To
Shri Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of India
Honorable Prime Minister,
This letter is a continuation of
the concerns expressed in the letter of 2nd December 2014 sent from
the NCCI Secretariat. The NCCI is a council representing about 14 million
Christians in India belonging to the Protestant and Orthodox Traditions in
India. We are committed to unity, witness, service and exemplary practice in
the country. As a well-read person, you are certainly aware of the tremendous
contribution made by Christians of all traditions (Including Catholics), in
history and up to the present, towards nation building through education,
health care, orphanages, old people’s homes, counseling ministries, relief
services provided during natural calamities, and the ongoing work for
rehabilitation and development. The Church in India continues to be committed
to the cause of dalits, tribal/adivasis, women, youth, children, the disabled,
PLWA, mother earth - indeed all creation, particularly those who have been
marginalized. We are committed to an India developed on the principles of
justice and peace.
Your government has been telling
the people that good days are going to come. However we are alarmed at the way
the good days are sought to be introduced. They appear to be ushered in at the
cost of social, economic and religious minorities and vulnerable sections of
society.
For instance, the Christian
community is shocked about all the different kinds of propaganda being made
regarding the celebration of 25th December. It is asserted that your
government wants to celebrate it as Good Governance Day. The implication of
such a celebration is that government offices, educational institutions, etc
would have to function on that day, showing scant respect to the holy day of
the Christians, Christmas. Even though, your Union Human Resource Development
(HRD) Minister denied this move and made it voluntary in the Parliament, there
are many Government circulars which are contradicting Minister’s assurance. As
a secular country, we are still showing respect to different religious
traditions and observing a few of their holy days as holidays so that people
could have their religious celebrations without impediment. Christmas is a very
important day in the life of Christians. We celebrate this event by attending
Church services and sharing our joy and love with our fellow neighbors and
friends. We have been observing Christmas in the past two thousands years. We
also reiterate the fact that Christianity has existed in India from the first
century onwards.
Please note that we are not
against the observance of Good Governance day. However, such an observance on Christmas
Day goes against the secular character of the country. The whole Christian
community is highly disappointed that their badaa
din has become a target of your government’s ache din propaganda. It appears as if the Government intends to disgrace
Christians and Christmas celebrations. We, as Christians respect the former
Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He needs to be honored for whatever
good work he has done. However he too may not like his name to be involved in
unnecessary controversies.
The Christian community in India
is also very upset that large scale propaganda is being made by some Hindu
organizations that they will be organizing Ghar
Vapasi programmes during which Christians will be enticed, or more likely
forced, to give up their Christian Faith and embrace another religion. Such a
ceremony does grave harm to community harmony in our country. India which is
the home of people of different faiths and ideologies is in danger of being
reduced to a communal country. By the way, if we are to faithfully follow the
ideology of ghar vapasi, we would all
need to return to our original tribal/adivasi primal religions and cultures,
which are earlier than all the present major religious traditions of our
country.
On behalf of the NCCI, we
strongly urge you to take immediate measures to ensure that minority
communities are not subject to attacks by fundamentalist communal groups, and
that all religious groups are facilitated in practicing, preaching and bearing
witness to their faith. Please ensure the security of all minorities. Kindly
ensure justice to all discriminated and vulnerable sections of society. The
Christian church in the country wants to see that democratic secularism in
spirit and practice is strengthened by your government.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikwad
General Secretary, NCCI
Rt. Rev. Probal Kanto Dutta,
Chairperson, Commission on Policy Governance and Public
Witness, NCCI
Mr. Samuel Jayakumar
Executive Secretary, CoP, NCCI
