Missionary schools in Assam on edge after threat to remove Christian symbols, chapels
A threat by a radical Hindu group to missionary schools across Assam to remove iconography and chapels from their premises has led to concerns among principals and church bodies in the state, prompting police to take note.
In the past week, principals of several missionary schools across the state have written to their local police asking for protection against untoward incidents, with the head of a group called the Kutumba Suraksha Parishad declaring Thursday as the “deadline” for them to accede to his demands.
Assam Director General of Police G P Singh told The Indian Express, “District police have been advised across the state that no untoward incident should be allowed.”
On February 7, Satya Ranjan Borah, president of the radical Hindu group, announced that he would give missionary schools in Assam 15 days to get rid of “photos and statues of Jesus Christ and Mary, crosses, churches on campus”. He also demanded that elements of Christianity be removed from their morning prayers and that no teachers be dressed in vestments.
He had threatened that if they did not, “we will not leave them… we will not be responsible for the consequences.”“… there is a fear that has crept among our members regarding the safety of the institution and its personnel. It is also the time of the annual examination. Any disturbance at this moment will directly or indirectly affect our children and their future. I kindly request you to take necessary steps to ensure the welfare of all, especially the children who are our future,” states the common letter issued by the schools.
The anxieties heightened when a poster reiterating the threat was found pasted on the wall of Carmel School Jorhat, a prominent school in the state, prompting the principal, Sister Rose Fatima, to write to the Cinnamara police outpost earlier this week, requesting protection and stating that it had “created a sense of panic on the school campus”.
According to an official in the Dibrugarh Diocese, whose jurisdiction the school comes under, a similar poster had been pasted at Don Bosco High School Lichubari, another school in Jorhat.
Assam Christian Forum spokesperson Allen Brooks said that while police have been responsive to requests by principals, “the government is not acting on this in a manner it should have”.
“We see people picked up and arrested for Facebook posts and even poems; here is a person spewing venom and issuing threats, attacking an entire community… Thousands have benefitted from these schools… The oldest missionary school in the state is more than 175 years old,” he said.
Brooks said that there are more than 300 Christian-run schools in the state, including those under five dioceses and Baptist Mission schools.
This article is originally published on https://indianexpress.com/article/india/assam-missionary-schools-threat-to-remove-christian-symbols-chapels-9175397/
