Arunachal Pradesh is witnessing a churning in favour of and against the implementation of the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 1978, prohibiting “forced conversions or conversions through inducement”.
This churning saw the Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP) take out a Sadbhavna Pad Yatra at Doumukh near Itanagar seeking early implementation of the legislation for protection of the indigenous communities.
This was the second padyatra IFCSAP in two days, the first one held at Likabali in Lower Siang district on Thursday, and follows the February 17 eight-hour hunger strike by the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) in Itanagar, seeking the scrapping of the law.
Saturday’s rally in support of the APFRA was staged during the ongoing four-day visit of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat from Thursday to take stock of and participate in organisational activities. A delegation of the IFCSAP had met Bhagawat on Friday.
An IFCSAP member told mediapersons that the yatra was taken out in support of the legislation and the state government so that it could immediately implement the legislation, which was “important for the preservation of our faith and culture”.
The government must implement the legislation to secure the future of the indigenous people of the state, he said.
On the other hand, the ACF on Thursday decided to go ahead with its March 6 protest against the “contentious” legislation, which it claims, impacts the religious freedom of community members in the state. Over 30 per cent of the frontier state’s population is Christian.
Activities surrounding the legislation gathered steam soon after the state chief minister Pema Khandu said in December that the Act, passed by the state Assembly during the tenure of the state’s first chief minister, P.K. Thungon, was “lying dormant” as its rules were not framed yet.
On Thursday, Khandu reiterated that framing the rules for implementation of the APFRA, 1978, was not aimed at targetting any religious community but it was done with the intent to “safeguard” the indigenous culture and beliefs irrespective of one’s faith.
