Ploy to influence Christian voters
THE Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi met the Head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis at the Vatican City in Rome on 30 October 2021 and even invited him to India after the pandemic comes to an end.
Shri Narendra Modi’s meeting with the Holy See is only an election gimmick to lure Christians so that they may vote for the BJP in the next elections
On one hand, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Pope and even invited him to India, while on the other hand, a large number of Christians are being attacked in the country and their places of worship are being desecrated.
The Pope is aware of the prevailing xenophobia in India and so he conveyed his message to Modi through a parable from the book of Isaiah Chapter 32, verses 1 to 8 as a brass gift to make him understand his job as the ruler of the country.
It said, “See a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
No longer will the fool be called noble nor the scoundrel be highly respected. For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the Lord; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water.
The scoundrel’s methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands”.
One hopes the true papal message by the Prime Minister is understood by him. The BJP has also spared no efforts and even supported every attack and hate speech against Christians.
Several states in the country have even enacted anti-conversion laws which are in violation of the Constitution of India.
The Modi-Pope meeting is purely a political ploy to influence Christian voters ahead of the Manipur and Goa assembly elections next year – the two states with 41.2 per cent and 25.1 per cent Christian population, respectively.
The BJP hopes to use the Pope as a tool to prop-up its sagging fortunes in the poll-bound states and also to strengthen its base in Kerala (18.38 per cent Christian population) where some Church leaders are hand-in-glove in their own self-interest and survival.
Hence, the well-rehearsed event management, photo-ops and optics at the Vatican. Fortunately, though, the Pope, who is the Vicar of Christ on earth, cannot be fooled so easily.
He and his senior curia, such as his secretary of state who also met Modi, do know the extreme Indian situation of communal venom, hatred, intolerance and the torture that Muslims and Christians are regularly subjected to.
They are also aware of the gross violation of human rights and religious freedom in India, violence carried out by the state and non-state actors, including the Sangh Parivar, and prosecution by investigating agencies currently cracking down on individuals and groups in a finely choreographed black opera as well as the prevailing atmosphere of xenophobia.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Mumbai, India
