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Vajpayee deputes Fernandes to allay Christian fears

George Iype in Kochi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has deputed Defence Minister George Fernandes to carry out extensive talks with church leaders in Kerala on a number of issues which the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government thinks has hurt the minority community in the last few months.

Fernandes met a number of senior church leaders at Kochi on Sunday to assuage them on two crucial issues -- the continuing attacks against churches, priests and nuns in parts of north India and the controversial Christian Marriage Bill 2000.

The defence minister held an hour-long meeting with the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Conference chairman Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil to assure him that the Vajpayee government harbours no hidden agenda against Christians in the country.

In fact, Fernandes spent virtually the whole of Sunday in the company of church leaders, meeting various Christian leaders and attending the valedictory function of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement, the leading youth organisation of the church in India.

"I am here to assure church leaders that the National Democratic Alliance government has no hidden agenda against minorities, especially Christians," Fernandes told rediff.com soon after meeting the KCBC chairman.

He said the BJP-led government is being "wrongly attacked for burning churches and molestation of nuns". "But the propagators of such misleading facts should be aware that such incidents were rampant during the earlier regimes too," he said.

"I want to tell the church leaders that the government has conclusive proof to assure Christians that these atrocities are not done by a political party or any religious organisation," the defence minister added.

Church leaders are excited that the prime minister has sent a senior cabinet minister like Fernandes to talk to them. They said the defence minister's dialogue with them is an extension of the ongoing talks with the government on a number of issues, including atrocities against missionaries and the controversial Christian Marriage Bill 2000.

Church sources claimed Vajpayee's decision to depute Fernandes to mediate with top church leaders in Kerala is a tactical move, as the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Conference and the state's Syro Malabar Church are the most influential groups among Indian Christians.

"We had a productive round of talks with the defence minister. We are sure that the Vajpayee government genuinely understands the problems the Christian community faces. We are sure the prime minister will step in to stop the atrocities and discrimination against Christians in the country," Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil told rediff.com.

Fernandes also heard church leaders on the Christian Marriage Bill 2000 that the Vajpayee government has proposed to introduce in the current session of Parliament.

For more than two decades, Church leader have been demanding extensive changes in India's century-old Christian personal laws regarding marriage and divorce, a call that was welcomed by many Christians.

The Indian Christian Divorce Act of 1869 and the Indian Christian Marriage Act of 1872 discriminate against women and should be amended to give justice to them.

The existing law allows a husband to divorce his wife if he can prove her extramarital relations, but a wife has to prove her husband's cruelty besides marital infidelity.

Heeding to the church's request, the Vajpayee government has drafted a new Christian Marriage Bill 2000. But church leaders claim certain provisions of the proposed Bill are discriminatory and therefore unacceptable to them.

Church groups say some of the rights and privileges enjoyed hitherto by the Christians and protected by the existing Indian Christian Divorce Act and the Indian Christian Marriage Act have been taken away under the proposed Bill.

According to the existing Acts, a marriage in Christian rite even if one partner is not a Christian is valid. But the provision in Section 3 of the proposed Bill says a marriage in church rites will be a valid only if both the parties are Christians.

"Our most important demand is that the proposed Bill should vest the church tribunals or the ecclesiastical courts the power to decide on all matrimonial disputes including annulment of marriages," Syro Malabar Church head Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil told rediff.com.

He said there are several other anomalies in the proposed Bill which "we want the Vajpayee government to rectify before pushing it through in Parliament."

The defence minister assured church leaders that he will take up the "upsetting provisions" in the Bill with Prime Minister Vajpayee and Law Minister Ram Jethmalani.

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