The Nagaland Christian Revival Church Council (NCRC) has also turned down the offer from Nagaland State BJP to clean compounds of churches across Nagaland on 11th May 2024. In a statement issued on 1st May 2024, the Council urged the political party to reconsider its proposal and implored it “to respect the autonomy and sanctity of religious institutions and to refrain from politicizing sacred spaces for partisan gain.”
“Let us uphold the values of tolerance, respect, and religious freedom that are fundamental to our society and strive to cultivate an atmosphere of unity and harmony within our diverse community,” it stated.
NCRC’s refusal to cooperate with BJP comes a day after the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) gave a hard pass to the gesture from the BJP.
Read more: NBCC declines BJP’s offer to clean church compound
In its statement, NCRC President, Rev. N. Paphino suggested that the “BJP should prioritize protecting persecuted Christian minorities across India instead of focusing in Nagaland for the sake of campaign”. He said that if they genuinely care for Christian minorities, the Party’s leadership should visit churches outside Nagaland, where many have been destroyed, institutions burnt down, and believers persecuted. Simply cleaning Nagaland’s church compounds would be hypocritical, he stated.
NCRC mentioned that while it supports cleanliness initiatives, the church compound is “not a political arena nor a venue for partisan activities” and allowing a political party to carry out a cleanliness drive in the “sacred grounds undermines the principle of religious neutrality and infringes upon our religious freedom”.
“Such actions blur the boundaries between state and religion, potentially alienating members of our congregation and compromising the integrity of our spiritual community,” the Council maintained direction all churches under it not to permit the BJP to conduct the cleaning activity within the church compound.