The Congress allegation that “BJP is trying to convert Arunachal Pradesh into a Hindu state” has triggered a much-needed debate and brought into sharp focus the destruction of indigenous cultures and religions in the North East of Bharat.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and MP from Arunachal Pradesh, Kiren Rijiju, rebuked the Congress and tweeted that “Hindu population is reducing in India because Hindus never convert people. Minorities in India are flourishing unlike some countries around.” Predictably, this tweet kicked off a major ‘controversy’ for mainstream media. During one such debate on a TV news channel, Dr. John Dayal, a controversial Christian political activist and Secretary-General of the All India Christian Council, claimed that “In 1911, there were no Hindus in Arunachal Pradesh.”

In 1911 there were no Hindus in Arunachal Pradesh: Dr. John Dayal, Activist #PolarisationWapsi pic.twitter.com/4NQXOsUdVe — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 13, 2017

Demographic Change in Arunachal

Before we see whether Dayal’s statement is true or not, it will be useful to understand the demographic changes afoot in Arunachal and other North Eastern States. Does the Congress allegation about a BJP ‘conspiracy’ to make Arunachal a Hindu state, carry any weight?

Lets refer to the detailed analysis of the Census 2011 data produced by Dr. J.K. Bajaj of the Centre for Policy Studies. This is an excerpt from his analysis of the census figures for Arunachal –

“Arunachal Pradesh constitutes one of the main stories of the Religion Data of Census 2011; in the course of the last decade of 2001-11, the proportion of Christians in the population of the State has risen from less than 19 to more than 30 percent, and they now form a majority or near majority of the population in several districts. The share of Christians in the Scheduled Tribes population of the State and the districts is even higher.

Arunachal Pradesh, unlike other hill States of the northeast, had escaped widespread Christianisation until 1981 and, to a large extent, even until 1991. Christian presence in the State began to acquire serious proportions in 2001; the Religion Data of Census 2011 indicates that the State is now well on its way towards nearly complete Christianisation of the Schedule Tribes population as it happened within the first decade or two of Independence in Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur and, to a significant extent, in Meghalaya.”

According to the 2011 census, Christianity is now the state’s largest religion. Christians – bulk of them Roman Catholics – account for 30.26% of the state’s 1.3 million people. Hindus were pushed to the second spot at 29.04%, while ORP (Other Religious Persuasion) i.e. the indigenous faiths such as Donyi-Polo and Rangfra were at 26.2%. In a span of just 40 years, Christian population in Arunachal has witnessed an astounding growth from 0.79% in 1971 to 30.26% in 2011!

Arunachal was the third Indian state after Odisha (1967) and Madhya Pradesh (1968) to enact an anti-conversion law. The Arunachal Pradesh freedom of religion act of 1978 was aimed primarily at checking Christian proselytization. The Arunachal anti-conversion law, unlike in the other states, has been ineffective because its rules have not been framed. There is speculation that the BJP government led by Pema Khandu (a Buddhist) might frame the rules to check missionary activities.

Arunachal politics has been dominated by Congress. Nabam Tuki, a Roman Catholic, led the last Congress Government for close to 5 years. In Jan 2016, the Tuki government was dismissed after 30 Congress MLAs defected to regional party People’s Party of Arunachal – after a long political crisis, most of these MLAs joined BJP and at present there is a BJP Government in power in the state under Pema Khandu.

Missionaries had a field day in Arunachal during Congress rule, especially under Sonia Gandhi & Tuki, and their preference for a Congress Government can be gauged by this article “Church Flourishes in India’s ‘Land of Rising Sun’” which appeared in 2012 in a Christian website, National Catholic Register.

To summarize, the same Congress which enabled the dramatic rise of Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh in the 1981-2016 period, today accuses the 1 month old BJP Government of trying to Hinduize the state! And no one in media is calling out this utter hypocrisy.

Were there really no Hindus in Arunachal in 1911?

The claim that Arunachal Pradesh has no Hindu past is a bare-faced lie by John Dayal, and this was proved in a series of tweets by @TrueIndology –

Remains of 14th century temple of Hindu Sutiya dynasty excavated at Malinithan, Arunachal Pradesh pic.twitter.com/L9rtzXoKc7 — True Indology (@TrueIndology) February 14, 2017

Excavators discovered the images of Ganesha, Indra and skanda among others pic.twitter.com/NJoMPEmILV — True Indology (@TrueIndology) February 14, 2017

Write in 1906,5 years before Dayal’s alleged date of introduction of Hinduism, Edward Gait observed that Arunachal tribals were deeply Hindu pic.twitter.com/w0aNvcfQXV — True Indology (@TrueIndology) February 14, 2017

Writing in 1906, Edward Gait observed that even tribals celebrated Rama Navami, Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja throughout Arunachal Pradesh pic.twitter.com/d2jKQD3gMs — True Indology (@TrueIndology) February 14, 2017

Edward Gait was an administrator in the Indian Civil Service who rose to serve as Lieutenant-Governor of the Bihar and Orissa Province in the Bengal Presidency of British India.

Activists like John Dayal are the front of evangelical missionary organizations working with the single-minded goal of spreading the ‘Kingdom of Christ’ across Bharat. They know how to manipulate the media & political system in Bharat, and have perfected the art of carrying out their Western-funded soul-harvesting work under the guise of human rights and social justice.

This in a nutshell is how the proselytization game is played by John Dayal and co – (1) Depict the Hindu masses, especially Dalits, as constant victims of oppression by Brahminical Hinduism (2) Harp upon the dubious Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) to show that Hindu Dharma was actually imported into Bharat by outsiders i.e. Aryans. Use AIT to promote fault lines between North Indian ‘Aryans’ and South Indian ‘Dravidians’, disregarding all sorts of archaeological, literary and scientific evidence that prove common Dharmic roots of all Bharatiyas. (3) Present Christianity as the sole medium of emancipation for the poor and dispossessed classes of Hindu society, ignoring the logical question of why Dalits should not turn to Buddhism or other Indic religions if Hindu Dharma is really as rotten as claimed by missionaries (4) In a breathtaking act of jugglery, work to eradicate complex, inter-woven tribal cultures & belief systems that have evolved over millenia, and in the same breath claim to be protectors of tribals from Hindu majoritarianism! (5) Use massive funds pumped by the global Church to silently carry out mass conversions to Christianity, all the while claiming to be perennially persecuted by Hindutva fascists. (6) In another dazzling trick of subterfuge, claim to be defenders of tolerance, national integration, secularism, communal harmony & religious freedom, while doing exactly the opposite.

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