By Matters India reporter
Visakhapatnam: India’s apex national organization for Catholic laity has condemned the federal government for not curbing “arithmetic of hate” to polarize the people on religious lines.
The 98-year-old All India Catholic Union (AICU) on February 19 condemned what it said was repeated efforts by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government, as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its non-state associates of the Sangh Parivar to resort to “arithmetic of hate” to polarize people on religious lines.
“Wherever there are national, provincial or even municipal elections, the party and Sangh cadres chants that religious minorities are “increasing fast” or ‘entering new areas,’” said AICU national president Lancy D Cunha, addressing a press conference, in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on February 18.
“No less a person than the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Karen Rijjiju, is making insinuations against the Christian population in Arunachal Pradesh, his home state. This not only insults the freedom of conscience of the people, which is guaranteed in the Constitution, but also casts aspersions on minority faiths,” he said.
The press conference was also addressed by national vice president engineer Elias Vaz, secretary general S. Chinnappan and treasurer Alexander Anthony, immediate past president Eugene Gonsalves and past national president and spokesperson John Dayal.
D Cunha alleged that leaders of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, among them Members of Parliament, have insulted the Christian presence in the country, especially in northeastern states and parts of central India. These allegations have not been condemned by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, he bemoaned.
The organization has consistently demanded that the prime minster fulfill his promise of security and safety to the community by taking steps to end such targeted hate campaigns. His silence directly encourages violent extremist elements to attack churches, religious persons and institutions, AICU alleges and pointing out violence against Christians continues in various parts of the country.
The leaders of the organization have also renewed the demand that the federal government restore immediately the constitutional rights of the Christians of Dalit origin that were taken away by the Presidential Order of 1950, now called Article 341 [iii].
The AICU has challenged the order in the Supreme Court together with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and other organizations. They alleged that the order effectively takes away the freedom of religion from more than about 200 million people of Dalit origin who can retain their affirmative action benefits in education and employment, and their right to fight elections from reserved seats, only if they remain, or become Hindus.
The AICU has called upon the federal government to focus on issues of employment, ameliorating the plight of farmers, safety of women, and universal health care and housing. A Smart Nation is one where hunger, want, disease, homelessness, vulnerability deceases sharply, and freedoms are strengthened, it added.
The Catholic lay group also wants the government to desist from attempting to force majoritarian Uniform Civil Code. Instead, it should remove religious bias from many central and state laws including in taxation policies, employment and the Dalit issue as in Article 341 [iii]. It must forthwith stop its desperate efforts to saffronized education, D Cunha said.
The working committee of AICU was addressed by Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu of Vishakhapatnam and the Bishop Sarat Chandra Nayak of Berhampur (Odisha).
Founded 1919, registered under Societies Registration Act 1860, AICU represents the Catholic laity of India through 171 diocesan units nation-wide. It is the oldest and largest laity organization in Asia.