Members of the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) pose for a group photograph with Chief Minister Pema Khandu on June 15. (Photo supplied)
Christian leaders in India’s northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state have welcomed an assurance from Chief Minister Pema Khandu that all religious communities will be consulted before the state implements a law banning conversions.
The assurance from Khandu came during a June 15 meeting between the government and representatives of the Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF), which has strongly opposed the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), 1978.
Although the law received the president’s assent soon after it was passed, the state government did not issue subsidiary regulations to implement it, leaving it unenforceable for the past five decades.
Christian leaders began protesting in March this year, when the state government appointed a panel to draft the law’s rules. The panel submitted the rules, along with its recommendations, on June 8. Once the rules are publicized in the state gazette, the law will become enforceable.
Tara Miri, chief adviser of the Arunachal Christian Forum, told UCA News on June 16 that the Christian community feels “relieved after the chief minister’s assurance to consult all stakeholders before implementing what many perceive as a draconian anti-conversion law.”
The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party government took steps to draft rules and implement the law, following a September 2024 directive from the Guwahati High Court, which also serves as the High Court of Arunachal Pradesh.
The court directive stemmed from a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking court intervention to enforce the law that successive governments had ignored.
Miri said the Christian community has been opposing the law ever since it was enacted because it “curtails our religious freedoms guaranteed in the Indian Constitution.”
His forum, a multi-denominational body, organized a series of protests, including a hunger strike in the state capital, Itanagar, and across the state’s 29 districts after the committee submitted its report.
“There are 46 Christian denominations in the state, and their members organized their own protest marches, prayers, and fasting programs at their respective places,” Miri said.
The forum also organized a siege of the State Assembly during its session in March to convey the displeasure of the Christians.
James Techi Tara, president of the state’s Christian forum, said the chief minister gave them a written assurance, and so they have suspended a proposed vehicle rally on June 18 “to protest the unjust law.”
But if the government fails to keep its promise, the opposition to the law will continue, Tara added.
Khandu’s social media post said his government’s priority “will always be peace, harmony and progress. In our beautiful state, no religious community should ever feel hurt, excluded or alienated.”
The legislation was originally intended to protect indigenous faiths in Arunachal Pradesh, but previous governments chose not to enforce it due to opposition.
The law prohibits religious conversion through force, inducement or fraudulent means and provides for punishment of up to two years in prison or a fine of Rs 10,000 (US$105.83).
It also requires individuals undergoing religious conversion to report the change to the district deputy commissioner, with penalties for non-compliance.
Christians constitute 30.26 percent of Arunachal Pradesh’s 1.38 million people, followed by Hindus at 29.04 percent, followers of indigenous religions at 26.20 percent, Buddhists at 11.77 percent, and Muslims at 1.95 percent, according to the last national census held in 2011.
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