Former Meghalaya minister Lahkmen Rymbui said that the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Act 2024 brought by the Hemanta Biswa Sarma government was responsible for Christians not voting for National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the North East in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), yesterday, Rymbui stated the controversial law was even discussed in the Nagaland Assembly on March 1. He also urged Sarma to “ensure unanimity in governance” as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Act 2024 which Christians term as Prevention of religious freedom kept most of them away from the NDA. The bill was even discussed in Nagaland Assembly on 1.03.24 @himantabiswa Let’s ensure unanimity in governance as said by our PM yesterday,” Rymbui said in his post on X.
On February 10, the Assam cabinet approved the introduction of the bill in the assembly, with Sarma alleging that purported magical healing practices were being conducted to carry out religious conversions among tribal people in Assam.
Various Christian groups have opposed the bill brought by the BJP government in Assam. The groups said that Christians use the power of prayer to invoke divine healing and therefore such a law against divine healing was not acceptable.
It may be mentioned that Sarma had attributed the NDA’s losses in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur to opposition from a “particular religion.” Speaking on June 4, he had said, “In these states, a particular religion went against the NDA.”
The statement by Sarma accusing “a particular religion” for the defeat of NDA in Meghalaya has been strongly condemned by the Voice of the People Party (VPP) which also asked the Assam chief minister to desist from interfering in the affairs of Meghalaya.
VPP president Ardent M. Basaiawmoit said that Christians in Meghalaya never interfered in politics and voted freely for any candidate or party as per their own conviction. He also termed Sarma as a “habitual loose talker”.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP suffered huge setbacks in the North East, losing two seats in Manipur while its allies were defeated in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
