A 98 year old Italian missionary, who has spent 75 years in India marking 51st year of becoming a naturalized Indian citizen, cast his vote on Monday at the Assam Assembly elections, 11 April. He could be the oldest voter in northeast India’s gate way city Guwahati.
Accompanied by Salesian provincial Fr V.M. Thomas, Fr Uttam Molsom Hubert and his faithful assistant Mr Rajiv, nonagenarian Fr Mario Porcu cast his vote in Pan Bazaar Girls School around 9.00 am today.
“The Polling Officials and voters standing in long queues gave him preference and showed lots of appreciation for taking much trouble to cast his vote,” says Fr VM Thomas.
“I am happy to take the trouble for the sake of our people and elect the leader who can ensure governance for the welfare f the people,” says Fr Mario enthusiastically returning to his car.
Fr Mario became an Indian citizen at a time when Indian government was expelling foreign missionaries from the northeastern state of Assam, recalled Fr. V.M. Thomas, president of the Conference of Religious India and head of Guwahati Salesian province.
Fr Mario was then the rector of Don Bosco School in Shillong, a prestigious institution in northeastern India.
Government of India records estimated that there were some 5,000 foreign missionaries operating in India during mid-1960s.
The Home Minister of then Congress-led Central government is claimed to have said, “Foreign missionaries already in India will be allowed to stay so long as we don’t have many things against them.”
Fr Mario was one such “harmless missionary” who became an Indian citizen in 1965.
A pioneer missionary in the Khasi and Garo Hills, as well as in the Assam plains and neighboring Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, Fr Mario was a frontier missionary in several parts of northeast India.
Fr Mario recalls, “It was indeed a sad time for the region when all foreign missionaries were turned out of then Assam when their residential permits were allowed to lapse without renewal on expiry.”
Fr Mario recalls that many schools, dispensaries, hospitals, agricultural, industrial and other social projects had to close down or remain hopelessly understaffed until missionaries from southern India volunteered to replace the expelled missionaries.
Scores of missionaries expelled from Assam went to neighboring states of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh as well as south India.
Then Chief Minister of Assam Bimala Prasad Chaliha declared that all foreign missionaries would have to leave the state in decision with the federal government’s policy, communicated in May 1967 to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and the National Christian Council (Protestant), that eventually all foreign missionaries in the country should be replaced by Indians.
Yet close on the heels of Chaliha’s declaration, the Press Trust of India released a statement from the Indian government that it was only the border areas from which, for security reasons, foreign missionaries would be asked to leave, and that the rest of the country would not be affected.
Church records of 1960s reveal there were 764,553 Christians in Assam with 299 foreign missionaries working in their midst. The expulsion order accordingly hit at least, a hundred Catholic missionaries, including Italian Salesian Bishop Orestes Marengo of Tezpur in Upper Assam and three of his priests whose residential permits expired in September 1968.
Charges that foreign missionaries were taking advantage of famine conditions in Bihar and elsewhere to obtain mass conversions by unlawful means were repeated in Parliament so often that Archbishop James R. Knox, the former Internuncio to India, was constrained to say in his farewell message in 1967 that the atmosphere of the Niyogi Report of 1955 was raising its ugly head in the country once again.
The report recommended the “legal prohibition” of religious conversion not “completely voluntary,” which was not implemented as it would have been “difficult to formulate and indeed to apply without violating the precepts of religious liberty enshrined in the Indian Constitution”.
18 May 2012 - 12:31pm | Dibya J Borthakur
More than 200 people led by All Tiwa Students’ Union and All Assam Tribal Sangha , Raha unit,enraged at the partial looks of Raha Town Committee towards their several civic problems mainly in...
4 Feb 2014 - 9:52am | AT News
Today is Saraswati puja. Puja festivity seems to have gripped the schools and colleges, universities and other educational institutes across the state.Dressed in traditional attire, the students and...
17 Sep 2017 - 11:27pm | AT News
The Nalbari police have arrested a social activist a couple of days he broke, with evidence, a nexus between All Assam Students Union and Bajrang Dal triggering huge protest across the state. He is...
21 Jul 2008 - 2:10am | Nava Thakuria
As the Indo-US nuclear deal finally puts the United Progressive Alliance government on test, many small and regional political parties of the country start gaining unexpected importance. The main...
In a rare case of rags to riches story, an Assamese entrepreneur today heads a trillion dollar company in the U.S. employing over 4,000 people.
The man in the case is Siddhartha Chowdhary, the founder of Credence, a consulting organization based in Washington DC. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur (1988-92 Batch) he was two terms president of PAN IIT activities for over 5,000 members in the U.S.
Siddhartha affectionately called as Sid was introduced as an unmatched achiever from northeast India at a felicitation held at Press Club Dispur in his home city Guwahati, on 22nd December 2023.
Introducing him was his former principal at Don Bosco School Guwahati Fr V. M. Thomas who said, “Sid...
Siliguri: A premier Catholic school in North Bengal staged an ambitious musical performance marking its golden jubilee with two-day open air mega event by 1,200 children teaching and learning from animal kingdom.
Some 12,000 people including school children and their guardians, as well as students and faculty members from Siliguri participated in both shows staged by Don Bosco School Siliguri.
