Christian leader: With Narendra Modi in power, religious minorities and Dalits are at risk
Mumbai (AsiaNews) - If Narendra
Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, the Hindu nationalist) really win the
general election, "religious minorities and dalits in India are at risk"
It
Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC ) tells
AsiaNews, commenting on the exit poll - all pro - Modi - which came out at the end of
voting.
Sajan
George outlines to AsiaNews main concerns
regarding Modi. First of all, " a campaign with an extreme fundamentalist
stamp; the promise to expel all Bangladeshi (and Muslims) migrants, the
references to the 'Rose Revolution' (an end to beef exports-ed), the
demonization of the city of Azamgarh,
referred to as the 'cradle of terrorism'".
Moreover,
he adds, "the Modi campaign also has a strong upper-caste bias, and GCIC
is concerned for the 200 million Dalits throughout the country. The worst affected will be the Dalit
Christians and Muslims, who through
the 1950 legislation are not
eligible for privileges like free education, set quotas for government jobs and
seats in legislatures to improve their status. However" adds the GCIC President,
"GCIC does not share the same view of the exit polls and does not see a
majority BJP government ruling in secular democratic India."
Meanwhile,
however, the media highlight these predictions, fueled also by the reactions of
markets and major shareholders. Mukesh
Ambani, India's richest man and chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL second
largest Indian oil company which also operates in the communications -ed) ,
added 800 million US dollars to its
share capital when the exit polls pointed to a possible victory for Modi. On
the other hand, his pro-investment campaign blunted criticism about his responsibility
for the Gujarat
massacres that took place between Hindus and Muslims in 2002.
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28/05/2019 10:53
23/05/2019 18:54
