GUWAHATI: Christians in Arunachal Pradesh will stage an eight-hour hunger strike on Monday to protest against the state government’s move to implement the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), 1978.
The Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF), the apex organisation of various Christian denominations in the state, will spearhead the protest.
The state government said APFRA would be implemented in deference to a directive of the Gauhati High Court. The court had asked the government to finalise the draft rules of the Act within six months from September 2024.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu said rules were being framed as per a directive of the High Court. He said the rules were not being framed against any religion. “They are not against Buddhists, Hindus, Christians or Muslims,” he said.
“The government has been asked to frame the rules to give some more protection to indigenous (faiths),” Khandu said.
Stating that the rules would not harm anybody, he said he would ask the state’s Department of Indigenous Affairs Minister and the Home Minister to deliberate on the matter together with all stakeholders.
He appealed to the ACF not to resort to any protest. The church organisation, however, slammed the CM for his alleged double standard.
“We don’t entertain his statement. In 2018, he himself had announced that he will repeal this draconian law. But in 2024, he announced that it will be implemented. This is his double standard,” ACF president Tarh Miri told TNIE.
The ACF termed the Act unconstitutional, anti-Christian, and against the spirit of secularism.
The 9 am to 5 pm hunger strike will be staged across district and subdivisional headquarters. Miri said three to four MLAs would join the protestors in Itanagar.
The Act was introduced in 1978 to safeguard the traditional religious practices of indigenous communities from external influence or coercion.