The musical ‘The Lion King’ stage production with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and a book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, with additional music and lyrics by Lebo M and others is based on the 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios' film of the same name.
In the golden jubilee...
Imphal, July 29: In a gesture of peace and reconciliation, elders of Vaishnavite Community in Imphal have taken on moral responsibility for the misdeeds of the immature youth of their community, by declaring an indefinite fast and prayer.
In the wake of Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Menamparampil’s third visit to Manipur (25th to 27th July 2023) coincides with the initiative of the Convener of Interfaith Forum for Peace and Harmony of Manipur, Mr. Deben Sharma, announcing Indefinite Fast and Prayer in the name of his Vaishnavite Sanamahi community.
Mr. Sharma, one of the initiators of the Interfaith Forum for Peace along with a number of highly placed leaders...
In a post-covid outreach effort to connect with the local community, Radio Salesian journalists made their first attempt and reached one of the far-flung tea garden in Mirik Sub-Division, some two hours' drive from Sonada.
On Saturday 5 March, the Radio Salesian RJ team including 4 new radio journalists RJs Wang, Garima, Bandana and Pratap went for their first community outreach programme guided by senior RJs Moses, Rejina and Programme Co-ordinator RJ Samir.
Upon reaching Murmah Tea Estate, the Radio Salesian team members were received with traditional khadas (scarf) and welcome greetings from the residents of Murmah.
Radio Salesian regular listener and caller Laxmi Pradhan...
Siliguri: Marking the 50th anniversary of the birth of Bangladesh and the 13-day Indo-Pak war of 1971, a group of college students organised a felicitation program for war veterans on 18th December 2021.
Leading a group of six veterans, as well as a war widow was 86-year old Hon Cap S.B. Chhetri, who belonged to 5/11 Gorkha Rifles who were part of the decisive battle of Bogra to capture Dhaka, then the capital of East Pakistan.
Other eminent veterans present were Hawaldar Duryodhan Tamang (Army Corps of Engineers); Hon Capt Hemant Subba; Subedar Bijai Kumar Subba Sena Medal; Hav M Gautam Tamang; Subedar Tilak Ram Chhetri, and war widow Mrs Ishadevi Thapa, representing late Sub SB...
A college in North Bengal concluded two day college events with celebration of diversity of India with a much awaited popular item - fashion show, 17th December 2021.
Salesian College Siliguri organised the event christened Exsurge 2021 (Arise and Take Flight), which has had its tradition since 2009 when Salesian College Sonada established in 1938 started its Siliguri campus.
Unlike other years, this year, despite the pandemic, students were able to participate in 20 events including: bands, dancing, painting, collage, sketching, doodling, poetry, stand up comedy, photography and short film making among others.
“It is our way of affirming the diverse culture of India represented by...
Guwahati, 22 October 2021: A group of academicians and social activists came together under the leadership of the archbishop emeritus of Guwahati to promote peace at a time when the whole of Brahmaputra Valley is “in search of peace”.
The occasion was the release of an Assamese language book entitled Hanti Bisari (In Search of Peace) written by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil.
The original work in the English language was translated into Assamese by a civil society leader, Mr. Paresh Malakar.
The book-release turned out to be a social-discussion session in which the need for mutual understanding between communities was emphasised. A reputed intellectual of Assam, Mr. Hiren...
The combined 10-day Annual National Cadet Corps (NCC) Training Camp was held under the aegis of the 16th Bengal Battalion at Salesian College Siliguri from 16th to 25th September 2021.
As many as 400 NCC cadets from 10 colleges from in and around Siliguri participated.
Camp activities included drills, weapons training, map reading and various team-building exercises along with social activities.
28 Cadets from Salesian College participated in the camp along with Salesian College NCC Coordinator Lt Risha Chettri.
The Cadets followed their daily schedule which included doing morning meditation, morning and evening drills, studying subjects from the armed forces as...
Darjeeling: The first college Community Radio in North Bengal launched a creative initiative to mark 75th year of India’s Independence with what it calls ‘Azaadi Freedom Songs’ - a celebration of diversity and harmony.
India snatched its freedom from British colonial rule on 15th August 1947.
Radio Salesian 90.8 FM - The Voice of the Hills based at Salesian College Sonada is the first and only FM radio channel of Darjeeling since 2016.
This Independence Day initiative by Radio Salesian is in collaboration with two youth groups : Darjeeling NGO Mukh Bandh Kaam Suru (Shut Up Start Work) and Salesian Youth Movement Kolkata.
“It is our humble effort to promote fraternity, liberty,...
A group of Non Government Organizations (NGO) in the hills have come together to fight Covid 19 with joint well being campaign with slogans: ‘Bring Back the Smiles’, and ‘We Build Each Other.
“Using the hashtags #Bringbackthesmiles #Webuildeachother, the Well Being Campaign is all set to change the information game in these trying times,” says Adarsh Rai Founder of Encompass and team member of Hayden Hall Darjeeling.
“We plan to do it from top-down directives to modelling everyday safety standards, from negativity to positive action language, from fear and doom to healing, well being, hope and growth,” says Psychologist Susan Subba of Heart works....
Add new comment