Church Veto Had No Impact In Meghalaya And Nagaland

The most significant takeaway from the results of the just-concluded polls in Nagaland and Meghalaya is that the electorate cared little for the vicious communal propaganda unleashed by the Church – in collaboration with the Congress – against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies. In the run-up to the polls, the church in both Nagaland and Meghalaya had appealed to the electorate against voting for the BJP and its allies, saying that the party had a “hidden agenda” of forcing the Christians (who form an overwhelming majority in both the states) to convert to Hinduism.

The church issued written appeals (read this article) in Nagaland, and oral ones in Meghalaya, raising the bogey of Hindutva and saying that the two Christian states would be forcibly converted into Hindu states. It appealed to the voters to make a choice between the cross and the trishul. The propaganda unleashed by the church, backed by the Congress, was vicious and highly communal.

But, as the results have showed, the electorate did not fall for the church and Congress propaganda. The BJP won eleven of the 20 seats it contested in Nagaland, while its pre-poll ally, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), won 18 seats. The Congress, for all its efforts at painting the BJP and its allies black, drew a nil. In Meghalaya, the BJP may have won just two seats, but its ally at the national level, the National People's Party (NPP), won 19 seats while another ally, the United Democratic Party (UDP), won six seats and the three, with support from others, are all set to form the next government in Meghalaya.

“The election results show that the church propaganda has not had any effect. The people have rejected such divisive and communal appeals and voted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda of development. People of the Northeast want development, jobs, business opportunities, good infrastructure and progress,” said Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the convenor of the BJP-promoted North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and the BJP strongman in the entire region.

The election results, according to NDPP chief Neiphiu Rio who is likely to be Nagaland’s next chief minister, show that people do not like church interference in politics. “The church should not have issued political appeals. The church should not indulge in such activities,” he said. Another NDPP leader who has just won the keenly-contested election was more scathing. “People realised that the (Baptist) church issued the appeal at the behest of some wicked politicians. The church should learn a lesson from this and not issue such appeals ever in future. People are smart and know what is good and what is bad for them. Those who do not want development and progress raise the communal bogey, and it is very unfortunate that the church sided with these anti-development politicians. Pastors and priests should concern themselves only with spiritual matters, otherwise they will lose all the respect they command,” said the newly-elected MLA, who did not want to be identified.

The election results have also proved, as BJP president Amit Shah pointed out, that the BJP is not looked upon as a ‘Hindi-belt’ party. For a long time, the Congress-Left cabal, and media lackeys of this cabal, have tried and been successful in falsely projecting the BJP as a Hindu belt and Hindutva party. The Congress has, for quite some time now, been egging the Christian clergy in the Christian-majority Northeastern states to preach against the BJP from the pulpits. Sunday sermons have often been punctuated by wild doomsday forecasts about the impending danger to Christianity posed by the BJP and its allies. Written and oral appeals have been issued innumerable times warning the ‘faithful’ against the ‘temptations of the devil’ (a veiled reference to the promises of development and progress promised by the BJP and its allies).

Such appeals, sermons and warnings helped the Congress a few times in the past. “But as the saying goes, you cannot fool all the people all the time. The people of the Northeast have now realised that the Congress cannot bring any development and progress and only stands for corruption. The Congress has ruled the seven states of the Northeast all these decades, but has little to show in terms of governance and economic progress. People cannot be fooled any more with all the lies and falsehoods. The elections results have proved this,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma, pointing out that even Rahul Gandhi had made communal appeals during his campaigning in Meghalaya and Nagaland.

But the church remains unfazed. “The appeal was made to warn the people of the dangers that will happen if the BJP and its allies come to power in this Christian state. People did not believe our warning. But when they ultimately realise the disaster they have brought upon themselves, they will realise how relevant our appeal was and the Church will be stronger that what it is now. It is the duty of the Church to warn the faithful of the dangers posed by advocates of the devil and we did just that. We reject the opinion that the church should not issue political appeals,” said a senior functionary of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), which had issued an appeal to the electorate against voting for the BJP.

The BJP and its allies, buoyed by the electorate’s rejection of the church’s communal appeals, have decided to ignore the issue. “We never reacted much to the church’s vicious propaganda against us. All our candidates were Christians and voters are mature enough to know what is good for them. We campaigned on the planks of peace, progress and prosperity and the voters have chosen these planks over divisive appeals and false propaganda,” said a senior BJP leader.

The Christian clergy, backed by the Congress, isn’t giving up so easily. Senior church leaders in Meghalaya have reportedly talked to leaders of the UDP, the People’s Democratic Front, the HSPDP, the KHNAM (who, between them, have 13 MLAs) as well as three newly-elected independents, and appealed to them to support the Congress in forming the next government in the state. They have reportedly told the leaders of these parties that supporting the NPP-BJP combine would pose a danger to Christianity in Meghalaya. Senior Congress leaders from New Delhi are said to have called up some powerful leaders of the Presbyterian Church and seniors of churches of some other denominations and appealed to them to help the Congress.

But then, the Congress will soon realise that its game is up. Raising the Hindutva bogey to perpetuate its sinister hold on power will not work any longer. Meghalaya and Nagaland have just proven this. And both the church and the Congress need to draw lessons from these verdicts.