Amidst the social media uproar over the demolition of three churches by authorities in Imphal East district of Manipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Meghalaya said this cannot be termed as the atrocities against the Christian as this was done in compliance with court order.
Talking to reporters in Shillong Mawrie said, “…..though it is a BJP Government in Manipur but it is not the decision of the Government, it is the decision of the court because the court has given the interim injunction not to dismantle but the court decided to vacate it.”
The churches were demolished days after the Manipur high court vacated its 2020 order for status quo on an order for an eviction drive by the BJP-led state government. The three Churches that were demolished were Evangelical Baptist Convention Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church Manipur and Catholic Holy Spirit Church- which reportedly illegally built on government land reserved for Government Employees’ quarters.
“Manipur incident is not an atrocity against the Christian,” he added.
It may be mentioned that over 41% of Manipur’s population is Christian.
Meanwhile, the state BJP president condemned the incident that happened in Bihar where a Christian Pastor and a Church elder from Shillong had encountered some incidents of hostility and aggression. He, however, pointed out that Bihar is not a BJP ruled state, although refused to comment on the alleged involvement of Bajrang Dal in the incident.
“We condemn for this, Bihar is the ruling state of other political parties, Nitish Kumar is the CM of Bihar….some people alleged involvement of Bajrang Dal activists but until unless police arrest the people who were involved in this case, I cannot give any statement,” Mawrie said.
He further added, “The Government of the day should take care that this type of thing should not take place in Bihar, so we are waiting for the reply but we have to press the Government any culprit involved should be booked and should be arrested.”