Weeks after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma appealed to the Tiwa population in the Morigaon district of Assam to remain rooted in their culture and identity and maintain a safe distance from the trend of religious conversions, more than 24 families of the community reverted to their roots to Hinduism in a traditional ceremony observed at the court of Gova (Tiwa) king on Monday. The ceremony was held in Mortan village en route to Karbi Anglong from Nellie in Assam.
At another religious function organised under Tiwa tradition and led by the cultural council, 43 members of 11 families, who had recently converted to Christianity, were ceremonially accepted back into Hinduism in the court of Gova Roja Deep Singh Deoroja, the titular king of the Gova kingdom and the Tiwa community of Morigaon. The individuals were sanctified and underwent a reconversion process back to Hinduism, with offerings made to please the gods, and the Doloi performing the cleansing ritual.
Member of Gova Deoraja Parishad Jorganisedrdoloi said the ‘Tiwa Language Culture and Uddhar Parba’ is working on a reconversion mission. The organisation, which has undertaken such an initiative before, reconverted two villages in Kamrup and Karbi Anglong.
“We recently reconverted 43 members of 11 families with their consent. They were reconverted in a traditional ceremony held in the court of Gova Raja following our Tiwa tradition.”
Bordoloi said the families have promised not to convert to Christianity again. “They promised to worship the Tiwa goddess and align with Tiwa’s beliefs and customs. We have been aware of the proselytisation communal racket for long time, working on the lines of proselytisation and destroying Hinduism as well as tribal traditional culture and community.”
He stated that due to the alarming rate of “nefarious designs”, acting and protecting the region’s community and religion is imperative.
Assam Chief Minister, at a function in Nagaon, Jungal Bolohu, stated: “an ethnicity cannot thrive for long if it loses touch with its cultural roots.”
Christianity among the Scheduled Tribes of the Northeast
As per 2011 census data, Christians form 12.8 per cent of the current Scheduled Tribes population of the state, up from 7.6 per cent in 1991 and 8.8 per cent in 2001. There are two separate ST lists for Assam, one for the autonomous hill districts and the other for the rest of the state. Further, 27.4 per cent of Scheduled Tribes in the hills are Christian, while among STs in the plain area, the share is lower at 9.7 per cent.
Of the 6.7 lakh STs in the hills, 4.3 lakh are from the Karbi community, and 1 lakh people are Dimasa-Kachari tribes. Christianity has mainly spread among the Karbi tribe, with 17.6 per cent now Christian, an increase from 11.7 per cent in 1991. Meanwhile, the Dimasa and Kachari are primarily Hindu.
The share of Christians among the smaller hill tribes is much larger, with the Kuki (Mizo), Jaintia, Garo, Hmar, Lushai (Mizo) and Naga tribes predominantly Christian.
Among 32 lakh STs in the northeast plains, 13.6 lakh Boros or Boro-Christians, form the largest group, with 10% being Christian.
There is little Christian presence in the other plains tribes, such as the Miri, Rabha, Kachari Sonowal and Lalung. Garos have also been included in the plain STs since 2003, with 96% being Christian.
According to the 2011 census report, only 42 per cent of the Christians in Assam are from Scheduled Tribes. Out of 11.66 lakh Christians in the state, only 4.95 lakh belong to Scheduled ST, of which 42.5 per cent are Christians. The remaining 57.5 per cent are from non-ST communities, which is unusual compared to other Northeastern states where Christians are almost exclusively from the STs.
After the reconversion ceremony, a Tiwa youth who denounced Christianity said, “We have now returned to our own community. Our forefathers and grandfathers were Christians. Today we have decided to return—not to Hinduism, but to our own community. We would like to mention it clearly that no one has forced us into this reconversion, we willingly have converted to the Tiwa community.”
In 2022, the Assam government launched an inquiry into reported incidents of religious conversions and foreigners conducting religious preachings in the state on tourist visas.
Assam had also written toorganisationso blacklist all foreigners who have been violating tourist and visit visa norms and taking part in religious meetings in the state. It also asked the Centre to blacklist all those organisations that have been inviting these foreign nationals.
Three Swedish and seven German nationals were detained by cops in Assam and later sent to Delhi for deportation after they were found to have attended religious preaching, which is a violation of visit and tourist visa norms in India in 2022.
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