Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to condemn the attacks on Christians in the country and said the Government has a duty to protect the rights of religious minorities.
“We have been approaching government authorities whenever there is an attack. We don’t counter-attack. We have personally raised the issue with the prime minister. The latest was when he joined us for Christmas celebrations. Protecting the rights of minorities and Christians is the duty of the Government. Whenever we go to the authorities, they say they (the attackers) are fringe groups. But take control of those fringe groups,” he said at a press conference called a day ahead of the CBCI’s 37th general body meeting in Bengaluru.
“Some political parties may have a political way of doing it. We are not political people. There have been attacks on Christians on the basis of religion. We are afraid of it. We want the prime minister to take necessary precautions and condemn such acts,” the archbishop said.
“We Christians have contributed to nation-building and will continue to do that. But sometimes, religious discrimination and attacks on Christians on the basis of religion take place. We are afraid of that,” he added.
His statement comes weeks after a pastor, Bipin Bihari Naik, was attacked allegedly by Bajrang Dal workers in Odisha, forcing him to eat cow dung and chant Jai Shri Ram.
The CBCI general body meeting will start on Wednesday under the theme “Faith and the Nation: The Church’s Witness to India’s Constitutional Vision”. Former Supreme Court judge Justice K M Joseph and professor D Dominic will speak on the topic “Current Socio-Political Context, and Constitutional Values”.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.