Jagdamba Mall
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 22, 2025 assured a delegation representing Indigenous Faith and Cultural Society of Arunachal Pradesh (IFCSAP), Itanagar that necessary steps would be taken to frame the long pending rules for the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA), 1978, raising hopes for the effective implementation of the legislation. The assurance was given when a delegation of IFCSAP led by its president Dr Emi Rumi accompanied with Techi Gubin, Tambo Tamin, Deebang Tayeng and Er Katung Wahge met the Home Minister at his official residence in New Delhi. During the meeting, the delegation highlighted the urgent need to operationalize the Act, stressing that the absence of notified rules for decades had rendered the law absolutely ineffective.
The policy of keeping Christian missionaries away from Arunachal Pradesh was silently overturned by Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi when he (Rajiv Gandhi) became Prime Minister after assassination of Indira Gandhi. He put a lot of pressure on Gegong Apang (a Congress Party leader and a largest serving Chief Minister of the state who joined BJP later) to allow Christian missionaries in Arunachal Pradesh but patriotic Gegong Apang held out for quite long. However, for a backward state like Arunachal Pradesh which is wholly dependent on the Union Government for funds it was very difficult to defy the Prime Minister of the day for very long because the budgetary funds were blocked for this very reason. Hence, the state succumbed to the pressure from PM Office and could not enforce the APFRA 1978 though it was approved by President.
IFCSAP has been agitating for decades but the governments headed by various chief ministers turned to blind eye to their demands. On the contrary, the state government changed the nomenclature of Department of Indigenous Faith and Cultural Affairs to Department of Indigenous Affairs with a mala fide intention to include Christian and Muslim converts under the pressure of Church and Muslims.
