In what can be termed a “historic” move of the Government of Assam under Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024 was passed in the Assam Legislative Assembly in a voice vote on the last day of the recently-concluded Budget Session. The Bill aims to eradicate unscientific healing practices undertaken with a sinister motive to exploit poor and innocent people. Once the Bill is enacted, the commission of all acts of healing practices and magical healing in the name of curing “incurable diseases” by any person with the objective of exploiting common people will be prohibited.

It defines healing practices as a “traditional holistic approach to healing the body, mind and spirit of a human being with traditional medicine and art, including any system, treatment, diagnosis, or practice for the assessment, cure, relief, or correction of any human disease, ailment, deformity, injury or enhancement of a condition or appearance.” Accordingly, from now onwards, no person can take part in any healing practices including claims of magical healing for the treatment of any diseases or disorder, or any condition relating to human health directly or indirectly giving a false impression of treatment to cure diseases, pain, or trouble to human health.

Offences committed under the provisions of the Bill would be cognizable and non-bailable. In case of the first offence, a person can be jailed for one year which may be extended up to three years with a fine of Rs. 5,00,00 or with both; and, in the case of a subsequent conviction, with imprisonment which may extend up to five years, or with a fine of Rs. 1 lakh or both. However, various missionary organisations in the state led by the Assam Christian Forum (ACF) were quick to express their displeasure against the Bill. The ACF categorically stated that it is opposed to the decision of the Assam Cabinet to ban magical healings in the state, on the ground that this Bill will violate the constitutional rights of the Christians of Assam.

The primary objective of the Bill is to stop the propagation of evil practices associated with “magical healing” in the name of treatment, which poses a serious problem to the health of a person, both physically and mentally. Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma had specifically mentioned that the Bill would be an important milestone to curb evangelism in Assam. He also alleged that purported magical healing practices were being conducted to carry out religious conversions among the tribal people of Assam. On the other hand, Archbishop of Guwahati Archdiocese John Moolachira, who also happens to be the President of the ACF, had said that there is no such term as “magical healing” in Christianity.

In this context, the most important and sensitive question that arises here is – are religious conversions forced and pre-planned (i.e. intended with a particular purpose), or are they really genuine? What are the different modes of religious conversion? We need to address these aspects to arrive at a holistic understanding of the issue. Educational institutions, especially the convent and missionary schools, have continuously derided Hindu Dharma and in many instances, Hindu students are even ridiculed for displaying the symbols of their faith. There have been cases where these schools have resorted to all measures that they can to make the kids feel ashamed of their faith and spew venom against it.

The poor, sick, and the needy have always been the foremost targets of this Christian conversion mafia. For instance, the news reports from many parts of India time and again where poor and sick patients were lured with money to convert. In the North-Eastern states including Assam, the missionaries especially target those tribal-inhabited areas where the traditional religious belief systems of these tribes are still predominant. These are all but blatant examples of institutionalised conversion, largely being carried out by well-funded missionaries. The conversion mafia in the Northeast is extremely well-organised and has been working at multiple levels for a long time now.

A systematic effort has been going on since 1947, to change the demography of this region of the country. The consequences of such conversions have been dangerous and cataclysmic. We have the case of Punjab where Sikhs are being continuously targeted by the missionaries; large belts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the South have already been converted. The traditional belief systems of the different tribal communities of North-East India have borne some of the worst impacts of this religious proselytisation menace. The World Healing Prayer Centre at Moran in Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam headed by one Ranjan Chutia, is a very good example of how their nefarious agenda works.

In July 2022, Organiser Weekly published an article on how the Churches of Germany and other countries of Europe were investing huge amounts of money for funding religious conversions in Assam.[1] This was brought to light through a Letter of Appreciation that was sent by the Diocese of Tezpur, Assam to the Pastor of a German Church. The letter, which was later accessed by the Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), was addressed to the German Pastor, thanking him for donating and transferring 7,500 Euros (6,55,000 INR) into the Tezpur Diocesan account on January 18, 2021 amid the COVID-19 induced restrictions throughout the country.

