Shillong, April 05: Rev PBM Basaiawmoit have written five times to the Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, requesting him to speak in parliament on Religious Tolerance and Indian Secularism.
Rev PBM Basaiawmoit, said that the fifth letter that he has sent to the prime minister will be the final letter, in the fifth letter that he sent to the prime minister. The content of the letter sent to the Prime Minister stated that.
Dr. Basaiawmoit express appreciation of the fact that on 08 March, 2018, your Office had sent my letter of 05 March, 2018 addressed to you to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with clear instructions as to what should be done though am still waiting for response from the concerned Ministry till date and it’s almost a month since.
Secondly, would like to remind and urge upon you Sir to do kindly speak in Parliament on the issue of Religious Tolerance which is India’s noble heritage since time immemorial and on Secularism from the Indian context which is again tolerance, respect and peaceful co-existence of peoples of different religious persuasion in this vast country of multi ethnicity, plurality of faiths, beliefs and religious practices.
It is since 18 February, 2015 that I had written to you on the subject matter with particular reference to your address at the Syro Malabar Church Convention held in Delhi on the same month of February but that the same spirit and message should be addressed to the whole population of India from the portals of Parliament.
Then only will it be meaningful and have a wide and deep impact on the whole country which is growing and increasing in religious hatred and violence, even as recent as in the month of March, 2018 and specifically, on Palm Sunday, i.e. 25 March, 2018 whereby, a similar incident had occurred in Egypt and you were quick enough to condemn the same but kept silent on what happened on the same day in India and regularly taking place in different parts of the country as it has happened reported, “Christians face social exclusion, exclusion from villages, detention, threats, abuse, physical violence and sometimes killings.”
And your stoic silence on the issue indirectly and directly encourages and escalates the violence against Christians who are only some 2.33 & of the country’s population. The tentacles of communal violence widens its spread and increases its length.
Also, the Presbyterian Church of India (PCI) which headquarters is in Shillong had sent a similar letter on 26 February, 2018 and signed by the then Administrative Secretary In charge, Peace and Justice, the Rev. David Lhouvum.
As tomorrow will be the last day of the Budget Session, it is hoped that you would take time to address on the burning issue and which address should be circulated and permeated throughout the length and breadth of the country so as to pre-empt further acts of violence and destruction upon Christians and other religious minorities in this country. Said Dr. P. B. M. Basaiawmoit
