Assam Christian body condemns church survey, seeks Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s help

GUWAHATI: Weeks after CM Himanta Biswa Sarma disapproved of a letter reportedly sent by Assam Police seeking details of churches in the districts and alleged conversions and other activities, the United Christian Forum (UCF) has written to Sarma seeking his intervention to stop police from “mentally harassing” the church authorities and the Christian community in upper Assam’s Golaghat district.
The forum’s Golaghat unit has alleged that since the New Year, police personnel have been collecting information on the number of churches and “conversions”. Seven German nationals were detained in Golaghat last year for carrying out missionary works flouting visa norms.
“We bring to your notice the grievances of the Christian communities of Golaghat district, that, since January 2nd, 2023, some police personnel under Golaghat district has been coming for collection of information about various churches, their activities, and leaders involved in at various times of the day or night, or through the mobile phones or whatsapp messages with urgency,” read the letter recently sent to the CM by UCF president Jiden Aind and secretary Leander Toppo.
However, SP (Golaghat) Ramandeep Kaur told TOI that officially no such probe is going on in the district. “The Christian body is under some misapprehension. From our side, no such exercise is on,” she said. Days ahead of Christmas, the Assam Police’s special branch headquarters had reportedly sought the details of churches established in the state in the last one year.