The Diocese of Tezpur had further stated in the letter that the money would be utilized for “various works of evangelization, faith formation, and other social welfare activities of the Diocese.” Mention about the periodic visits of the missionaries to different villages of Assam, especially the tea gardens, for carrying out their evangelical activities, was also made in the letter. Religious proselytisation of the Hindus of Assam has been taking place through three four different Pastorates/Administrative Divisions located in Guwahati (Lower Assam), Tezpur (Middle Assam, and those areas encompassing the North bank of the Brahmaputra), Dibrugarh (Upper Assam), and Barak Valley (Silchar).

They are a part of the Assam Mission Field (AMF) that operates from the Mizoram Presbyterian Church (Mizoram Synod) compound located on KC Das Road, Satribari, Guwahati. The Mizo Presbyterian Church was formed with the chief objective of completing the unfinished task of proselytising Assam, often touted as the last Hindu bastion of the Northeast in the missionaries’ scheme of affairs. Its chief functionaries are mostly from the Mizo and Hmar communities of Mizoram. The Mission Stations/Field Offices of the AMF across the four Pastorates are generally disguised as “charitable” or “social service” organisations, e.g. Churches, Missionary Schools, and other Administrative Offices.

These are operated through a network of agents, mainly newly-inducted first generation local converts, placed lower in the hierarchy. They work under the supervision of well-trained Mizo officials designated as Field Secretaries. They are well-trained in the Missionary Training College, Aizawl to read, write and speak fluent Assamese before they are posted to their respective Pastorates in Assam. For fulfilling the conversion targets, agents for different communities (e.g. tea garden labourers, Santhals, Nepalis, Hindu Bengalis, etc.) have also been specifically designated as a part of the AMF. The amount of funds disbursed to each Pastorate annually is determined on the basis of the number of converts per village.

Identification of local communities/individuals within their Mission Stations based on specific parameters for the purpose of conversion takes place through ‘vulnerability mapping’. It determines the categories of population vulnerable to conversions, e.g. families devastated by natural disasters, economic or medical catastrophes, individuals and families suffering from terminal or long-term illnesses, underdeveloped/remote localities, single-parent orphans or orphans, etc. It may be mentioned here that for quite a long period of time in the past, the Upper Assam and East Arunachal Mission Field was merged with the AMF which was then a very large field for one Field Director to supervise alone.

It was on April 7, 2017, that a new Mission Field named the Upper Assam and East Arunachal Mission Field with Dibrugarh district as its headquarters, was separately created through the adoption of a resolution by the General Missions Board. The area and jurisdiction of each Pastor as well as the posting of missionaries is carefully demarcated. Field headquarters, land purchased by the Church and quarters for the residential buildings to be constructed, the distance between each village, the distance from one village to the Mission Station, and those villages with an already significant Christian population, etc. are prepared.

This is done to ensure that there is no overlapping of the duties and responsibilities being assigned to each one of them. An interesting pattern that can be observed in most such cases of religious conversions is that they are largely concentrated in the geo-politically sensitive border regions of Bharat as well as the strategically-located coastal areas, whether it be the case with the North-East; the entire region that spans the various districts of Upper Assam, adjacent to the Catholic Christian-dominated states of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh; Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, or even Odisha for that matter, etc. These places have always been on the potential radar of the missionaries.

The execution of a very well-planned demographic shift along the boundaries of Bharat at the behest of several Breaking-India forces can no longer be denied. Missionary involvement in numerous cases of child trafficking from the North-East has surfaced earlier. A huge number of tribal children were taken away from the districts of Udalguri, Kokrajhar and its neighbouring regions to Kerala, Gujarat, Delhi and other places by religious (“charitable”) organisations and NGOs run by Christian missionaries, soon after the 1996 Bodo-Santhal ethnic clashes in which hundreds of people were killed, their houses set on fire and lakhs displaced.[2]

Thousands lived in relief camps for years while many settled in dilapidated huts near NH 31C (connecting Kokrajhar with West Bengal). It was at this time that many women victims of the violence had fallen prey to traffickers and prostitution rackets. The issue drew the Supreme Court's attention in 2010 after more than 56 malnourished children from Assam and Manipur were rescued from unregistered children's homes in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.[3] The apex court then barred children below 12 years from being taken out of these two states. The trend, however, continued as similar violence occurred in 1998, 2012 and 2014, leading to deaths and large-scale displacement.

