• Members of Nagaland assembly raise concern over Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024

    North East
    Members of Nagaland assembly raise concern over Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024

    The variety of religions in Northeast India, he claimed, highlights the region's richness of unity in diversity and makes it special.

    Digital Desk: The Nagaland Assembly argued that the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, which aims to outlaw non-scientific healing methods, will have an impact on the fundamental principles of secularism. 

    According to Deputy Chief Minister TR Zeliang, who started a discussion on the subject, "Christian healing is a compassionate response to human sufferings irrespective of religious affiliations, and to label it as magical healing is an insult to the spiritual dimensions of Christian faith and life." 

    The variety of religions in Northeast India, he claimed, highlights the region's richness of unity in diversity and makes it special.

    The deputy chief minister said in Nagaland’s commercial city Dimapur, Hindus celebrate Deepavali and Durga Puja with much pomp and gaiety while Muslims celebrate Bakr-Id with equal liveliness.

     Rituals and observances, ceremonies, and worship styles are prescribed by Hinduism and are considered essential components of the Hindu faith. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, believers are also commanded by Christianity to pray and heal the sick and ailing.
     Zeliang demanded that the Bill be repealed and abolished by the Assam government.

    Dr. Sukhato A. Sema, an LJP MLA who supports the initiative, stated that secularism in India calls for both the existence of various religious communities and the separation of church and state. The future of secularism is thus at risk, he claimed if the state enacts legislation that violates citizens' right to freedom of religion. 

     Although the majority of people in Nagaland are Christians (87.93%), he claimed that neither the state nor its laws had ever discriminated against or placed religious minorities in jeopardy.

    Assam is predominantly a Christian state, hence it is appropriate to make an appeal to the Assamese government and say what Christian prayers and faith allow. This was stated by BJP MLA and Minister Temjen Imna Along.

    The term "magical healing," as used in the Bill, is inaccurate and deceptive, according to advisor and NDPP MLA Kudecho Khamo. This is unacceptable to the Christian community since all healings are the result of the Holy Spirit's divine intervention via prayer. He said, "Christian healing is both divine from God and scientific." 

    On February 21, the Assam administration presented new laws to the legislature with the goal of outlawing non-scientific healing methods.