The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has come up with strong resentment over the usage of Naga traditional attires, artifacts and cultural pieces as decorative elements inside and outside the Durga pandals in certain parts of the Dimapur city.
NBCC General Secretary Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho stated that religious celebrations and rituals should be done within the ambit of one’s own religious practice. What is intended to be an attraction can be taken as an insult to the community when unrelated culture and religious elements are used by others. “The intention appears to be to provoke and hurt the sentiments of the people and to give false presentation and impression to the outside world that Nagas are Hindus,” he added.
A propaganda is as serious as false conversion accusation used by the Hindu majority group to persecute and demolish the sacred institutions of the Christians, said Keyho.
The NBCC General Secretary maintained that Durga Puja celebration and rituals should be conducted in a peaceful manner and not try to portray a wrong image and picture to the outside world by using Naga attires as decorative pieces.
He further said, “When you do know the deep-seated meaning of those cultural pieces you have used, the hurt will go a long way in creating misunderstanding between communities. What the Hindu community has done is not only an insult to the culture of the people of the land but it is a religious bigotry and blasphemy.”
He called upon the people to build bridges, not walls which would widen the misunderstandings that have been created. He also called for people to be sensitive to each other and avoid things that would create further division during religious festivals and ceremonies.
Keyho said people should learn to respect each other and celebrate their festivals and religious ceremonies peacefully. Thus, decorations of the pandals should be according to the Hindu culture and religious practices and not hurt the sentiment of the community who is different by misusing their culture, traditions and practices, he said.
