Congress in Nagaland irked by Governor’s religious colour

EMN DIMAPUR, JANUARY 29 Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has expressed resentment over the using of ‘Bharat Mata’ photo in the Governor’s Republic Day ‘hand-out’. “The NPCC said Governor PB Acharya when appointed by the new BJP government and sworn in as the 18th Governor of Nagaland in July, 2014 was expected to shed his earlier RSS upbringing and mindset to uphold the sanctity and dignity of the Governor’s office. However, it is appalling to witness the Governor using the platform of official programmes on religious lines by publishing a ‘handout’ on the occasion of 2015 Republic Day celebrations in the state that carries the picture of ‘Bharat Mata’ standing on lotus holding the tricolor with the country’s map in the background”, the NPCC said in a statement. At a time when religious minorities in the country are facing the onslaught of RSS led communal forces, the needless action of the Governor is perhaps the ominous signs of greater agenda espoused by the BJP-RSS combine being unfolded to change the secular fabric of the nation, it added. According to the NPCC, India as a country has managed to absorb different cultures, races and religions to survive countless invasions over thousands of years. People from different race, religions, language, culture have thrived and coexisted alongside each other due to the magnanimity of the majority Hindus whose concept of religion (Hinduism) is more of a way of life. However, the national personification of India as mother goddess called ‘Bharat Mata’ where she is an amalgam of all goddesses of Indian culture and more significantly on goddess Durga is revered and followed only by the majority Hindus, while other religious minorities’ may respect the concept of ‘Bharat Mata but does not subscribe to this personification, the NPCC added. It then said ever since Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian Union on December 1, 1963, majority of the state Governors have been Hindus but they had all performed their constitutional duties without indulging in giving religious colours to any official programme or functions. The state has never witnessed any religious clashes or tensions and mutual respect for other religions have been the defining feature of the people who happen to be pre dominantly Christians. The BJP government at the centre should remember that Nagaland was born of out immense political strife and its people had paid a heavy price, a political struggle that has happened nowhere else in the country. The provocative display of religious symbol on an official ‘handout’ has generated much apprehension among the people in the state since this is taken as a step towards imposition of BJP-RSS hidden agenda that has no place for religious minorities and oppressed castes in their idea of nationhood, it also said. The NPCC then said that the parting remark of US President Obama during his recent visit calling for ‘religious tolerance,’ if India wants to succeed on the world stage, should serve enough reminder for the BJP to rein in its supporters associated with the RSS and its affiliates of religious extremists who are turning its (BJP) slogan of “aache din’ into a nightmare especially for religious minorities. Meanwhile, NPCC strongly urged the Governor to refrain from abusing his constitutional position by portraying his beliefs on official platform with religious fervor, ‘since this amounts to total disregard for religious sentiments of majority people in the state and also goes against the secular ideals enshrined in the constitution’.