Let’s face it! The Nagas have been making pilgrimage tour to Holy Land over the years. There is nothing wrong in that. Whoever can afford to do, this write up is not to discourage you. But with election around the corner, at least two political parties have included “Holy Land” tour in their manifestos The BJP manifesto States, “Set up senior citizen board who will annually select around 50 members through lucky draw for a free trip to Holy Land of Jerusalem” (p.14). The congress in their manifesto states, “By an act of the State Government, a board will be established to facilitate minorities to visit the Holy Land (Jerusalem) at a subsidized cost” (p.12).
The concern for senior citizens in both the manifestos are well taken. However, using Holy Land which has religious connotation should not be used to entice voters to win their sympathy. Two things must be noted here: pilgrimage and tourism are two different things. Pilgrimage is personal and spiritual where as tourism is purely leisure and secular. India is a secular country and we do not expect any political party to use religious sentiment to further one’s political interest. Rather, we will expect that whichever party comes to power to judiciously use public fund for good cause and leave religious pilgrimage and tourism to individuals. Christians in Nagaland cannot and should not expect such personalized scheme just because we are a Christian majority state. We remember well that the central government has stopped the “haj” subsidy to the Muslims for their yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. Whatever the reason maybe, if such is stopped for those who have enjoyed the facility for years, why should we think it should be passed on to us?
For BJP, coming to Nagaland during election doesn’t mean you can play with the sentiment of the Christians. You can at least say, Christians in the mainland India will not be targeted and persecuted, and their worship places will not be destroyed from henceforth without expanding how much Christian missionaries have contributed to the country because we know that too well. For the NPCC, your offer fall short of secularilism in Christian majority state. There are other more important issues you should be addressing specifically. To both, develop a comprehensive program for our senior citizens and minorities and don’t leave anyone out! And to Christians while it is not wrong to visit Holy Land, it will be futile to do so as a facility offered at the expense of others. Let us leave Holy Land tour to personal and private domain.
Rev. Dr. N. Paphino
Vice President
Nagaland Joint Christian Forum
(Issued by Nagaland Joint Christian Forum)
