Vote only for "secular" politicians, urge Tami Nadu bishops

In view of the upcoming state election, Mgr Fernando, Archbishop of Madurai, has called on the community not to vote for those forces, like the Hindu Nationalist Party, that "want to spread ethnic-religious tension".

Madurai (AsiaNews) – Mgr Peter Fernando, Madurai Archbishop and President of the Tamil Nadu Bishops' Conference has called on Catholics "to support only secular parties and coalitions in the coming general elections to the State assembly".

John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), and Edward Arokia Doss, head of the Catholic Association of Madurai, met the archbishop to "congratulate him for his statements, intended to counter those forces that would like to spread ethnic-religious tension in the State".

The Catholic community of Tamil Nadu is no stranger to political clashes: it waged a long struggle against the promulgation of an anti-conversion law – proposed by Mrs Jayalalithaa, the current prime minister – and objected to the extension of the Annadhanam programme – distributing free meals in church and temple premises – because it "does not respond to the needs of the poor and could even serve to cause problems and tensions".

Catholic leaders in this southern state recommended that "aid and subsidies for orphanages, schools and hospitals" would be more opportune, but their proposal was not even considered.

For its part, the AICU has launched a nationwide drive to raise awareness that "those forces using violence as an electoral tool have no place in India", and it has issued several documents denouncing the "increased pressure against Indian Christians by the Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP [India's largest political party with fundamentalist, nationalist leanings] and its allies".

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