Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has said that the proposal of the Assam cabinet to introduce the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024 could be to prevent quacks and other people who are bringing in medicines which are not scientific in nature.
“Their (Assam’s) objective may be something else completely and it is being construed as something else completely. So we need to look into all those factors and just commenting directly on something based on reports we are getting will not be appropriate at this point in time,” Sangma said.
The Chief Minister assured that if there are any concerns from any organisations or religious groups the government would be taking up the matter and try to resolve those concerns.
It may be mentioned that the Khasi Jaintia Christian Leaders Forum (KJCLF) had said that the nod to a bill which will ban ‘magical’ healing in the name of treatment by faith healers, in Assam the dispensations in power are ferociously groping against aspects of piety, prayer, faith and spirituality which constitute the wholeness of a human person.
The Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024, is aimed at penalising those exploiting vulnerable individuals through such deceptive methods.
Meanwhile, on the recent statement of Border Protection & Development Minister Atul Bora that the government would not give any land belonging to Assam to Meghalaya, Sangma said that since it is a democracy there are different voices that come up and different positions people take.
“If there is one comment being made by one individual or certain minister of person it does not reflect the majority view and does not reflect the policy as such,” the Chief Minister said.
According to him the issue will have to be discussed at the level of the government when it comes to the border issue.
“There could be one particular individual who may make the statement but that does not reflect the overall stand of a particular government,” Sangma said.
