New Delhi: Responding to Delhi archbishop’s letter, home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said in India minorities are safe and no one is allowed to discriminate on the bases of caste and religion.
“I have not seen the letter, but I want to say India is one of those countries where minorities are safe and no one is allowed to discriminate on the basis of caste and religion,” Singh said.
The minister was responding to a letter written by Delhi archbishop earlier this week Anil Couto to priests asking them to “pray for country” ahead of 2019 elections.
Earlier in the day, minister of minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had condemned the archbishop’s letter and said that his government is committed towards the inclusive growth without discriminating.
“PM (Narendra Modi) is working towards inclusive growth without discriminating while breaking barriers of religion and castes. We can only ask them to think with progressive mindset,” the minister said.
Minister of state Giriraj Singh, too, slammed the archbishop for his letter.
“Every action has a reaction. If church asks people to pray so that Modi government isn’t formed, country will have to think that people from other religions will do ‘kirtan pooja’,” Singh said.
The letter, written on May 8, contained an instruction that it should be read at all Sunday mass prayers on May 13. In it, archbishop Couto requested that “…we observe a day of fast every Friday of the week by forgoing at least one meal and offering our penance and all our sacrifices for our spiritual renewal and that of our nation”.
He also calls for an hour of special prayers — “eucharistic adoration” — every Friday at a convenient time in “all our parishes, religious houses and institutions specifically praying for our nation”. The letter was accompanied with a special “prayer for our nation”, which says, “Let the dreams of our founding fathers and the values of our Constitution – equality, liberty and fraternity – be always held in highest esteem. Let the people of all castes and creeds, all denominations and persuasions live in harmony and peace steering far away from hatred and violence.”
However, the archbishop’s secretary, Father Robinson Rodrigues, said that such prayer campaigns took place before every general election, but the exercise was being politicised this time.
“The archbishop’s letter is not political, neither it is against the Government or against the honourable PM. Misinformation should not be spread. It’s just an invitation for prayers, and such letters have been written in the past too,” he said.
Father Nigel Barret, spokesperson of Bombay Archdiocese, too, came out in defence of Delhi Archbishop’s letter.
“When a government has finished its term and in elections a government is elected, it is a new government. (The) letter doesn’t say a different government, it says new government. So, I don’t see anything controversial with the term new government,” Barret said.
(Times of India)