PM's remarks on Christian missionaries slammed

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 20. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks at a book release function about Christian missionaries being engaged in conversions, has evoked strong protests in Parliament and outside.

In the Lok Sabha, the issue was raised by Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (Cong.) who alleged that the Prime Minister's remarks amounted to casting aspersions on the Christian community. ``How can the Prime Minister pass such a comment?,'' he said. The remarks had the potential to create a sense of insecurity among the minorities, he said, and referred to Mr. Vajpayee's assurance on the floor of the House that the NDA Government's agenda was different from that of the RSS.

The Congress benches alleged that the Prime Minister was now going back on the assurance given to the House and that the Government's ``hidden agenda'' was now coming out in the open.

Mr. Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M) said that the Prime Minister's statement meant that he was again going back to the Hindutva agenda.

The Opposition MPs quoted from newspaper reports of the book release function at the Prime Minister's residence on Saturday in which the RSS leader, Mr. Sudarshan, was also present. Reading from the newspapers, the members quoted Mr. Vajpayee as saying that while some Christian missionaries were engaged in good work, some others were engaged in conversions.

The ruling party members led by Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Mr. Vijay Goel and Mr. Mohan Rawale (Shiv Sena) defended the Prime Minister and charged the Opposition with trying to distort the statement. The issue generated some heat outside Parliament as well. The All-India Christian Council termed the Prime Minister's statement unfortunate and said it would aggravate communalism and violence against the minorities.

In a statement, the Christian Council said that ``remarks such as the Prime Minister's are seen as condoning the hate campaign and the canards, lies and half-truths that are being spread in many parts of the country. They encourage communal and extremist elements''.

'Criticism unsubstantiated'

PTI reports:

The BJP today termed the Congress criticism of the Prime Minister's remarks on conversions as ``unsubstantiated''. Mr. Vajpayee had appreciated the work done by these missionaries in the backward and tribal areas, but felt that they should not carry out conversions, Mr. Malhotra said. However, the Congress, in search of issues to raise, was making unsubstantiated charges. ``It is not proper to make it an issue in Parliament,'' he said.

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