Church scan plan by Assam Police in Assam worries BJP

An Assam Police letter purportedly seeking data on religious conversions and the number of churches in Assam appears to have put the BJP on the back foot in poll-bound Meghalaya and Nagaland, if not in Tripura.

The BJP has gone into damage control mode by dissociating itself from the letter which has given the Trinamool Congress, the principal opposition party in Meghalaya the ammunition to target the saffron brigade relentlessly.

The churches in Meghalaya have also started speaking against the content of the letter with the BJP trying desperately to present a secular face.

Mawlai MLA Process T Sawkmie, however, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene in the matter involving the Assam Police’s plan to keep tabs on the Christians.

“This order may affect the sentiment of the Christians in Assam and elsewhere in the Northeast and the country. The proposed survey should be stopped for peace and tranquillity in the country,” he said.
The BJP’s Meghalaya in charge, M Chuba Ao said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has already clarified on the matter. “I have left it to the state unit of our party to look into the matter,” he said.