Bengaluru: The Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, came out strongly against the recent remarks by Mr. K. S. Eshwarappa, a senior leader of the BJP party in Karnataka, who had made a controversial statement against Christians in the run up to elections. He was the Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP government headed by Mr. Jagadish Shettar from 2012 to 2013.
The Archbishop who is also the President of the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishop’s Council, and President of All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights said, “The Christian Community is in a great shock to learn that Mr Eshwarappa during on his campaign trail at Bagalkot on 9th April, 2019, mentioned that ‘Christians, like the Muslims, were not given party tickets because Christians are not loyal to the country and not honest too’”.
“His statement has hurt the sentiments, not only of the Christians in the Karnataka state, but also the entire Christian community in the country,” the Archbishop stated and added that, “Everyone knows Christians render selfless service in various fields, particularly in educational, health and social fields with genuine care and concern for all without any discrimination.”
The Archbishop stressed that the community reaches out God’s love to the needy, the underprivileged, and the marginalized and helps them to live with human dignity. “Though ours is a minority community, our service to all humanity is indeed remarkable,” he added.
“Therefore, Mr. Eshwarappa’s statement that ‘Christians are not loyal to the country and not honest too’ is condemnable and highly deplorable. As proud citizens of the country, Christians do cherish patriotic spirit and promote it all levels,” the Archbishop remarked.
“In addition, it is a well-known reality that many Christians have laid down their lives for the country; and, today, thousands are serving in all the three defense forces with utmost devotion and dedication,” the Archbishop reiterated. “In the past, the Christian soldiers, commanders and others have laid down their lives for the country. St. Mother Teresa, who was awarded the Noble Peace Prize by the world community and Bharat Ratna by our own Government, was a Jewel of this country. Such being the case, passing such kind of defamatory and baseless remarks by a leader of high repute is condemnable.”
“I intentionally refrained from making any public statement earlier as it would have led to public demonstrations all over the state and undoubtedly would have affected the peaceful conduct of the recently concluded parliamentary elections. Moreover, the general public would have interpreted my statement differently and might have given a political colour to it. Hence, Mr. Eshwarapa’s statement was not called for and, by doing so, he has done a great harm to the Christian community and has discredited its credibility. Hence, we request him to withdraw his statement and tender an unconditional apology to the Christian community,” the Archbishop demanded.
Let them stop their children going to Christian schools. Patients admitting to hospitals. Elders joining old age homes run by Christians.
The statement is by a lone individual and does not reflect the views of the non-Christians in general.
Christians do not need to react to the comments made by any political party during election season. So let us put such petty issues behind us and forgive them.
I agree with you Sir, one person’s views is not the same as the community’s.
Well said…. We r Christ followers.
The community does not need any certificates from discredited, communal and corrupt politicians. Foot in the mouth is a common problem with politicians.
Regardless of what his motive might have been, I do agree that his comment was crass and unkind.
There are some politicians who are always criticising minority community, they know minority community people are also serving in government jobs and they are dedicated, and also they are patriotic to the country and they are proud Indians like others.
Highly deplorable conduct. When reporters are in jail for having spoken against ruling parties, similar case must be filed against the MLA for insulting a community
If it is true, it is indeed a highly defamatory and illegal statement tarnishing the image of the entire Christian community in India. One fails to understand as to why, so far, either any Christian from the State of Karnataka or from the local place where such a damaging and defamatory statement was allegedly made by this obviously disgruntled politician, has not filed a defamatory suit against the person concerned.? In fact, it is a fit case to move the High Court/Supreme Court on behalf of the entire Christian community. Needless to note that had it been against any other religion, Courts of this country would have already been flooded with defamatory proceedings, but christians have been proved to be a soft target for all kinds of such falsehoods without any kind of decisive and concrete actions from them to deter others from making such irresponsible statements! This encourages people to target them again and again. Unless immediate legal actions are initiated by the christians as and when any such defamatory statements are made against them, this will continue with their moot silence. Arise, Awake and Act please!
Such remarks specially by politicians only go to show the shallow mindset of the persons and the fact that spreading hatred is their only agenda. Surely they need to be dragged into court for defamation of the community
Kudos to Arch Bishop Machado for his bold statement
CAPT Eddie Viegas
This is their usual tactics during elections to further consolidate the Hindu votes.
Being a patriotic Indian Citizen professing and practicing Christian religion, I strongly condemn and object to this defamatory statement targetting the peace loving Christian community. A strong legal notice for defamatory proceedings is the need of the hour.
I agree with the message by Mr.Jose AA.
Archbishop has correctly reacted.