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Minorities won't rest until conversion law is gone: Archbishop

By Our Special Correspondent

MADURAI APRIL 23. The struggle of the minorities against the anti-conversion law will not end until it is withdrawn. However, they are hopeful that the legislation will be withdrawn with a change of government in the State, the Archbishop of Madurai, M. Arokiasamy, said today.

Addressing newspersons on the eve of his retirement here, Dr. Arokiasamy, who is also the president of the United Minority Forum, said a ban on conversion violated human rights and "nothing could be enforced" in an autocratic manner.

The move to privatise State transport corporations was yet to materialise in the absence of patronage as there was a lurking fear that re-nationalisation would follow with a change of government.

The Archbishop cautioned that anarchy would rule the country and development would be hampered if the communal forces were encouraged to have their say. People of all religions should foster a sense of tolerance and mutual respect for peaceful coexistence. Corruption was the root cause of all the maladies of the country and its elimination would be possible only with individual honesty and integrity. Rampant corruption even at higher echelons of administration had transformed even democracy into dictatorship. In elections, the educated and the middle class abstained from voting and those who exercised their franchise did it for money. The party with money power was able to win, and, with its might, stifled the Opposition voice, he said.

Admitting the prevalence of caste system in the church, he said only the society was to blame and not religion.

The Madurai Archdiocese has organised a function at the St. Mary's Cathedral here on Thursday to mark the retirement of Dr. Arokiasamy and assumption of office as Archbishop by Peter Fernando, Bishop of Tuticorin.

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