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”.
Guwahati, Nov. 22, 2025: Don Bosco Institute (DBI), Kharghuli, celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a solemn thanksgiving ceremony and the launch of Building Dreams – Shaping Lives, the autobiography of its educationist founder Fr. V.M. Thomas.
Hon’ble Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Chief Guest at the celebration, released the volume in the presence of Guest of Honour Devajit Saikia, Advocate General of Assam and Secretary of the BCCI. The event drew a distinguished gathering of judges, government officials, clergy, religious, alumni, and friends of Don Bosco.
More than a chronicle of achievements laid out in 598 pages, the autobiography is a testimony of grace and a narrative of how one man’s...
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Organized by the Rajahatta Explore Group, the event draws participants from across India and South Asia, with registrations now open both online and offline. The registration fee is Rs. 1700. Interested runners may register online via the Explore Group’s Facebook page, or offline at Anand Chettri’s shop in 8th Mile Bazaar or through RJ Samir, Program Coordinator at Radio Salesian.
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Seven hundred young participants from across Northeast India concluded their five-day Holy Week retreat with a symbolic Easter morning river pilgrimage on the Brahmaputra river, marking the 18th edition of Youth Pasch.
Organized by Don Bosco Institute (DBI) Guwahati, the annual retreat offers young people a space for spiritual renewal, reflection, and fellowship.
Youth Pasch immerses participants in the Paschal Mystery—the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus—through engaging liturgies, prayer, dramatic enactments and interactive sessions. This year’s event, held from 16 to 20 April, embraced the Salesian Jubilee Year theme, “Anchored in Hope, Pilgrims with Young People,” under...
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A highlight of the retreat was the solemn observance of Holy Thursday, commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples. The ceremony was...
Shillong, April 16, 2025: Educators from four prominent colleges convened at Union Christian College (UCC) Shillong for a dynamic two-day workshop focused on incorporating artificial intelligence into a participatory teaching and learning framework. The initiative aimed to equip faculty members with essential strategies for navigating the evolving landscape of higher education.
The Faculty Development Workshop, titled “AI-native Education - its Participatory Paradigm in Teaching and Learning,” took place at UCC Shillong on April 15th and 16th, 2025.
The program commenced with welcoming remarks from UCC Vice Principal Dr. M.C. Daimary, followed by an address from Jesuit Fr. Dr. Xavier...
"Chai Time - A Darjeeling Tea Planter's Journey from Makaibari to Rimpocha," the latest book from Bose Creative Publishers, was launched at a special event held at Berlin Coffee House in Siliguri, 13th April 2025. Besides a galaxy of eminent citizens, participants from 9 countries joined the event on-line.
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The seminar aimed to discuss the challenges and opportunities for rural development in Northeast India. It brought together experts, researchers, and policymakers to share their insights and experiences.
In his welcome address, Dr. Fr. Jose George, Principal of Don Bosco College, thanked the dignitaries for their presence. He highlighted the importance of the seminar, stating...
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.
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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.
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