New Delhi: On Sunday morning, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), the apex physique of Baptist church buildings throughout the state, had a particular message for the neighborhood — to vote in opposition to the “communal forces working in opposition to Christians in India”.
The council’s message, communicated to all church buildings underneath it, was: “Pray in order that our members all state train judiciously their sacred obligation to vote in coming elections for good of the state by selecting leaders who would hearken to folks and reply successfully to their anxieties and wishes.”
The assertion, issued by NBCC normal secretary Reverend Zelhou, additionally highlighted the “persecution of the Church and Christians in India”.
It additional mentioned: “Pray that the communal forces working in opposition to Christians in India might be delivered to justice. Pray for the Christians to face agency of their religion, pray that the folks in authority will rule the nation justly with a human face and deal sternly with those that sow the seeds of hatred.”
The church’s message — seemingly aimed toward Nagaland’s ruling alliance led by the Nationwide Democratic Individuals’s Get together (NDPP) and the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) — underscores the anxiousness and discomfort that the Christian-majority inhabitants feels within the present political state of affairs.
It has additionally put the BJP on the defensive, particularly given its efforts to woo the state’s Christian majority.
Nagaland is about to vote subsequent week. Eighty-nine per cent of the state’s inhabitants is Christian, with Baptists being probably the most predominant group (75 per cent).
The BJP just isn’t “anti-Christian”, Kuputo Shohe, Nagaland BJP’s chief spokesperson, informed ThePrint. The get together gained 12 of the state’s 60 meeting seats in 2018 — a shocking efficiency, particularly because the get together had little to no presence within the state earlier than that.
“Throughout elections, some folks deliver the difficulty of non secular persecution however Nagaland BJP is as Christian as every other members of the neighborhood,” Shohe mentioned. “Most of our candidates got here from the neighborhood. Making such allegations in opposition to the get together just isn’t in good style. For us, everyone seems to be equal and we respect each neighborhood. There are not any biases in opposition to any neighborhood.”
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Courting the church
The Baptist church’s remarks come in the midst of one other row — the BJP’s use of Christian symbolism for election campaigning.
The newest controversy includes Union Minister for State for Minority Affairs John Barla — a video of his election marketing campaign for Nagaland BJP president Temjen Imna Alongside on 16 February reveals him holding the latter’s hand and shouting “Reward the Lord! Hallelujah!”
After the video went viral, church teams started accusing him of utilizing faith for political good points. In a press launch, the NBCC mentioned: “Utilizing ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Reward the Lord’ in political platforms is nothing however an insult and ploy to divide the Christian majority society.”
Nevertheless, the BJP has distanced itself from the controversy, saying it was Barla’s “private selection”.
“We’re not asking votes within the identify of gods,” Nagaland BJP’s normal secretary Khevishe Sema informed ThePrint. “It was his private selection and it got here from the center. There was no politics concerned.”
Because the row, the BJP has been making an attempt to shed its “anti-Christian” picture, even holding press conferences to drive the message. The get together hopes to safe 15-18 seats within the upcoming elections, and for this, the assist of the Baptist church may show very important.
“Our journey within the state is predicated on three elements — stability, financial progress, and peace. We have been profitable in making certain peace in a state that has a turbulent previous. We promised the voters that the mix of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is nice for peace and stability and that has labored,” a senior BJP chief from the state informed ThePrint.
“We labored on the event agenda and deployed a number of folks to fix our ties with the Church and ship the message that we’re not an anti-Christian get together and that labored. That’s the rationale we gained 12 seats within the final election. Just a few sections of society nonetheless maintain some resentment, however it’s going to change into extra harmonious within the coming days,” the chief added.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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