N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
Attempts are on to create a ''pro-American sovereign
Christian nation'' in the North-East by encouraging
separatist militancy and proselytisation with
''directions from Rome'', alleges A Balakrishnan,
general secretary of the Vivekananda Kendra, based at
Kanyakumari. ''The ouster of Arunachal Pradesh Chief
Minister Gegong Apang earlier this month was a step in
this direction,'' he adds.
''I do not know what the Union home ministry is doing
about it,'' says Balakrishnan, who was among the first
volunteers of the Vivekananda Kendra to start working in
the North-East in the seventies.
''The change of government at the Centre does not seem
to have made any difference,'' he adds, seeking an
''immediate ban'' on the activities of foreign
missionaries in the region.
''There is a difference between conversions in the rest
of the country, and in the North-East,'' says
Balakrishnan. ''Here, the goal doesn't seem to be
preaching religion -- which is also wrong if allurements
are offered. Instead, the spate of conversions in the
North-East seems to be aimed at creating
''extra-territorial loyalties'' in the peace-loving
tribals and ''alienating '' them from the nation.
Balakrishnan refers to the banned National Socialist
Council of Nagaland in this context. ''The NSCN is
behind it all,'' he says. ''The idea is to create a
sovereign, Christian-backed, possibly
Christian-dominated, sovereign nation of 'Greater
Nagaland' comprising Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur,
Meghalaya, and two districts each of Arunachal Pradesh
and Assam. The Arunachal districts border Nagaland, and
the Assam districts are required to give `access' to
various parts.
''The Americans are behind it. ''They want a 'compliant
nation' that would serve their 'self-centred,
geo-political interests'. With a 'Greater Nagaland',
that's also Christian in attitude and approach, they
will have a 'listening post' and 'control tower', tuned
to India, China and the strategic Himalayan ranges.''
The ''game of America'' to weaken the two ''Asian
giants'' is not recent, claims Balakrishnan. ''This was
mooted immediately after World War II, and conversion to
Christianity is only one of the steps in the process.
The direction comes from Rome to create a separate
nation which will be a protege of the Americans, and the
Church is ably supported by American money.''
Balakrishnan wonders why the new rulers in Delhi,
particularly Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, have done nothing
about it ''after opposing the conversions in the
North-East when they were in the Opposition''. According
to him, there is enough documentary evidence already in
possession of the Centre, supporting his case.
In this context, he refers in particular to the Centre's
ceasefire agreement with the NSCN. ''It has weakened the
resolve and the direction of the security forces to
fight the banned organisation of terrorists,'' he says.
His information is that the NSCN is ''using the
ceasefire period with impunity to spread its activities
to Arunachal Pradesh, and also terrorise the 'population
under its control' while the security forces are made
mute spectators''.
Both factions of the NSCN ''have been collecting 'taxes'
from the people, and 'octroi' from vehicles passing
their 'checkposts' in the region,'' says Balakrishnan.
''Since spreading their activities to the Tirup,
Challang, Lohit and Dipang districts of Arunachal
Pradesh, they held a meeting of the MLAs in the area,
asking them to resign.''
Eight of the 16 MLAs from the districts, and many
village leaders participated in the function, he says,
quoting his sources.
Even the recent ouster of Arunachal Pradesh chief
minister Gegong Apang had ''more to do with the
Church-backed insurgency than to ego clashes or ethnic
differences, as was being made out in a section of the
media.
''Apang was all for 'development with culture', and this
was not to the liking of the Church. He did not allow
the missionaries to gain control over the people, who
had started proselytisation activities in a big way.''
Balakrishnan alleges 'rebel Arunachal Congress' leaders,
who headed the ouster move against Apang, as
'Church-influenced radicals'.
One of the rebels, opposed to Apang's Adi-Miniong tribe,
even publicly declared that ''Arunachal Pradesh is a
land for Christ''.
At the function where the statement was made, Dr C L
Rema, the head of the Baptist Church at Tezpur, wanted
to ''plant a church in every village of Arunachal
Pradesh by 2000.''
The Vivekananda Kendra has its operations throughout the
North-East, particularly Arunachal Pradesh, where it has
19 residential schools and centres in every district.
''Our thrust is on Arunachal Pradesh, as it is the only
state mostly unaffected by 'conversions' when we started
our activities in the region,'' says he.
Balakrishnan adds, ''Today, there is an estimated 35 per
cent Christian population in a total of 800,000, up from
a Census figure of near-zero in 1961, eight per cent in
1971 and near-20 per cent in the eighties.''
This is an ''unnatural growth'', he says, asking, ''Who
then said there is no proselytisation?''