that the frontier State’s Assembly has passed in 1978 primarily to check proselytisation. Uttarakhand enacted a similar law in May this year.
“The anti-conversion law could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians,” Mr. Khandu said while addressing Prem Milan, a function organised by the Arunachal Pradesh Catholic Association at a church in Banderdewa, the gateway to State capital Itanagar.
Mr. Khandu assured that the law would be brought before the next Assembly session for repeal as it “could be misused by irresponsible officials.”
“Any misuse of the law leading to torture of people could trigger large-scale violence in the State and could break Arunachal into pieces,” Mr. Khandu said at the function marking the 10th death anniversary of Reverend Brother Prem Bhai.
A Benedictine missionary who endured repeated arrest, imprisonment, beatings and wore disguises to evangelise in Arunachal Pradesh, Prem Bhai died on June 28, 2008 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He worked as a missionary in Arunachal Pradesh for almost 25 years despite laws entailed two years of imprisonment and fine of ₹10,000.
Rise of Christianity
Today, Christians account for more than half the population in Arunachal Pradesh.
Census data say there were no Christians in North East Frontier Province, as the State was called then, in 1951. By 2001, Christians were the third largest religious group accounting for 18.7% of the State’s population, behind Hindus (34.6%) and ‘others’, mostly Donyi-Polo (30.7%).
According to the 2011 census, Christianity has overtaken Hinduism as the State’s largest religion. Christians – most of them Roman Catholics – account for 30.26% of the State’s 1.3 million people while Hindus are now 29.04%.
Though Arunachal Pradesh had 5.56% fewer Hindus in 2011 than in 2001, traditionalists were more worried by the 4.5% drop in the number of followers of Donyi-Polo and other indigenous faiths.
Arunachal was the third State after Odisha (1967) and Madhya Pradesh (1968) to enact an anti-conversion law. Chhattisgarh in 2000, Gujarat in 2003, Himachal Pradesh in 2007 and Rajasthan in 2008 also passed anti-conversion laws, prohibiting forced or money-induced conversions.
Christians elated as Arunachal mulls scrapping anti-conversion law
The frontier state will go to elections next year and there is a perception among many that the BJP is trying to keep the Christians in good humour through its move to repeal the law.
GUWAHATI: Christians in Arunachal Pradesh are happy following the state's BJP government's move to repeal the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act or the Anti-Conversion Law which was passed in 1978. Once the law is repealed, the state's 32 per cent Christian population may have a favourable view of the BJP, which is generally perceived as a party not so favourable for the minorities.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Pema Khandu had said the law would be brought before next Assembly session for its repeal "as it could be misused in future by irresponsible officials". The frontier state will go to elections next year and there is a perception among many that the BJP is trying to keep the Christians in good humour through its move to repeal the law. In any case, the party is not going to lose anything as the law has remained ineffective.
The influential Arunachal Christian Forum says the BJP is not doing any politics. "This has nothing to do with politics. The Christians in Arunachal vote candidates by judging their performance. Had it not been so, (MoS Home) Kiren Rijiju would not have won in Lok Sabha elections twice. His constituency has a large number of Christians," the forum's leader Toko Teki told TNIE. The Chief Minister is educated and wise. He must have realised the futility of the dark and black law. Those days, most locals in the state were uneducated and the law was passed by uneducated legislators after being guided by outsiders, Teki said. He alleged that Christians in the state had been for long facing shabby treatment from a section of bureaucrats.
"When the Hindus construct a temple, they don't need any permission. They can construct it anywhere. However, when the Christians plan to construct a church, the district authorities create a lot of hurdles. They instigate local non-Christians to create a problem. They do this despite the Christians being locals," Teki alleged. Khandu may have made the Christians happy with his statement but, at the same time, he ruffled the feathers of leaders of indigenous faiths.
The Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP) and the Nyishi Indigenous Faiths and Cultural Society (NIFCS) viewed the move as appeasement of the minorities. IFCSAP general secretary Bai Taba said if the law was repealed, it would cause degradation of the state's indigenous culture. Pointing out that Arunachal enjoys special safeguards under different Acts and legislations, he said repealing of the law would lead to marginalization of indigenous people.
The NIFCS said if the law was scrapped, it would damage the state's basic structure of indigenous faith and culture. "By making such a statement, the Chief Minister is undermining the sentiments and emotions of indigenous faith believers," NIFCS chief Pai Dawe said.
