Christians in Pune to form united front to express concerns, issues

Christians in city to form united front to express concerns, issues

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 17 February 2015 AT 12:05 PM IST

    

Church attacks, Ghar Wapsi, Pune, Christians, united front, express concern,

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Pune: In an unprecedented move, leaders of the mainline and other churches belonging to various denominations met here on Monday and resolved to form a united front of all Christian sects to register their strong concern against the increasing cases of attacks on churches and the ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaign.

Pune Bishop Thomas Dabre, CNI Bishop Andrew Rathod and Bishop Naresh Ambala were present on the occasion.

Bishop Dabre said that while registering the protest against attacks on churches, Christians should also pray for the persecutors.

The meeting held at St Patrick’s Cathedral campus was attended by religious leaders including Catholic priests, Protestant pastors, social activists, lawyers and others.

Prominent among the speakers were Madhya Pradesh’s former director general of police T Correa, Mozes Kalkutti, Judith Menezes and Fr Denis Joseph.

The speakers at the meeting expressed their concern at the series of attacks against churches in Delhi and the inaction of authorities in curbing these incidents.

These attacks had threatened the secular fabric of the country and created a sense of insecurity among the members of the minority communities, the speakers said.

The speakers regretted that the Christian community was divided into various religious sects and came together only when there were attacks against churches, schools or religious personalities. They also lamented the fact that presently there are no  prominent political leaders representing the Christian community in state assemblies or the Parliament.

Pune diocese Vicar General Fr Malcolm Sequeira said that a committee representing the all-denominations will be formed to hold regular meetings and follow up with the authorities. 

AAP Ki Dilli and aftermath

The AAP victory has created a political history in the whole country. The pollsters were off the mark when all of them predicted just a comfortable majority to the Aap Aadmi Party, forecasting over 20 seats for the BJP and almost writing off the Congress. The voters in Delhi have set off an avalanche. If 2014 Lok Sabha polls experienced a Modi tsunami, there is no word to describe AAP's victory in 67 of the total 70 assembly seats.

The debate on what exactly led to the AAP avalanche, Waterloo of the BJP and decimation of the Congress in the national capital will continue for next few weeks. The army of the Sangh Parivar, scores of Union ministers and nearly 150 MPs in the Delhi poll arena were outsmarted by the thousands of the AAP volunteers drawn from all over the country who had been tirelessly working in bylanes, slums and other areas of the walled city since a few months prior to the polls.

The poll verdict of the Delheites will indeed have a lasting impact on the national politics. Kiran Bedi who was 'paradropped' as the BJP's chief ministerial nominee failed to improve the BJP's sagging poll fortune. But when the party could just win three seats of the 70 seats, the blame has been fully shifted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

The Delhi poll debacle have left tremors in the BJP hierarchy as well as in the Congress camp. The second rung of party leaders in the BJP who had been totally sidelined for almost for a year in the process of decision making are now likely to be heard. The BJP was able to retain its core votes base but the AAP succeeded in attracting the votes shares of the Congress and other parties. This is a warning bells for all the traditional parties who have hitherto banked on castes, religion or region to win the votes. The AAP has indeed shattered all these barricades to win an unprecedented nearly 95 percent of the assembly seats. The Delhi success has now encouraged the AAP volunteers to undertake similar massive campaign in Mumbai and other metropolitan cities having polls in the next couple of years.

BJP's poll debacle has prompted its ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, to take pot shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  indicating the strained relationship in the saffron alliance government. Indeed there was always a tug of war even within the Congress-NCP government but it had become a matter of public concern only at the fag end of the third term of the government when NCP supremo Sharad Pawar charged that the state government was affected by a 'paralysis' of indecisiveness. Fireworks have began in the BJP-Shiv Sena government soon after completion of just 100 days in power.

If things are not sorted out by both parties well in time, the state may face fresh polls. Arvind Kejriwal succeeded in winning majority of seats in the assembly in the second attempt. Both BJP and Shiv Sena are keen on having their own government with a majority support in the state assembly and either of them may be tempted to follow Kejriwal's example to opt for the gamble and adventurism of fresh polls. If they have no such intentions, the two parties should bury the hatchets and work to fulfill the promise of clean governance and development.  

Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Poll war in national capital, Delhi

Reporters Name | CAMIL PARKHE | Tuesday, 27 January 2015 AT 09:10 PM IST

    

Delhi Assembly polls, AAP, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi

The war for wresting power in Delhi state has finally began. In the earlier Delhi polls held last year, it was a triangular fight between the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP. Now it seems the AAP and the BJP are the main contestants and Congress has been relegated to the third position. What is most interesting is that two former comrades in the civic activists movement are now pitted each other. The BJP which had been attempting to put off the Delhi polls as long as possible has received a shot in the arm with Kiran Bedi joining its camp. The party will now have to contain the dissent among its senior leaders who fear they will have to play a second fiddle to the newcomer in the party.

I have had close association with Bedi when she was Deputy Superintendent of Police in Goa, looking after the traffic arrangement for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) retreat in Goa in 1983. Nearly 40 heads of Commonwealth states including Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Bob Hawke and others were to attend the retreat. As a reporter with the local daily 'The Navhind Times', I used to accompany her in a police Gypsy vehicle from Panaji to Fort Aquada for her rehearsals with she constantly instructing her subordinates on the walkie-talkie. That was the beginning of her career but that time too she was known as an upright and no-nonsense officer.

There has been indeed a strong reaction to Bedi's decision to join the BJP. Bedi was a forefront leader in the Anna Hazare Team and with her entry, BJP has dealt a heavy blow to the AAP. Bedi's past record as a dynamic IPS officer and her role in the Team Anna will be put to test in this political battle.

BJP's decision to declare her as the chief ministerial candidate has also exposed the party's lack of confidence in winning the prestigious polls with its own leaders.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar will have to use all its strength and resources to do well in Delhi polls. Teams of civic activists from all parts of the nation have also been working for the AAP in Delhi much before the poll schedule was announced. It is a prestigious battle for both the camps.

It will be yet another test to check whether the Modi wave still exists. The previous year Delhi state polls were fought when there was an anti- incumbency wave against the 15-year-old Congress regime led by Sheila Dixit. Now it will be a fight between the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal with Bedi and BJP president Amit Shah leading BJP from the front. It will be one of the most interesting and bitterly fought contest in the national capital.