An apex Christian body in Arunachal Pradesh has planned a series of protests against the Pema Khandu-led Bharatiya Janata Party government’s move to implement a 46-year-old anti-conversion law.
The Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) said its members would go on a week-long fast from February 10 followed by a mass prayer calling for the repeal of the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 1978. The stir includes a gherao of the 60-member State Assembly on March 6, when the Act is likely to be discussed toward implementation.
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In December 2024, Mr Khandu said the Freedom of Religion Act would be implemented after its rules are framed. This followed a directive from the Gauhati High Court to the State government to finalise the draft rules of the Act within six months from September 2024.
“The Act has freedom in its name but it has been designed to curb the freedom of practising our religion. We have drawn up the protest programme to demonstrate our opposition to this unfair Act that has been dormant for four decades,” ACF president Tarh Miri told The Hindu on Thursday (February 6, 2025).
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He said the State government was virtually indifferent to the ACF’s concerns about the Act.
“We met the Chief Secretary in November 2024 and submitted a letter to the Chief Minister, who advised us to meet his advisor, Alo Libang. We did so but there has been no response,” Mr Miri said, adding that the move to implement the Act was against the spirit of secularism.
The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act was passed by the State Assembly during the Janata Party government headed by Chief Minister P.K. Thungon. It received the presidential assent on October 25, 1978.
The Act seeks to prohibit conversions from one religion to another through force, inducement, or fraud.
It was reportedly enacted in response to concerns about the perceived threat to indigenous religions in the State. Successive governments chose to overlook the Act.