Children from poverty-stricken and conflict-torn zones in the North-East, especially the border regions of the states of Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh, are often targeted by traffickers masquerading as evangelists and missionaries since people in these regions are more often seen willing to send off their children if they are promised a good education. The root of the problem is indeed deeper. The popularity of Christian educational institutions in India post-1947 can be attributed, in part, to the usage of English as the primary language of instruction in these schools. The importance given to the English language grew continuously during the period of the British colonisation of India.

But it became an obsession after 1947, for it suited the colonised minds of the Indian elite, owing obviously to the immense advantages of social and political capital that accrued from such an arrangement. The power structure left behind by the British continued to exercise its dominance in the day-to-day lives of Indians. It became much easier for the brown sahibs to carry on with this same old system, instead of devising a new one. The infliction of the colonial mindset in almost all the major socio-political institutions of India is, therefore, deep-rooted. After the departure of the British from India, the Christian missionaries found their easy replacement in the emerging Neo-elite of Indian society.

The existing education system in India has been made use of, both subtly and aggressively by the Christian educational institutions. Their aim has not only been to change the overall socio-cultural composition of the Indian society but also enable our enemies across the border to get hold of the country’s strategic locations. Consider this, why has the North-East always been the target of these evangelists? It shares international boundaries with Myanmar, Bangladesh, and China – countries from where specific problems afflicting the region have originated, like for instance, illegal drugs and arms smuggling from Myanmar; religious demographic change through infiltration from Bangladesh, Maoism funded by China, etc.

This has led to a situation of never-ending friction and internal instability. The rot has assumed gigantic proportions over a period of time. The most worrying trend, however, is the intensity of its reach which is increasing day by day. The agenda of religious conversions is undoubtedly a dreadful reality, more so because it poses a serious existential threat to the national security of our country. This draws our attention to the oft-heard issue of the flouting of tourist visa rules by so-called “foreign tourists”. In the first week of November 2022, three Swedish nationals, including two women, were being detained by the Assam Police for the violation of tourist visa rules.

It was later reported that the tourists were picked up from a religious “prayer meeting” organised by the United Church Forum (an apex body of around 12 different Churches) in Naharkatia town of Dibrugarh district. Just a few days before this incident, a Shiva temple was vandalised in Dibrugarh’s Chabua locality – a region where conversions have become rampant of late. The locals of the area had later alleged that fuelled by post-conversion radicalisation among the neo-converts, incidents like these have become very common in Dibrugarh and its neighbouring regions over the past few years. Evangelists such as Ranjan Chutiya claim to cure life-threatening diseases through “miraculous” prayers.

They are often seen to make use of religious songs and musical instruments associated with the Mahapurusiya Naam-Dharma tradition of Srimanta Sankardeva to spread a foreign faith among the gullible natives. Since the Namghar is the pivotal centre of worship for every Assamese Hindu, Christian proselytizers such as Ranjan Chutiya have very cleverly made use of this institution and the different aspects associated with it from songs to lyrics to dance and festivals to convert the unsuspecting locals. In the place where Jesus is worshipped, a Chandrataap (a red and white coloured cloth hanging above the sanctum-sanctorum of the Namghar) is used so that it appears like a typical Namghar.

