Ahead of Nagaland elections, NBCC gets political

Warns voters of the perils of supporting political parties with ‘communal agendas’

Our Correspondent
Mokokchung, Feb. 2 (EMN): The general secretary of Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), the Rev. Dr. Zelhou Keyho has advised voters to be ‘wary while supporting any political party with communal agendas.’ He said this during a press conference prior to the 21st NBCC triennial conference to be held at Impur in Mokokchung.
Keyho said that the NBCC as an organisation will stand against any party toeing the communal line or suppressing the rights of other fellow-beings in a secular country like India.
“It would be unfortunate for the church and the people to be voting for a party with communal agendas,” he added.
On the Clean Election Campaign (CEC) initiated by the NBCC, he said that the church was not playing politics through the CEC; but it was a moral movement to revive ‘Christian values and principles’ in the democratic process of the state. He said that the church was on a mission through the CEC to awaken the conscience of the Naga people and to help them see election as a moral and spiritual issue to help eradicate corruption.
” Clean election campaign is a continuous movement and will continue even after the election process is over and though it is an uphill battle, I believe our children will enjoy the fruits of the labour we did to plant this seed today,” he added.
The Rev. Dr. Mar Atsongchanger, president of the NBCC, said clean election was an ‘easy’ task if truly observed from the ‘Christian perspective,’ if Nagas as ‘true Christians’ choose to follow the principles and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Atsongchanger, who is also the convenor of the CEC, said the NBCC, as a responsible organisation, was not in support or against any political party. The campaign, he said, was to pave way for good leadership and good governance.
“Election is within the power of the Indian Constitution whereas clean election campaign was a spiritual movement to cleanse our land of the malpractices in electioneering process, so our motives are different and shouldn’t be confused,” he added.
Reminding the people not to be swayed by ‘shallow promises’ from various parties during the election, he said that ‘the promise of development should not be the main priority but to vote for clean candidates.’ Atsongchanger hoped that all the political parties would stand by the pledge taken on Jun. 23 2017 to advocate the principles of clean election. He added that the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang (Abam), the apex body of the Ao Baptist churches, had decided to invite all the intending candidates of the Ao tribe on Feb. 16 2018 to Impur for a special prayer and an interactive session during which the candidates can speak about their ‘dream’ for Nagaland and not their party manifesto.
The 21st NBCC triennial convention which is hosted by the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang will be held at Impur, the first Christian mission centre to be established in Naga soil.
The three-day convention is expected to host more than 8800 delegates from across the state representing 1615 Baptist churches under the NBCC. The convention will culminate on Feb. 4 2018.