In a ironic incident when the United States in its multiple reports on human rights has often criticised and lectured India about the rights of religious minorities, now two US nationals were caught red handed for illegally preaching Christianity in India's North eastern State of Assam. The two US national has been identified as John Matthew Bone and Michael James Flinchum.

 

It should be noted that Christian missionaries have been luring tribals people to convert to Christianity for quite a while. This conserning issue came to light after Assam Police arrested them following the complaint of the Locals.

 

They have arrested for violating their visa conditions. Religious preaching is barred under visa rules and the men were detained on February 2 at the Baptist Christian Hospital in Tezpur. Action was taken after the locals filed a complaint, police sources added.

 

The men were fined $500 each, and the district police have forwarded the case filed at Kacharigaon police station to the police headquarters. It is likely that the US nationals will be deported, sources said.

 

On January 31, the men attended the inauguration of the North Bank Baptist Christian Association office at the Baptish Mission Complex in Tezpur. Sonitpur Additional Superintendent of Police Madhurima Das said the two US citizens took part in a religious meeting on February 1 at Baptist Christian Mission Hospital, reported news agency Press Trust of India.

 

"The police detained them after getting information. We conducted a probe and found them involved in the religious gathering," she was quoted as saying. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had previously asked religious communities to avoid converting indigenous people.

 

 

 

"Unfortunately, indigenous communities in India often become the target of conversion efforts by mainstream religions," the Chief Minister had said. In October 2022, seven German nationals and three Swedish nationals were detained from Assam's Golaghat and Dibrugarh districts for allegedly flouting visa norms by indulging in missionary activities.The police took them to Guwahati and later deported them.

 

Recently, US-based Christian pastor claimed that the missionaries that his organisation is associated with have already converted more than 1 lakh Hindus in a single week. the missionaries that his organisation is associated with have already converted more than 1 lakh Hindus in a single week.

 

 

The tribal populations of Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland have become almost entirely Christian. Much of the conversions in the northeast occurred during 1931–51. In that period (around Independence), the Church began to support militant assertions of various tribals and regional sub-nationalism in this region. This seems to have helped the expansion of Christianity in the region.

 

Meghalaya was the first state to witness the expansion of Christianity because the British administrator handed over the responsibility and budget for school education to the Christian missions. As per the Census 2011, there are 75% Christians in the State.

 

Mizoram was the next State to be Christianised. There was a sudden spurt in the Christian population here during 1911–31. And from 1931 to 1951, the whole of the tribal population of Mizoram was converted. Between 1911-51, the share of Christians in Mizoram rose from a mere 3% to 90%.

 

Manipur which had around 2% Christians in 1931 and 12% in 1951 is now at 41%. The share of Christians in Manipur is less compared to neighbouring states because of its large non-tribal population. But the hilly districts of Manipur which have tribal populations, are almost fully Christian.

 

Nagaland had 2% Christians in 1911, 13% in 1931 and 46% in 1951. By 1991, the share of Christians reached above 87% and more than 98% of its tribal population of was Christianised.

 

Arunachal Pradesh remained beyond the reach of the Church up to 1971, after which the area was brought under civil administration. Since then, the share of Christians has been rising rapidly and has reached above 30% now. Many native tribes are now Christian.

 

Assam and Tripura don’t have a significant Christian population yet. But the rapid growth of Christianity in these states is not negligible. The share of Christians in Assam and Tripura are 3.75% and 4.5% respectively.

Sikkim too saw a rapid expansion of Christianity since 1971. Christians in the state grew from now form 0.8% to 10% between 1971–2011. The share of Christians in the neighbouring Darjeeling district of West Bengal has also increased from 3.6% in 1971 to 7.7% in 2011.

 

The sad reality is that despite the Modi government’s various efforts to control and keep a check on them, these organisations are still quite active and continuing their mission of conversion with tremendous impunity. India needs a strong anti-conversion law. Imposing a religion by unlawful means through force or by building a fear of punishment in the afterlife or any other kind of manipulation must be banned. More should be done on prosecuting christian NGOs actively involved in stalling various developmental projects in India through protests or spreading misinformation on public platforms.