Keshubhai asks TN bishop to meet Home Secretary

By Our Special Correspondent

GANDHINAGAR, DEC. 13. The Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel, has asked the Christian leaders, including the national president of the Evangelical Church of India, bishop Ezra Sargunam, to meet the State Home Secretary to represent their views on the alleged attack on a church in Surat district.

He rejected the bishop's demand for a meeting with him and the Minister of State for Home, Mr. Haren Pandya, to discuss the incident saying that the dispute over the land was ``sub- judice''. The Christian leaders could always meet the Home Secretary, he said.

Ruling out an out-of-court settlement, Mr. Patel and Mr. Pandya said the Vyara civil court was to hear the matter on December 18 while the Gujarat High Court, which had been petitioned by the Christian leaders, was also seized with the matter.

Mr. Pandya disagreed with the Christian leaders that the issue involved constitutional ``right of worship'' and maintained that it was a simple case of dispute over the land on which the church stood. According to Mr. Pandya, the basic issue was conversion and re-conversion and the Government was prepared to discuss the `conversion problem' at any forum.

Objecting to the Christian council's calling the attack a ``Government-sponsored vandalism,'' he said the remark was ``very derogatory'' and the State Government would not tolerate an ``outsider'' trying to vitiate the harmonious atmosphere between various communities.

Mr. Pandya replied in the negative when asked whether the State Government would try to force out of the State the Chennai-based bishop, who is also the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Minority Commission, or issue an externment order against him.

He said after the events in the tribal-dominated Dangs district in 1998, the State Government was adopting a cautious approach, particularly on the eve of Christmas. He alleged that the Christian leaders were deliberately sending ``wrong information'' to the people to defame the State BJP Government.

The Chief Minister said the Government had always maintained a good rapport with the local Christian leaders but it was not prepared to discuss the State's issues with an ``outsider''.

Asked about his Tamil Nadu counterpart, Mr. M. Karunanidhi's message, Mr. Patel said the former had only suggested granting an audience to the bishop ``if possible'' and there was no question of his ``supporting'' the bishop.

The Government's decision not to grant an audience to the bishop was ``well thought out and perfectly legal''. The bishop was ``flouting the law of the land'' and had even refused to heed Mr. Karunanidhi's advice to return to Chennai, he said.

The Christian leaders from different parts of the country were meeting the local Christian leaders and other secular forces here to form an united front to pressure the BJP Government to urge it to halt the ``divisive tactics'' of the Sangh Parivar.

They are believed to have sent a petition to the Governor, Mr. Sunder Singh Bhandari, seeking a meeting with him. But on the State Government's advice, the Governor is reported to have turned down the request. The bishop said he would take a decision on returning to Chennai after holding discussions with the Christian leaders.

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