On November 22, members of Hindu organisations like the Hindu Rakshi Dal and Hindu Chhatra Sangh in Assam submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, district Cachar, Assam. In the memorandum, they have asked him to take action against some local Christian miscreants for vandalising a Hindu place of worship in Mahadevtilla in the Katigorah Tehsil of Cachar, Assam. The place where the incident took place has a large settlement of people belonging to the Khasi community, 85 per cent of whom have embraced Christianity.
The group, in its letter, accused some Khasi Christians to be behind the attack. They said that the miscreants desecrated a Shivling and a Trishul that had been installed beneath a Banyan tree in the area more than a century ago. The Hindus in the area considered the Banyan tree extremely sacred and worshipped the Shivling placed beneath it every day.
The letter said that the local Khasi Christians cut down the Banyan tree, uprooted and desecrated the Shivling and the Trishul placed there. They also threw away the other religious things placed beneath the Banyan tree. The Christian miscreants threatened the Hindus with dire consequences if they returned to worship.
The Hindu organisation asked the Deputy Commissioner of the Cachar district in Assam to ensure that the place is vacated from the clutches of the miscreants. They also demanded that the Shivling and Trishul be restored in the same place. They suggested that the area be barricaded with iron rods to prevent future accidents. They also asked the authorities to adopt adequate security measures to safeguard the Hindus in the area. The Hindu outfit warned the authorities that if appropriate action is not taken within a month, they would be forced to take up the matter in their hands to restore the sanctity of the place.
The Hindus of Manipur protested and filed a complaint with the Forest Department and the Cachar Police. The police advised them to wait a few days, but residents claim that the cops aren’t doing much in the matter.
Meanwhile, a report by the local newspaper Barak Bulletin suggests that while a section of locals opined that the Banyan tree was axed inadvertently, most believe that the act was intentionally carried out to intimidate the Manipuri and Bengali Hindus living in the locality.
Locals claim that the Christian conversion groups have recently become a major threat for them. Local Hindus believe that these Christian evangelists are aiming to violently expand the Christian presence in the area by either converting or eliminating Hindus.
“People from the Khasia Punji (Khasi Settlement) intentionally cut the tree to threaten us against any sort of Hindu practices. They have been doing such activities for a long time. This is the extreme step that they have taken,” a local resident said on the condition of anonymity. The local who belonged to the Manipuri community said that a complaint about “Khasiya aggression” has been submitted to the local forest office.
OpIndia’s conversation with Hindu community and Police regarding the incident in Assam
OpIndia reached out to Aninda Dev, Hindu Chatra Sangh, to learn more about the case. Dev said, “The local Khasi Christians not only uprooted and desecrated the Shivling and Trishool but also threatened and misbehaved with the local Hindus.” He further blamed Police for inaction and said, “The local police is not taking any action against the miscreants. Instead, they threatened the local Hindus to stay away from the Christians.” He added that Hindu Raksha Dal and student union Hindu Chatra Sangh have submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli and requested her to take appropriate action against the Christians involved in the incident.
We also reached out to Subhasish Choudhury, Hindu Raksha Dal, who narrated the whole incident. He said, “The Khasi Christian community and the Manipuri Hindus had a pact that they would not interfere in each other’s religious matters and would stay away from the sacred Banyan tree. However, the Christian miscreants broke the pact and uprooted the tree along with Shivlinga and Trishool that was installed under the Banyan tree for over a century.” He said despite filing the complaint at the forest department and local police station, they did not take any action.
“On November 17, when some Manipuri Hindus went to perform Pooja, they were stopped and threatened not to come back by the Christians. They informed the Police about the incident. The DSP came and went to meet the Khasi Christian leader with the Manipur Hindu community leader. The Christian leader tried to mislead the Police by saying Hindus worshipped another tree to which the Hindus objected and told that they had been worshipping the tree for over 100 years,” he said. Subhasish said DSP had promised the Hindus that they would take action, but so far, even after seven days, no action has been taken.
We tried reaching out to the Deputy Commissioner but could not connect. Meanwhile, Cachar SP Ramandeep Kaur said, “The information you have received is incorrect. There was a banyan tree that locals worshipped. A case under Forest Act has been filed and local SI is investigating the case. Investigating in the matter is underway to find if it is an act of mischief or tree was cut inadvertently.”