India’s Catholic Church keenly watching general elections

(April 17, 2009) India’s Catholic Church is closely watching the nation’s month-long general elections, hoping for a government that will protect the interests of minorities, especially Christians. “We certainly look for a government that will protect our interests in the light of what happed to our community in the last 4 to 5 years and even more, and the incidents that happened in Orissa,” said Fr. Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, CBCI. Indians began voting on Thursday in a staggered general election that will end on May 13. Results are due on May 16. Speaking to Vatican Radio on Friday, the CBCI spokesman deplored the brutal outrage that Christians of the eastern state of Orissa have been facing from extremist Hindus since August last year. He said the Church is keenly watching political developments in the state where under the coalition government of the regional party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Christians have been facing violence. With the alliance now broken, BJD is seeking to come to power on its own, a development which, Fr. Babu Joseph regarded as “good for Christians, because the regional party can take strong measures to protect” the interests of Christians. Meanwhile in the southern state of Kerala, where a leftist government has often been at loggerheads with the Catholic Church, Fr. Babu Joseph said, Christians are looking for a change.