Kohima: In the Christian majority state of Nagaland, if the faithful do not involve in politics, the state is only making way for a non-christian government, said Dr Villo Naleo, core committee convener of Clean Election Movement (CEM), under the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC).
During a seminar organised by Kohima Baptist Pastors Fellowship (KBPF) on Thursday at Khedi Baptist Church, in Kohima, Dr Naleo said it is a social responsibility and requires Christians to play an active role in their capacities.
“In a context where the majority are Christians, if Christians do not involve themselves in politics, there is one hundred per cent chance that we are giving opportunity to a non-Christian government in a Christian-dominated state,” Dr Naleo, who is also the academic dean of Shalom Bible Seminary, said.
As the Clean Election Movement is a social responsibility of the church, he said that it started with the noble idea that it is the church’s responsibility to uphold the spiritual and moral values of the people.
According to him, the clean election movement is neither an emotional reaction nor a politically-based movement but has emerged with sheer concern to help people to adhere to Christian moral and ethical principles in the preparation, process, and progress of voting.
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He noted that Nagaland is the highest Baptist populated state in the world, and that majority of members of legislative Assembly (MLA) are Baptist.
“A Christian dominated state practicing one of the most corrupted forms of electioneering system is sacrilegious to Christian ethos and principles. We as Christians have failed miserably in our Christian witness in the political arena”, he said.
He goes on to say that the way the society has abused voting rights, having double names, protecting the village electoral roll, refusing to strike off the names of the dead, and so on is unthinkable. He, therefore, urged the need to be pertinent to address this issue starting with the family circles, churches, institutions, and everywhere possible.
While he stressed on the role of churches, he said the church must not get involved with the government but be side by side and influence the government by remaining a moral guide.
He also advised church leaders to not get involved in any form of campaign in partisan politics in order to protect the church from becoming a soft target for criticism and from falling prey to money power during elections.
“If any church worker representing the church is found violating the CEM guidelines provided by the NBCC, the local church must be responsible for suspending the membership/licence of that particular person,” he said.
President of Kohima Baptist Pastors Fellowship, Rev Vezopa Rhakho, said the Clean Election Movement has been gaining momentum since 2002 as people began to realise that the malpractices during elections are morally and spiritually wrong.
Board chairman of Khedi Baptist Church, Vipralhou Kesiezie, said the seminar was conducted to educate the church members to exercise their franchise responsibly without entitlement or influence. This is the right time for the church to educate its members to practice and exercise its voting with responsibility in order to elect the right persons as our representatives, he said.
The open rampant misuse of election practices, he said, is a matter of great concern and worry. He also called upon the church to rise up and put a stop to the evil practices and bring a positive transformation for the benefit of the people.
Hundreds of members from 29 different churches have participated in the seminar.
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In that case do the same church approve the same line of thought if adopted by the majority religion of the country to rule India.