backed insurgency in India’s north-eastern states, adding to fears of new religious tensions there, BosNewsLife established Tuesday, July 26. Speaking at a Hindu-led seminar in the town of Ghaziabad near New Delhi, social scientist Dr. J.K. Bajaj reportedly complained that "the insurgency in Nagaland and other north-eastern states is supported by [the] church and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."
Dr. Bajaj, who serves at the Centre for Policy Studies and is co-author of the controversial book "Religious Demography of India", made the comments as he presented a "paper" with his conclusions, said the Asian Tribune publication. The scientist was quoted as saying that the Christian population in Nagaland, Mizoram and other north-eastern states had increased "extraordinarily".
CHURCHES CONCERNED
His reported remarks were closely monitored by church groups who have suggested that Hindu organizations are concerned about the apparent rapid growth of Christianity in several parts of India. Dr. Bajaj is a close ally of the influential Hindu militant group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and a supporter of its Hindutva ideology.
The ideology advocates "one nation, one culture, one religion, one language" and allows religious minorities to live in the country only in subordination to the Hindu majority community.
Bajaj’s book ‘Religious Demography of India’ was released in May 2003 by then Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, of the Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the political wing of the RSS. It seeks "to warn Hindus" that Muslims and Christians would form at least 50 per cent population in 50 years.
RSS SUPPORTS BOOK
RSS Chief K Sudarshan also attended the book-release ceremony in New Delhi. The book, sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, divides India’s populations into three large groups: Muslims, Christians and "Indian Religionists."
"If the number of Indian Religionists continues to decline at the same speed, the Indian Religionists would be less than 50 per cent of the total population in the coming 50 years," claims the book.
"While moving from [the state of] Uttar Pradesh to Assam [state] the number of Indian Religionists gradually declines from 85 per cent to 65 per cent. Before Independence, only one State, Mizoram, was Christian-dominated but today the number of Christians has registered a remarkable growth in the north-eastern states," the book adds.
"SEVEN SISTERS"
Bordering China, Burma, Bhutan and Bangladesh, India’s north-east comprises Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh and are often referred to as the "Seven Sisters." Christianity is the majority religion in Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland, and there are substantial Christian minorities in the rest of the region, church sources say. There are at least 35-million Christians in that region, according to estimates.
Several dignitaries at the seminar supported Dr. Bajaj’s "concern" about "the fast changing demography," which they warned, "was a serious threat to national security." Virag Pachpore, chief sub-editor of the Hitvad newspaper based in the town of Nagpur in Maharashtra state stressed that "Christian missionaries" helped a principal separatist group in Nagaland, known as the ‘National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) "in challenging the integrity of India."
The group demands a united homeland, Nagalim and claims a territory six times the size of present-day Nagaland including most of Manipur as well as parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Burma, or ‘Myanmar’, as military regime has named the country.
Churches in Nagaland strongly deny having any connection with the group, the BosNewsLife New Delhi Bureau learned. Churches and their federating bodies often issue statements condemning violence perpetrated by separatist groups.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
However S.K. Kaul, a member of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission said that states like Arunachal Pradesh had been the victim of an "evil design of Christian missionaries in the recent years." He claimed that "forced conversions" were taking place in the Changlang and Tirap districts of the state and that the NSCN (IM) was behind it.
Individual Evangelical Christians and missionaries in India have made clear it is impossible for them to be involved in "forced conversions" as the Bible says that people can only accept Christ by faith and that is a free choice. "There is no one amongst the Christian community who says that he or she became a Christian by force or allurement. Such assertions are always made by Hindu fundamentalist organizations," churches said.
