Two women missionaries have been arrested by Assam police for demeaning Hindu Dharma while proselytizing Christianity. Local Hindus had lodged a police complaint on Sunday in Tarapur Police Outpost against the duo who were preaching Christianity in the Hindu-dominated area of Bhasha Sahid Lane, Silchar.
As per a local news report –
“The activists of Hindu Rakkhi Bahini (Army for protecting Hinduism), today at around 4 pm, gheraoed two mid-aged women, Nitu Goala and Shirsha Bagdi, residents of Tarapur, from Bhasha Sahid Lane.
They were allegedly playing messages of the Bible on an amplifier and distributing leaflets (with Biblical content ), and allegedly urging people proselytizing to Christianity. A Police team under OC of Tarapur Police Outpost rushed to the spot and brought these two ladies to the police station.
According to the description of Bijoy Nath, activist of Hindu Rakkha Bahini, Nitu Gowala, and Shorsha Bagdi, who are also residents of Tarapur locality, they were playing messages of Christianity on an amplifier. They called up the residents and urged them to follow Christianity because their faith is superior. These ladies were also distributing leaflets among people. The activist also alleged that these women were luring residents, saying they could get mental peace if they converted to Christianity to attain God. Concept like faith healing was also preached by the two ladies.”
“They were preaching Christianity on the amplifier and saying locals don’t have to perform puja or anything; their god and faith are superior,” Bijoy Nath said. “Their preaching has hurt Hindu sentiment, this is a Hindu place, they can’t do anything like this,” he added. They also allegedly recovered cash from them, and they were luring people with money to convert their faith.
Speaking with Barak Bulletin, OC of Tarapur Police Outpost Ananda Mehdi said that the police is probing the matter. “It has been brought to our notice. We have detained both the women involved and investigating the matter,” said OC Medhi.
Christian missionaries have grown increasingly emboldened to spread their supremacist bigotry all over the country in the last 2 decades. Earlier, their activities, which almost always involve demeaning and abusing Hindu Dharma and Hindu deities, went unnoticed due to mainstream media’s censorship and the clout of Christian Churches and evangelicals in academia, media and government.
But with the advent of social media, their abusive rants, open bigotry, and even seditious calls, are now being noticed by the common Hindu. There is a long way to go yet, but Hindus are organizing at local levels to take on these foreign-funded proselytisers. New outfits, including those with no links to the Sangh Parivar (the favorite punching bag of anti-Hindu forces), are cropping up which is a welcome sign.
It is also praise-worthy that Hindus are acting within the ambit of the law by handing over such people to authorities. When someone runs down your religion and deities, causing deep anguish, it is not easy to keep emotions in check at times. Especially when we see how other communities react with brute violence at even the hint, real or manufacture, of ‘blasphemy’. It is not without reason that even Western missionaries know that Muslim-dominated areas are to be avoided for ‘mission work’ as it is “dangerous”.
It is now up to the secular state and government authorities to act against the proselytisers who are breeding hate and disharmony in society. They must deliver on the faith shown by Hindus in law enforcement and our Constitution. Missionaries must remember that even though Article 25 of the Indian Constitution grants them freedom to propagate religion, it is subject to public order, morality and health. Denigrating Hindu Dharma and claiming your religion to be superior is neither moral, nor conducive to public order and social harmony.
Looking at the systematic way Article 25 has been abused for 75 years and the secular state and judiciary’s unwillingness to safeguard Hindu right to dignity, many nationalist thinkers believe the time has come to amend Article 25 and ban all proselytisation targeting Hindus and other indigenous faith practitioners. There is also an urgent need to extend the anti-conversion law introduced by states like UP and MP, all across the nation.
In the meantime, Christian missionary propaganda outlets and the left-liberal mainstream media have upped their demonization of Hindus who are demanding respect for their religion and culture.
