“The Catholic Church reserves her rights over her religious properties including her sacred worship place—the Church—which is cared for in sanctity and with utmost dignity,” stated the Catholic Association of Nagaland (CAN) in a statement issued today following the proposal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to undertake cleanliness drive in church compounds of the State on 11 May 2024.

Despite desiring to view the proposal charitably, the CAN expressed that it “cannot but question the intention of the BJP” due to the following reasons:

(a)  General elections for Lok Sabha are ongoing with 5 of the 7 phases remaining, and any unusual proposal by a political party bears the burden of being viewed as an election gimmick.

(b) Any plan by a group/party involving another group’s property without consent amounts to, at best, a lack of due respect and, at worst, a disregard of the right to property recognised by the Supreme Court of India as a human right.

(C) The nation has seen a tremendous rise in atrocities towards Christians in recent years with more than 150 incidents of such violence recorded in the first 3 months of 2024 itself, and we have witnessed the destruction of church properties and whole buildings in the neighbouring States of Assam and Manipur in the past one year. It is difficult to not see a relationship between correlation and causation when the very vast majority of these cases have been In BJP-ruled States with the same party ruling the central government.

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Therefore, while reiterating the apolitical nature and status of the association and the Church, the CAN, appreciating its “parish priests, heads of institutions, and the lay faithful for always safeguarding the sanctity and dignity of our sacred spaces”, has requested to continue to be “ever wary of proposals or offers, be they incitements or inducements, from political parties”. The CAN has also called upon the BJP members of the State to earn the goodwill of the people by urging their counterparts in the rest of the country to take positive action against persecution of minorities; to bring justice to victims; and to restore and protect church properties everywhere.

The CAN further urged all political parties and public servants to uphold the values and freedoms that both the tradition and the Constitution of the nation guarantees to the people.