Boys claiming to be Bajrang Dal activists attack Hindus in Silchar Church, ask them to celebrate "Tulsi Dibas"

Crowds had just started gathering to celebrate Christmas night at Presbyterian Church near Oriental School at the heart of Silchar town. As they got busy clicking selfies with the Xmas tree and other decorated corners in the premises, a few young boys, some teenagers others twentysomethings entered the complex and started manhandling the crowd without any rhyme or reasons.

“It is time we vacate the church,” shouted one while another one was quick to slap a passerby. The incident shocked the crowd present as some went there with friends while others with family members. Dressed and decked in red to celebrate the festival, they started running here and there to escape the church unhurt, and the humiliation one suffers after being slapped by teenagers.

The boys had saffron scarfs wrapped on their shoulders and chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ every now and then as they continued what they call, “Emptying the Church.” One of them faced the media contingent that gathered to report the ruckus that is being created inside the Church. He said, “We have no issues, no complaints with Christians. They have all the right to celebrate their Christmas and we don’t mean to interrupt them. Our issue is with the others (Hindus) who are forgetting their own Dharma as they dress up in a Church and sing Merry Christmas. Whereas they should go and celebrate Tulsi Dibos, instead, they are here at the Church which is not something we appreciate.”

It is worth mentioning here that the Church is just a few metres away from the Silchar Central Jail and not even a kilometre from the district Police’s headquarters. As they claimed to be Bajrang Dal activists and chanted ‘Jai Shree Ram’ they had no fear of whatever they were doing.

Another young boy identifying himself as Rangirkhari Bajrang Dal’s “Sah-Sangjayog” said, “Since the Church was getting crowded, we emptied it. It was Chief Minister of Assam’s order that the Churches must remain shut and there should be a curfew after 11. Without obeying the CM’s directives, people have entered the Church. They are also violating the COVID19 protocols and that is why we have pushed everyone out and locked the Church, Jai Shree Ram.”

These are statements on camera and the Superintendent of Police, Cachar, Dr. Ramandeep Kaur sharing her reactions said, “We are in the process of identifying the people involved in this and then we will take action as per law whenever we receive a complaint. Also, we will take steps to ensure that such activities are not repeated.”

It is worth mentioning here that the Police did take suo moto cognizance of certain acts in the recent past and cases were lodged against the parties involved on the basis of videographic evidence. It remains to be seen if the Police take similar action in this case too.

Till late last night, Cachar Police did not receive any formal complaint about the incident. However, there has been a social media outrage about it. One of the most noted ones come from veteran journalist, Anirban Jyoti Gupta. A respected figure in print, radio and audiovisual forms of journalism, Gupta shared on Facebook that his son was manhandled.

The post reads, “These types of lumpen tarnish the image of PM Narendra Modi and his vision for New India! Some self-claimed “Bajrang Dal” activists today manhandled my son an NIT Scholar (The grandson of late Vishnu Mohan Gupta who was the first sangha-chalak of RSS in Barak Valley and in who’s house Golwalkor jee the ideologues of RSS, Dindayal Upadhyay stayed. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee also visited the house at Malugram) just for attending a Christmas festival in Silchar near Silchar Oriental school. Shame, shame, shame. Is it the Culture of Hindutva? We should think once again.”

Not to say that it is okay to assault any other who is not a scholar or related to the RSS, but this post on social media has garnered a lot of traction and since it comes from journalist Gupta, it won’t skip the eyes of elected representatives of Cachar district.

What action follows is something that will define the character of Assam Police under the chief ministership of Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. Is the Police only strict when it comes to religious or linguistic minorities or is it the same for all. In other words, or rather in often quoted in Assam, physicist and mathematician Issac Newton’s words, the reaction from Cachar Police will explain if it actually believes in, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Till then, LHS is not equal to RHS.