“Charity” in the garb of social service is used as a cover for their immoral and deceitful activities, luring the poor with financial and other material aid. The economic backwardness of the poor is utilised to the maximum advantage through numerous allurements and inducements, with the promise to release them from the clutches of poverty. In various YouTube videos from the World Healing Prayer Centre at Moran, Ranjan Chutiya explains the reason behind all epidemics, diseases and natural disasters inflicting the world as God’s curse on the poor, and which can only be cured by Jesus. Christian missionaries zealously believe that they have been decreed by Jesus himself to spread Christianity across the world.

Hence, unless every group and community of people in the world becomes Christian, Judgement Day will not arrive. The strategic tactic of proselytizers like Ranjan Chutiya has been to enmesh morality and charity together with faith. In this way, their message has been marketed widely without raising an iota of doubt both among the newly converted ones and as well as the common people of the region. In fact, the tactics adopted by the missionaries in Bharat have an eerie similarity with those in the West. Christianity is popularly marketed in America today as an act of saving the heathens from a lifetime of fear and demonic oppression.

The target includes Hindu deities and gurus, different festivals and rituals of the Hindu society, and any public speaker who speaks up on behalf of Dharma. The symbolism associated with a particular culture and its rituals is so powerful that it leaves behind a significant cultural memory among its followers. It is therefore not easy for the people of any community to forego the distinctive traits of their culture, passed on to them over several generations. The Christian missionaries have well understood this fact. Accordingly, Christianity first indigenises itself in any region by first borrowing and then appropriating the important cultural traits from the local Hindu traditions of that region.

Eventually, this appropriation is normalised in people’s daily lives. This poses a serious danger to the unique and diverse cultural traditions of the Hindus. Their original Vedic essence is diluted and sometimes even corrupted through co-option into Christianity. To eventually Christianise the Hindu tribals, the initial attempt of the Church is to establish separate identities among them, by showing their linguistic separation from devbhasha Sanskrit. The next important step is to reinterpret their oral narratives, folk songs, stories, and diverse forms of nature worship in a manner that maximises their difference from or opposition to the Hindu civilisation.

This marks the beginning of the change of their identity of ‘who they are’. Eventually, those aspects of Hindu Dharma that can be accommodated within Christianity are credited to Christian influences, whereas those that contradict it are denigrated as distortions by “greedy” Brahmins. A separate history is then developed to show that the ancestors of these communities (especially tribals) were the inhabitants of the Indus-Sarasvati civilisation, prior to the hypothetical colonisation perpetrated on them by the ‘foreign Aryans’. This eventually culminates in the formation of a politicised sub-national identity among these communities, who then position themselves as historical victims in their relationship with India.

It provides the trigger for the rise of different insurgent and secessionist movements or autonomous movements for statehood, as we have seen in the different states of the North-East, particularly Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. The Constitution of India declares that the ‘Right to Propagate’ one’s religion does not include the right to convert another person through means, fair or foul. It is because religious conversions impinge upon the ‘freedom of conscience’ guaranteed to all persons alike, i.e. the inner freedom of an individual to mould his/her relationship with Ishwar or other living/non-living creatures in whatever way he/she desires.

As per Census data of 2011, out of the 2.78 crore Christian population of India, 78 lakh alone are settled in the North-East. Assam had acquired a significant Christian presence by 1901. These early Christians mostly belonged to the migrant communities who were brought by the British from the present-day Chhotanagpur plateau region and settled in the tea plantations of Upper Assam. It was during the second half of the 20th century that Christianity widened its reach in Assam and gradually began to spread among the region’s tribal communities. The share of Christians in the districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, and in some Bodo-dominated districts too, such as Kokrajhar and Udalguri, is much higher.

In the light of the above, the Government of Assam has set an example by passing this much-needed legislation. Christianity is one of the fastest-growing religions in Assam today after Islam. Dima Hasao district accounts for the largest population of Christians (30%) followed by Karbi Anglong (16.5%). Rigorous implementation of the provisions of the Bill can bring about positive and healthy changes, ensuring the maintenance of the social fabric. Alongside, the education system of the state must also be reoriented on the path of Dharma to root out, gradually, the hegemony of the Christian educational institutions.