Christians in India’s Assam state have decided not to cooperate with the police, who began a survey aiming to gather details of Catholics, their churches, institutions, and religious conversions.
“Catholic parishes and institutions have refused to give details because the government and state chief minister himself has disowned it,” said Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati on Jan. 5.
Archbishop Moolachira said Christians see the circular, issued by the police department in Assam on Dec. 16, as discriminatory as it singles out activities of the Church.
Following the Christians’ objection to the circular, the state’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma disowned it during a press conference.
The leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs the state government, said his administration did not want any survey of the activities of Christians in the state.
“I completely dissociate myself from the [police] circular,” Sarma told reporters.
Archbishop Moolachira told UCA News that since the chief minister had disowned the circular, the Church has advised Christians not to give any details to the police survey.
“We came to know about the circular during the Christmas season. Along with several other Christian organizations, we objected to it. Later, the government disowned the circular,” he said.
The police across all districts in the state were told to comply with the circular by Dec. 22.
It wanted to collect data on the number of churches established in the last year, instances of religious conversions in the past six years, and the prime factors leading to conversions.
The circular also wanted the police to identify the people who are working for religious conversions.
“It is strange that when we raised this issue with the state chief minister, he said he had no knowledge,” Archbishop Moolachira said.