Kochi, 31 August(H.S): Mar Raphael Thattil, Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church, the biggest collective of Catholics in the country has made a serious allegation against the present ruling dispensation at the Centre.

In a note circulated among the laity during a two-day conclave of priests and administers held at Kochi, the Major Archbishop accused that the rulers of the country are denying the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution to the minority community.

“The good works done by the Church’s missionaries in elevating the lives of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, depressed classes and downtrodden sections of the society are being blackened out. There is widespread hate campaign against the Christians across the country. Our missionaries, evangelists, nuns and priests are being denied the right to travel or express their views,” says the note authored by Raphael Thattil.

He said the Indian Constitution has empowered the minorities vide Article 25 the freedom of conscience, practice and propagation of religion. But the major archbishop was silent on the clause that from the point of view of the State, religion, faith or belief of a particular person has no place and given no scope for imposition on the individual citizen. This is the most sophisticated way of telling that no individual could be forced to change his/her religion against his wish or by offering pecuniary benefits.

Raphael Thattil’s words are being seen as his displeasure over the arrest and subsequent bail granted to two nuns at Chhattisgarh for trafficking and religious conversion of tribal girls.

Many Catholic bishops have demanded the scrapping of all legislations enacted in the country against forced religious conversion.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti