Christians Welcome Antulay’s Appointment As Union Minister For Minorities
By SAR NEWS NEW DELHI (SAR NEWS) -- Major Christian organisations have welcomed the appointment January 29 of Barrister Abdul Rehman Antulay as the Union Minister in charge of minority welfare. “This appointment, we hope, is Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Government’s signal to religious minorities in the country that it means business in safeguarding their security, in ensuring their economic development, assuring them an integral role in the governance apparatus, and finally in checking social and political communal groups who continue to terrorise the people and have escaped punishment for their past misdeeds, Christian groups in the country said. In a statement on behalf of the All India Christian Council, the All India Catholic Union and the United Christian Action, John Dayal, member of the Government’s National Integration Council, said Mr. Antulay would be able to help the Government devise holistic plans for ensuring communal harmony and making sure minorities are full beneficiaries of the development progress and the economic boom that the country has seen. “We recall th at the UPA (United Progressive Alliance ruling at the Centre) came to power riding the popular nation-wide aversion against the massacre in Gujarat and the environment of hate that had percolated the countryside and the metropolitan areas. The Government also took other steps to restore confidence amongst the minorities – including de-saffronising (de-Hinduising) education and setting up several national commissions on minority education and economic status,” the statement said. However, the Union Welfare ministry has not been able to infuse confidence among the religious minorities nor has it been able to come up with pro-active policies. If anything, some of its actions have hurt the minorities, especially Dalit Christians, it said. The Government has also failed miserably in ensuring the security of the Christian community in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which see a daily case of violence. “We hope the Minority department under Barrister Antulay will provide a single-window and coordinated service to all religious groups, and particularly to the micro minorities. “Various laws have to be reviewed and new laws formulated, as in case of Christian adoption and marriage laws, and the Dalit Christian question. Similarly, Christians in particular have been left out of the protection of many central laws and economic agencies, and even the Anti-communal Violence Bill does not really cater to their special needs and fears,” Mr. Dayal said. The Christian community called on Barrister Antulay, a seasoned politician with an impeccable secular image, to call a national meeting of religious and community leaders to take a social audit of their needs so that the government, the planning commission and the courts can together take adequate steps for the social security and economic health of all religious minorities.