People of Assam and north east states share a common historical bond as they were all under the same administrative umbrella before the states were carved out of Assam. The people were drawn from various cultural history and religious faith and had no problem with regard to race of religion except in later years, the issue of exodus of illegal immigrants. A circular issued on December 16,2022 by Saurav Jyoti Saika APS and SP, SB(E/Z) shocked many especially the Christians in Assam. The memorandum requested DCs and SPs of districts in Assam to provide information regarding instances and pattern of religious conversion in Assam. The SP said the circular stated that this as per discussion held at SP’s Conference at Staff College on November 2,2022. The Assam Police memorandum sought information on -number of new churches established during the last one year and other data such as details of allotted land for construction and the key persons associated with the church; instances of conversion in the last six years; list of existing churches functioning in every district; community, area and other patterns associated with religious conversion or by means of inducement; prime factors responsible for religious conversion and suggestion on counter measures/mechanism to address this issue with a long term solution/ perspective. The memorandum asked all the DCs and SPs to forward their respective reports to the Assam Police Headquarter on or before December 22,2022. Further, the SP impressed upon treating the memorandum as confidential. Then on December 24,2022 when media persons drew the attention of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on this matter, he simply distanced himself from the official letter that sought information from all SPs and DCs in the State on religious conversion and the number of churches established in their respective districts in the past one year. He insisted the Assam government has not issued any instruction for such an exercise that “might hurt the sentiments of a particular religious community”. The chief minister further informed that he had asked the Director General of Police (DGP) “to conduct an investigation after receiving a copy of the letter. Probably chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma may not have remembered about the police memorandum or may have been unaware of it since it may have been considered as a routine instruction that should have had the concurrence the ruling party’s ideology. If Mahanta was truly ignorant about the issue by asking his DGP to update him on the matter, a representation addressed to him by the United Christian Forum under Golaghat district should have served as a strong reminder. According to the UCF president Jiden Aind and secretary Leander Toppo christian community in Golaghat district were being asked to provide a whole range of information buy Police of Golaghat district. The queries were the same that were mentioned in the memorandum issued to all DCs and SPs by the SP, Special Branch Headquarters of Assam from Police at Kahilipara Guwahati. The UCF informed that the Golaghat police had begun their task of monitoring activities of Christians since January 2,2023. The UCF urged upon Mahanta to intervene in the matter since the community members are being harassed by the police and which has caused fear among them. So far after the news was published in this newspaper on January 25, there has been no reaction from the church organisations of Nagaland or its government.
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