BY SAJI THOMAS
BHOPAL: Pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has said that he would organize religious events such as Christmas at his residence to promote equal respect for all religions.
Chauhan said this when a delegation of religious leaders met him to applaud his efforts to maintain peace and harmony in the state on Oct. 3.
Church leaders in Madhya Pradesh say their chief minister’s initiative will help promote sectarian harmony in the central Indian state.
The delegation noted that Madhya Pradesh remained calm in the wake of a court verdict over a controversial religious site that Hindus and Muslims claimed in Ayodhya, northern India.
Chauhan said peace, harmony and brotherhood will continue undaunted in the state if people and followers of various religions cooperate.
Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, who heads the Catholic Church in the state and a member of the delegation, said the chief minister’s “good gesture” is “in the right direction” to promote sectarian harmony and foster better understanding among religions.
However, he wants the state government to accelerate investigations into several attacks against Christians in the state. Such a gesture would help translate the chief minister’s intention, he added.
According to Archbishop Cornelio and other Church leaders in Madhya Pradesh, the state has witnessed several cases of violence against Christians since the BJP came to power in 2003.
Father Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of the Catholic Church in the state who was also a part of the delegation, said the chief minister’s plan “is a real recognition of the services of the Christian community in the state.” He termed the move as a new beginning of religious harmony and understating in the state which had witnessed communal violence.UCAN