Indian Church leaders cry foul at secret profiling of missionaries

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 UCA News 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 conversion 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.

This is the second attempt on the part of the state’s police to undertake a discreet profiling of Christian missionaries in less than a year.

They sought similar details in July 2023, but it was abandoned after the questionnaire was leaked to the media.The questionnaire had 15 major queries then, but this time their number has gone up to 30.Church officials in three dioceses – Jabalpur, Jhabua, and Gwalior – said they have “unofficially” received the questionnaire.

“The questionnaire is unofficially handed over to us and we are asked to fill in our replies,” said Father Rockey Shah, public relations officer of the Jhabua diocese.

He said Church-run institutions have no objection to providing information to the government, “but it should come through proper channels.”

“We do not do anything illegal, which may be against the interests of the nation,” the priest clarified.

However, Shah said the way the questionnaire is drafted and police officials directed to discreetly collect the details raises doubts.Neither the state government nor the police department has admitted to profiling Christian missionaries.

Christians make up 0.29 percent of the 72 million people in Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP returned to power with a huge mandate in the assembly elections held in December last year.

This article is originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-church-leaders-cry-foul-at-secret-profiling-of-missionaries/104081