New Delhi: On Sunday morning, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), the apex body of Baptist churches across the state, had a special message for the community — to vote against the “communal forces working against Christians in India”.
The council’s message, communicated to all churches under it, was: “Pray so that our members all state exercise judiciously their sacred duty to vote in coming elections for good of the state by choosing leaders who would listen to people and respond effectively to their anxieties and needs.”
The statement, issued by NBCC general secretary Reverend Zelhou, also highlighted the “persecution of the Church and Christians in India”.
It further said: “Pray that the communal forces working against Christians in India will be brought to justice. Pray for the Christians to stand firm in their faith, pray that the people in authority will rule the country justly with a human face and deal sternly with those who sow the seeds of hatred.”
The church’s message — seemingly aimed at Nagaland’s ruling alliance led by the National Democratic People’s Party (NDPP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — underscores the anxiety and discomfort that the Christian-majority population feels in the current political scenario.
It has also put the BJP on the defensive, especially given its efforts to woo the state’s Christian majority.
Nagaland is set to vote next week. Eighty-nine per cent of the state’s population is Christian, with Baptists being the most predominant group (75 per cent).
The BJP is not “anti-Christian”, Kuputo Shohe, Nagaland BJP’s chief spokesperson, told ThePrint. The party won 12 of the state’s 60 assembly seats in 2018 — a stunning performance, especially since the party had little to no presence in the state before that.
“During elections, some people bring the issue of religious persecution but Nagaland BJP is as Christian as any other members of the community,” Shohe said. “Most of our candidates came from the community. Making such allegations against the party is not in good taste. For us, everyone is equal and we respect every community. There are no biases against any community.”
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Courting the church
The Baptist church’s remarks come in the middle of another row — the BJP’s use of Christian symbolism for election campaigning.
The latest controversy involves Union Minister for State for Minority Affairs John Barla — a video of his election campaign for Nagaland BJP president Temjen Imna Along on 16 February shows him holding the latter’s hand and shouting “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!”
After the video went viral, church groups began accusing him of using religion for political gains. In a press release, the NBCC said: “Using ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Praise the Lord’ in political platforms is nothing but an insult and ploy to divide the Christian majority society.”
However, the BJP has distanced itself from the controversy, saying it was Barla’s “personal choice”.
“We’re not asking votes in the name of gods,” Nagaland BJP’s general secretary Khevishe Sema told ThePrint. “It was his personal choice and it came from the heart. There was no politics involved.”
Since the row, the BJP has been trying to shed its “anti-Christian” image, even holding press conferences to drive the message. The party hopes to secure 15-18 seats in the upcoming elections, and for this, the support of the Baptist church could prove vital.
“Our journey in the state is based on three factors — stability, economic growth, and peace. We were successful in ensuring peace in a state that has a turbulent past. We promised the electorate that the combination of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is good for peace and stability and that has worked,” a senior BJP leader from the state told ThePrint.
“We worked on the development agenda and deployed several people to mend our ties with the Church and send the message that we’re not an anti-Christian party and that worked. That’s the reason we won 12 seats in the last election. A few sections of society still hold some resentment, but it will become more harmonious in the coming days,” the leader added.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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