By C V Joseph

Bengaluru, Jan. 27, 2019: Christian leaders of the southern Indian state of Karnataka are exploring the feasibility of fielding members from the community for the forthcoming general elections.

Christian Community Coalition, Karnataka, under the aegis of International Federation of Karnataka Christian Associations, met on January 26 at YMCA, Bengaluru, the state capital, to seek better representation of the community in legislative bodies.

The federation is an organization of associations of all Christian denominations in Karnataka and abroad and has more than 60 branches in the state.

One leader, Rajshekar who traveled from Davangere, some 265 km northwest of Bengaluru, to attend the meeting, asserted that no political party should take the Christian community for granted.

“If due representation is not given for Christian candidates in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Christians would make their feelings felt by voting sensibly and it will have a cascading effect in the entire state where the Christians are a potential force to cause a swing for or against any political party,” he warned.

He claimed Christians form nearly 10 percent of Karnataka’s population who, he added, “could no longer be considered as mere pushovers.”

The meeting was attended by retired Indian Administrative Service officer J Alexander, retired Indian Police Service officer H.T. Sangliana, David Simeon, a former member of legislative council, former legislator Ivan Nigli, and several others from all walks of life.

Ronald Colaco, a businessman in Dubai flew down a week ago to organize and coordinate the event.

The meeting passed a resolution that noted the following as the community’s strengths:
• In Karnataka Christians are at 3.6 percent of the population according to recent official census whereas the actual number exceeds by far.
• Christians are pioneers in education, healthcare, and social service and our contribution in these fields has remained unparalleled compared to any other community in India.
• Christians account for more than 50,000 educational Institutions all over the country and nearly 40 percent of the total student population of our country are being educated in our educational institutions.
• Thus, we are the second largest education provider after the government
What Christians deserve:
• Going by our share of contribution in the field of education, healthcare, and social services, thus having credible share in the overall economic development of our country, we feel that we should not be sidelined while considering the allocation of seats for the Lok Sabha elections.
• Going by our population in Mangalore, Karwar, Bidar, and Bangalore Central districts, the Christian Community deserves to have candidates in any one or more of the above districts. However, considering the seat sharing between the Congress and JDS and at the same time, polarization gimmicks extensively employed by the other political party (parties) in certain districts as well as the winning prospects, at this stage, our request is restricted to Bangalore Central only.
How Christians have supported the Congress:
• Even though all communities, including the other minority communities, are more or less equally divided among various other political parties, yet the Congress Party allocates seats for Lok Sabha Elections in a fair manner except for the Christian Community that was not at all considered during the 2014 election.
• While we appreciate the justice to all communities including the other minorities, our request to the Congress High Command as well as the State High Command is to fully recognize the fact that 95 percent of our community has all along wholeheartedly stood by the Congress Party alone in all elections.