PTI | 08:02 PM,Feb 19,2011
Shillong, Feb 19 (PTI)
Shillong, Feb 19 (PTI)
The section of Mizoram�s Christian population who were staying away from the Census process due to a superstition relating to an interpretation of the Bible might not be able get benefits of government schemes, the state�s Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said today.
"They will be deprived of the benefits of citizenship.We will not be able to look after them, because they are not our citizens," Lal Thanhawla said, after inaugurating the Mizoram House and a Mizoram Boys Hostel here.
He described this section who have refused to enrol themselves in the Census as 'non-citizens', but said the state government was making every effort to include every genuine citizen in the census. "We have heard many times that people are reluctant to register their names in the Census. They believe we are not the people of this world. We are the people of God. So strong is their belief that they do not want to register themselves.
Not only in the Census, some have even withdrawn their children from schools," the chief minister said."They rejected all the worldly things. They have differences with other Christian denominations," said R Lalnunzira, secretary of the North East Church Council, who was accompanying Lal Thanhawla.
The fear of the 'Beast' or the Devil in the Christian-dominated state of Mizoram has caused hundreds of families to refuse to enrol their names in the National Population Register (NPR) taken up along with the Census 2011.
The dread stems from Chapter 13 Verse 17 of the Book of Revelations in the Bible which says "... and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the Beast or the number of his name."
The problem has stemmed from the Unique Identification Authority of India stipulating that no one could buy or sell property without the Unique ID card. According to adherents of the belief, since buying or selling of property made one a follower of the Beast, one having the UID card, which authorised property transactions, automatically made one a follower of the Devil.