Congress should not lecture us on freedom: BJP

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 25, 2024

Taking a dig at the Congress Shillong MP and MPCC chief Vincent Pala, the state vice president of BJP Wankitbok Pohshna lamented that ‘congress party should not lecture us on religious freedom’ when anti conversion Bill was first brought by the Congress in the country by the then led Nehru government namely the Indian conversion (regulation and registration) bill that was put up in parliament in 1954, which aimed to administer the “licensing of missionaries and the registration of conversion with government officials”. 

“The Bill was however turned down in the lower house of parliament. It is uncalled for that the MPCC president is unaware of such facts and only shows that the parliamentarian wants to spread lies and half-truth propaganda only for electoral gain,” he said

He said just recently PM Modi hosted prominent Christian leaders of the country on Christmas day and in his speech the PM reiterated that Christmas is not just a festival of the Christian community but a national event of sort for all Indians and how he recounted his close association with the church organisations when he was the CM of Gujarat and on his last visit to Rome in 2021 while calling on the holy father Pope Francis, PM Modi had extended an invite to the catholic pontiff to visit India as a national guest. 

“There is not an iota of doubt that all the flagship programs brought by the Modi led govt at the center gives equal rights to the Christian community which in itself manifests that BJP is for all Indians under the slogan ‘sabka saath sabka vikas sabka prayas sabka vishwas’ and the party does not use the minority citizens in appeasement politics for electoral gains, something the congress is well versed with,”  Pohshna said.

He said, “The state congress chief rather than spreading lies should in fact present his progress report to the constituency as the MP of Shillong seat rather than indulging in propaganda politics for the sake of garnering votes for the upcoming lok sabha elections. Nine and a half years of Modi led government has taken the country forward and each and every Indian can proudly proclaim that they are now the ambassadors of a developed India, ‘Viksit Bharat’, and no more a developing economy of the congress regime.”

He said the state of Meghalaya that is predominantly dominated by the Christian community is getting all the central welfare schemes, be it tap water to every house under JJM, housing for all under PMAY, gas connections under Ujwala, free rice under PMGKY and most importantly free covid-19 vaccine that relieved citizens of the state from the worst ever pandemic nightmare the list is galore that the MP should know about. More than 89000 crores has been allocated by the BJP govt for the welfare of the tribal people in the last two term of Modi government while during the UPA days it was not even a quarter of this figure which can be regarded as the worst ever budget allocation during its 60 years of misrule when it comes to lifting the livelihoods of the tribal population of the country. “The congress leader should not forget the statement of late Rajiv Gandhi that in the one rupee that comes out from Delhi only fifteen paisa reaches the state and such leakages have been clogged by none other than the BJP led government at the center” Pohshna stated.