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VHP willing to garland pope

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Sadanand Kakkade, the all-India joint secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said that VHP officials would garland Pope John Paul II during his visit to India from November 5 if they were permitted to do so.

Addressing a press conference here today, Kakkade, who came to take part in the dharna being organised by the VHP Kerala unit before the state secretariat here on Tuesday, said the group was not against the pope visiting the country.

He said that the anti-conversion dharna being organised in Thiruvananthapuram would also highlight the demand for an apology from the Pope because Christian missionaries had forcibly converted some people in the past.

He said that the apology demanded was reasonable and was not intended denigrate the Pope because the Christianity had had a bad effect on cultures in North America and Europe and they wanted to prevent similar changes in India.

The Pope should tell the faithful to treat all religions as alike as envisaged in the second Vatican resolution, said, urging the head of the Catholic church to tell people that through prayer to any god, rather than the Christian one alone, would help them attain salvation.

He said that all the Christian communes were united for a mass conversion spree under the ecumenical action programme, 'Evangelization 2000 AD' and warned that forcible conversions would create a law and order problem.

He said that conversions in Assam led to the death of 15,000 people and added that while everyone was free to profess any religion, a Supreme Court ruling had clarified that propaganda and preaching does not mean 'conversion'.

He asked whether conversions were being done with the pope's consent and knowledge. Then Kakkade went on to describe the work the VHP had done for the poor and downtrodden. "We have started as many as 14,000 schools and 33,000 hospitals," he said, adding that in Tripura, four Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh men who were abducted three months ago were still being held captive for a ransom of Rs.20 million. He alleged the militants owed allegiance to the Baptist Church.

VHP State president Dr P Ramachandran said he hoped the Pope would apologise since there were historical wrongs in almost all of the religions in the world and the apology is "the means of lubrication".

The Kerala unit of the VHP, which does not propose to hold protests during the pope's visit, had earlier held anti-conversion conventions at Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram.

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