Nagaland’s church body NBCC declines BJP offer to clean church compound

KOHIMA: The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), an influential church body in the state, on Tuesday rejected an offer by the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to include church compounds among the places to be covered by the party’s cleanliness drive on May 11, saying the party should instead mobilise party members to safeguard persecuted churches elsewhere in the country.

“While we decline your good service to the church, we may as well direct your good office to pursue another avenue of service,” Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) told the state BJP in a statement on Tuesday.

The NBCC statement is a response to Nagaland BJP chief Benjamin Yepthomi ‘s direction to party functionaries to carry out programmes across the state’s 60 mandals including a cleanliness drive that would also cover “church compound”.

NBCC is the central organisation of nearly 1,500 Baptist churches in Nagaland. Christians account for 87.93% of the state’s population of 1.97 million people, according to the 2011 census. It is the biggest church body in the state and has considerable clout.

“It is a well-known fact that the country has faced unprecedented persecution during the BJP rule. Religious and social minorities have faced difficult times in recent decades. Christian worship and our pastors and priests are beaten, tortured and imprisoned giving a sense of insecurity in our country. Even our Christian symbols were the target not to speak of the demolition of our sacred worship places. Our gatherings are closely watched and monitored leaving religious institutions in the country extremely vulnerable,” NBCC said.

Instead, it asked the state BJP leadership to send party members to locations elsewhere to help “persecuted churches in the mainland”.

“This act will undoubtedly give reassurance to people whose churches and institutions are constantly targeted,” it said.

“We appreciate the good office of the BJP and honourably decline your offer not to widen the chasm in our state. For now, we will look after ourselves as the church. We appreciate you for reminding us that we must keep the church compound clean. This is not a political statement but the church is just drawing the line of separation,” NBCC added.

The body added that it could only remind political parties to exercise caution when issuing directions to party cadre. “Knowing what to say and do, as well as what is acceptable, can help to close the gap that has been growing in our state. Stay as a political party, and leave the church to run whatever they see fit within their compounds”.

The umbrella body of Baptist churches and associations also took note of BJP’s plans to observe the death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mukherjee on June 23. “The church is not accustomed to observing death anniversary except the birth, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The rationale behind this is because, to do so would be to subscribe to the teaching and ideology of the person. So, a political party cannot impose this to its citizens in a Christian-majority society. It would do much good to the community if political parties do not dictate to the residents what to observe or when to do things. Political party agenda does not include these issues. Knowing the difference is wisdom,” NBCC said. It also advised all churches to be vigilant “when a political party becomes religious in nature, because the authority on which power is generated between the church and the state are different”.