• QUESTION:
• There was a controversy over the Christmas party hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. What is your take on it?

ANSWER:

It is perfectly justified for leaders to attend an event to which a prime minister or head of state invites, because we need to maintain a cordial relationship with the government and government officials. The bishops of India have expressed their anxieties about the violence in Manipur and elsewhere in the country. I know for sure that the President of the CBCI regularly writes to the Prime Minister and sometimes seeks to get an appointment with him to present his concerns, which is part of our moral responsibility to represent our people, But we have to be judicious.
The Prime Minister has been silent about the attacks in Manipur and also elsewhere. Even other minority communities were attacked, and the Prime Minister should have responded in such situations. But the Prime Minister, as far as I understand, did not make a strong statement against the violence in Manipur or condemn the killing there. I don’t approve of that silence at all. As the leader of the nation, the Prime Minister should make an urgent appeal for peace, and he has to be on the side of the victims. Un-fortunately, we didn’t see that happening.

Bp Alex Vadakumthala
Kannur