NBCC President, Rev Dr Mar Atsongchanger, Vice-president Rev Hotokhu P Zhimomi and General Secretary, Rev Zelhou Keyho at the press conference at Impur Mission Centre on February 2. Morung Express News Impur | February 2 The 21st Triennial Convention of the Nagaland Baptist Churches’ Council (NBCC) is all set to commence from February 2 evening on the theme ‘Knitted together in Christ. Col 2:2’ at Impur Mission Centre, some 15 kilometers away from Mokokchung town. Addressing a press conference, NBCC president, Rev Dr Mar Atsongchager said that the three day triennial conference will be attended by more than 800 delegates from twenty Baptist churches and four associate churches. Saying that this triennial conference will be unique in some ways, Rev Dr Mar said that this conference is being held in the nick of the state elections and the theme ‘Knitted together in Christ’ will be deliberated and every speaker will talking on being knitted together in Christ from different perspectives. He also expressed deep hope that all the delegates would be greatly blessed and would be knitted in Christ during this conference. ‘Clean Election Campaign a moral movement’ On being asked about the stance of the church with regard to Clean Election Campaign (CEC) and the state forthcoming election NBCC General Secretary, Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho, who was also at the press conference, said that the Clean Election Campaign is simply a means of cleaning up the election system which has become an unfair exercise due to use of muscle and money power etc. While saying that the politicians and political parties alone cannot be blamed for unfair election system, Rev Keyho maintained that the voters are also to be blamed for the conduct of unfair polls in the state. In this connection, he said that Nagaland CEC is not playing politics, but a moral movement which aims at calling the attention of all the Naga citizens, as Christians, to respect their respect their rights and to vote fairly to elect a leader. Rev Mar Atsongchanger, who is the NBCC-CEC convener, substantiated by saying that Nagaland, though a Christian dominated state, is listed as one of the most corrupted states in India which is directly or indirectly due to corrupt election practices. Therefore, the NBCC takes the Clean Election Campaign very seriously since it is related to the developmental aspect of the state and way of ensuring our state to be free from corruption. The NBCC officials also reminded that all the political parties and NBCC signed a pledge to follow clean election process on June 22, 2017 and expressed hope that the political parties and candidates would honor the pledge. ‘Vote for leader who stands by Christian faith’ On being asked about the churches’ call to voters not to vote for ‘communal parties’ which explicitly refers to BJP, Rev Dr Mar Atsongchager said that there are eleven states in India where minorities are persecuted and India is also ranked 11th in the world as a nation where Christians are persecuted. He termed it as a threat not only to Christian community not only in the state but also in the country. Therefore, he said that the church called upon the Christian voters to choose a leader who stands by Christian faith. He also said that the church calls upon the candidates to maintain the Christian principles as a politician too. NBCC’s position on election On the role of NBCC with regard to the present hullabaloo related to state general election especially the ‘Solution not Election’ call by the CCNTHCO, the NBCC General Secretary Rev Dr Kehyo said that ‘election and solution’ is not within the jurisdiction of the NBCC; however seeing the division of the Naga society, the church through Nagaland Joint Christian Forum (NJCF) took upon itself to call all the tribal hohos, the political parties and other stakeholders under one roof so that they can ‘see eye to eye’ and discuss about the present situation. However, ‘boycott’ of election is not in the vocabulary of the NBCC and had told the different Hohos and others during the recent meeting, said Rev Keyho. Nonetheless, he expressed hope that good wisdom would prevail and a constructive approach would be taken by the different tribal Hohos, political parties, NNPGs etc so that a positive outcome would emerge for our state. The NBCC Vice president, Rev Hotokhu P Zhimomi was also present at the press conference. The main speakers at the conference are Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho, Khontele Seb, Rev Dr Rachülie Vihienuo and Rev Zulu Walling.
