Extremist Hindu group threatens Assam missionary schools
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Guwahati: A right-wing Hindu extremist group has been allegedly threatening missionary schools across Assam, demanding to remove iconography and chapels from their premises, prompting school authorities to write to police and seek protection, The Indian Express reported.
Kutumba Suraksha Parishad, the extremist group, gave Thursday as the deadline for the schools to remove what they asked.
It was on February 7 that the head of the group, Satya Ranjan Borah, gave 15 days time to the schools to remove photos and statues of Jesus Christ and Mary, crosses, churches, etc., on campuses. He also demanded that the elements of Christianity must be removed from the morning prayers and that teachers must stop wearing vestments.
He threatened that if his demand was not met, the group would not leave the schools. “…we will not be responsible for the consequences,” Borah threatened.
The joint letter written by the schools read, “… there is a fear that has crept among our members regarding the safety of the institution and its personnel. It is also the time of the annual examination. Any disturbance at this moment will directly or indirectly affect our children and their future. I kindly request you to take necessary steps to ensure the welfare of all, especially the children who are our future,” TIE quoted.
For the Christian communities, anxieties increased after posters appeared in different places, reiterating the threat issued by the group. The head of the Carmel School in Jorhat, where such a poster appeared, wrote to police seeking protection since the poster created a sense of panic inside the school campus.
A source from the Christian community in the state told TIE that though the police were responsive to their concerns, the government was not acting according to the way it should have. The person reminded me that people were being arrested over Facebook posts and even poems, but no action was taken against the extremist group head Bora, who is “spewing venom and issuing threats. He also reminded me that thousands benefitted from the missionary schools there, and the oldest one in the state is more than 175 years old.
According to the information gathered by TIE, there are more than 300 Christian-managed schools across the state.