Conversion mafia in Northeast poses serious threat to India's security too

After the departure of the British from India, the Christian missionaries found their easy replacement in the emerging Neo-elite of the Indian society. As a result, the existing education system in India has been made used of in a subtle manner in general, and in an aggressive manner through the Christian educational institutions.

Few days back, the Organiser weekly had published an article on how the churches of Germany and other countries of Europe were investing huge amounts of money for funding religious conversions in Assam. This was brought to light through a Letter of Appreciation that was sent by the Diocese of Tezpur in Assam to the pastor of a German Church. The letter, which was later accessed by the Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), was addressed to the German pastor, thanking him for donating and transferring 7500 Euros (6,55,000 INR) into the Tezpur Diocesan account on January 18, 2021 amid the COVID-19 induced restrictions throughout the country.

The Diocese of Tezpur further stated in the letter that the money would be utilized for "various works of evangelization, faith formation, and other social welfare activities of the Diocese." Visiting different villages of Assam and especially the tea garden areas for carrying out their evangelical activities, was also mentioned in the letter. The specific goal of the missionaries to proselytise the Hindu population of Assam has been taking place through three different Pastorates/ Administrative Divisions located in Guwahati, Tezpur, and Dibrugarh. They are a part of the Assam Mission Field (AMF) that operates from the Mizo Presbyterian Church compound located in KC Das Road, Satribari, Guwahati.

The different mission stations/field offices of the AMF across the three Pastorates are generally disguised as churches, missionary schools, and other administrative offices. These are operated through a network of agents, who mostly happen to be newly-inducted local converts. They are supervised by well-trained Mizo officials designated as field secretaries. Identification of local communities/individuals within their mission stations based on certain specific parameters for the purpose of conversion takes place through vulnerability mapping. The main idea behind this exercise is to determine categories of population who are vulnerable to conversions, e.g. families devastated by natural disasters, economic or medical catastrophes, underdeveloped/remote localities, single-parent orphans, etc.

It may be mentioned here that for quite a long period of time in the past, the Upper Assam and East Arunachal Mission Field was merged with the AMF which was then a very large field for one field director to supervise alone. It was on April 7, 2017 that a new mission field named Upper Assam and East Arunachal Mission Field with Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam as its headquarters, was separately created through the adoption of a resolution by the General Missions Board. The area and jurisdiction of each pastor as well as the posting of missionaries is carefully marked.

In this context, the most important and sensitive question that we need to address is - are religious conversions forced and pre-planned (i.e. intended with a particular purpose), or are they really genuine? What are the different modes of religious conversion? We need to understand these aspects so as to arrive at a holistic perspective of the issue. For example, educational institutions, especially the convent and missionary schools, have continuously derided the Hindu faith and in many instances, Hindu students are even ridiculed for displaying symbols of their faith. There have been cases where these schools have resorted to all measures that they can to make the kids feel ashamed of their faith and spew venom against it. The poor, sick, and the needy have always been the foremost targets of this Christian conversion mafia. E.g. news reports have surfaced from many parts of India time and again where poor and sick patients were lured with money to convert.

These are nothing but blatant examples of institutionalised conversion which are largely being carried out by the well-funded missionaries. The conversion mafia is very well-organised and has been working at multiple levels for a long time now. There are clear proofs of the fact that a systematic effort has always been going on to change the demography of this country.

The root of the problem is deep. The chief factor behind the popularity of Christian educational institutions in India is the usage of English as the primary language of instruction in these schools. The importance given to the English language grew continuously during the period of British colonisation of India. But, it became an obsession after 1947, for it suited the colonised minds of the Indian elite, owing obviously to the immense advantages of social and political capital that accrued from such an arrangement.

The power structure left behind by the British exercised its dominance in the day-to-day lives of Indians. Hence, it became much easier for the brown sahibs to carry on with this same old system, instead of devising a new one. We can therefore understand the deep-rooted infliction of the colonial mindset till this day in almost all the major socio-political institutions of India. Hence, after the departure of the British from India, the Christian missionaries found their easy replacement in the emerging Neo-elite of the Indian society. As a result, the existing education system in India has been made used of in a subtle manner in general, and in an aggressive manner through the Christian educational institutions.

The consequences of such conversions have been dangerous and cataclysmic. We have the case of Punjab where Sikhs are being continuously targeted by the missionaries; large belts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the South have already been converted. The traditional faith-systems of the different vanavasi communities of North-East India have borne some of the worst impacts of this religious proselytisation. The World Healing Prayer Center at Moran in Assam's Dibrugarh, headed by one Ranjan Chutia, is a very good example of how their nefarious agenda works.

But, an interesting pattern that can be observed in most such cases of religious conversions is that they are largely concentrated in the geo-politically sensitive border regions of Bharat and as well as the strategically-located coastal areas, whether it be the case with the North-East; the entire area that spans the various districts of Upper Assam, lying adjacent to the Catholic Christian-dominated states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh; Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, or even Odisha for that matter, etc. We therefore cannot deny that a very well-planned demographic shift is being executed along the boundaries of Bharat at the hands of several Breaking-India forces.

The aim is not only to change the overall socio-cultural composition of the Indian society but also enable our enemies across the border to get hold of the strategic locations of our country. E.g. why has the North-East always been on the target of these evangelists? It is because this region shares international boundaries with Myanmar, Bangladesh, and China - countries from where specific problems afflicting the North-East today have also originated, like illegal drugs and arms smuggling from Myanmar; religious demographic change through infiltration from Bangladesh, Maoism funded by China, etc. This has led to a situation of never-ending friction and internal instability.

The rot is spread everywhere. The most worrying trend, however, is the intensity of its reach that is increasing day by day. The agenda of religious conversions is undoubtedly a dreadful reality, more so because of the reason that it poses a serious existential threat for the national security.

(Ankita Dutta is a researcher from Assam. She has done M.Phil. and Ph.D. from JNU, New Delhi. Her area of specialisation is the culture and history of North-East India, with focus on recent socio-political developments in the region.)

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