National News

Child Rights Body Sends Notice To Arunachal CS & DGP Over Christian Evangelist’s “Faith Healing” Prayer Festival Involving Children, CM Had Participated

November 7, 2023
The Commune

Paul Dhinakaran who is a Christian evangelist and a prominent proselytizer in India recently went to Arunachal Pradesh to participate in the Jesus Calls Arunachal Prayer Festival with his family. It is shocking to note that the Chief Minister of the state, Pema Khandu, and a few ministers also participated in the event. 

Paul Dinakaran expressed his intention to offer prayers for Pema Khandu, the council of ministers, and the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Paul refers to the state as “God’s garden,” and both Pema Khandu and the ministers join in the prayer. In the prayer, he says, “It is you (Jesus) who chooses to rule the state from time to time, thank you for choosing our dear Hon’ble CM and cabinet. May the government be blessed by you, and your guidance to do whatever you want to do for the people. Let your hand be on this state, let it progress as a great tourist destination, bless the family of CM and families of the ministers”.

This is followed by Pema Khandu’s speech at the inauguration of the event. He thanked Paul for praying for the government employees. He says, “We are all god-fearing people. We worship God with full devotion and we must believe. If anything is difficult then the first thing we remember is God. So I request all of you gathered here, whatever religion you believe in, if you are Christian, then we must believe from the bottom of our hearts. You saw the miracle of this a little while ago. when needed, how Jesus will give blessings from above to everyone. God always helps us in life by giving us blessings. We are all children of God. We know that there are several tribes in Arunachal Pradesh. This is God’s gift that despite having so many tribes no bad accidents have occurred in the state. So all of you keep praying like this, then our future life of all settled here will be very good”. 

He then spoke about his father Dorjee Khandu. He said, “I joined politics in 2011 and you all know the reason why, because of the accident of my father Dorjee Khandu. I am from a business background. After the accident, I had to come into politics all of a sudden. In 2016, when a big political gap started forming in the state and a unique thing happened in Arunachal Pradesh. The 60 Assembly seats comprise all parties – the Congress, the BJP, and others. And for the first time, everyone told my name and pushed me forward. They said that if anyone can take care of the state, it is you. I was not politically mature but with all your blessing and blessings of God.”

He added that the biggest festival of democracy (elections) was coming up in 2024 and said, “We had appealed to all religious leaders to say no to money culture in politics and I’d like to thank all the Christian denominations. In 2009 after our request, the Christian community spread the message of money culture and openly expressed their opposition to it and even convinced people about it. I request that in the 2024 elections that we have a stronger sentiment against money culture and come together and Say No To Money Culture.”

He also said, “We thank Paul Dinakaran and his family for coming so far to the state and pray for the well-being of the state and we have to implement that prayer in our lives practically. If you listen to the prayer and do not implement it in your life, there is no use for it. So my request to all the people who have come from various districts of Arunachal Pradesh is to remember these points.”

He spoke about the grants that were instituted by his late father Dorjee Khandu. “My late father Dorjee Khand started the corpus fund, and he started giving grants, after that, I became the CM in 2016, and I continued the good work he did, especially in the education sector. We provide grants in aid and corpus to institutions every year. We gave it this year and will do it next year too. I am doing all that I can for the Don Bosco College in Itanagar and Ziro. Education is a priority for the government so all the organisations of the Christian community and RK Mission too, who are working in the sector, we have been helping all the organisations and we will continue to do it.”

The festival took place for 3 days and during that time period, it is seen in the video of each of the days that prayers “resolved” the health issues of patients. 

As per reports, many tribal children were present and were exposed to unscientific “magic healing” gig by the infamous Christian Evangelist, where he claims to have healed them through special prayers.

Social Justice Forum Of Arunachal Pradesh an organization that works for the Indigenous Tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh, to protect their faith, culture, and identity shared instances of Paul Dhinakaran using children for his “magic healing” gigs. They noted that the Christian pastor is in violation of the Drugs & Magical Remedies Act-1954 by exposing tribal children to superstition.

 

 

In one of his sessions, he claims to have made a girl walk after 15 years bound into a wheelchair.

He also engages in proselytization attempts saying that one has to accept Jesus as the God to get cured of ailments.

Legal Rights Observatory took cognizance in this matter and reported this matter to NCPCR which has issued notices to DGP Arunachal Pradesh & the Chief Minister for officially promoting fraudster pastor Paul Dhinakaran’s magic healing of Tribals in Itanagar Arunachal Pradesh. 

In the formal complaint, the NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) has reported, “The Commission has received a complaint that a Pastor named Paul Dinakaran, during his Healing Crusade, is claiming to cure illnesses using magical healing powers. Upon further investigation it has come to the Commission’s attention that Pastor Paul Dinakaran has been displaying children he claims to have healed in front of large crowds”. Furthermore, the Commission has pointed out that Paul Dinakaran may be in violation of the Drugs & Magic Remedies Act of 1954. To address these allegations, the NCPCR has taken action under Section 13 (1) of the CPCR (Child Protection) Act, 2005.”

It is noteworthy that missionary organisations such as that of Paul Dinakaran have played a major role in converting the indigenous population of Arunachal Pradesh and becoming a majority-Christian state. As of 2011 Census, the population of Christians stood at over 30%. 

A while back on specific intelligence inputs, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate officials raided 28 premises of “Jesus Calls” and “Karunya” group of educational institutions, managed by the evangelist Paul Dinakaran.

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