Church leaders have expressed their strong disapproval of a pro-Hindu state government’s attempt to clandestinely profile Christian missionaries in a central Indian state.
“Some of our institutions indeed got a questionnaire from the local police, but we are yet to reply,” said Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh state.
Police are circulating the questionnaire among the Christian community seeking details of missionaries working in the state, the institutions run by them, and their funding sources.
“I do not know why single out Christians and collect such details. I see some ulterior motives behind it,” Bishop Almeida told on Feb. 7.
The police want details like the name and address of the individual missionary or institution, work objectives, bank account, and sources of foreign funding. They are also seeking names and phone numbers of those working with the missionary in case he/she runs a non-governmental organization (NGO).
The questionnaire also sought to know whether Christians resort to religious con-version activities, which are banned under a stringent anti-conversion law passed by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 2021.
“We will seek legal opinion before sharing any information as police are trying to gather the information unofficially,” Bishop Almeida said.
Most of the information sought is already there in the public domain or filed with government agencies, he added.
“It seems that the government wants to harass Christians who have been working for the poor,” the prelate said.