QUESTION: What is happening to Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra, a Catholic media centre you have in Indore? Are you persecuted?

ANSWER: Not really so. What happened was that the centre gave a hall for use to a Pentecostal group that made a lot of noise shouting Halleluiah. That alerted a nearby training centre from which people came to inspect what was happening. They telephoned some others and informed them that there was no conversion going on. Some from the Pentecostal group were blocked from leaving by some villagers. The problem was that our own people were not present there to oversee the prayer meeting. This type of harassment by some who misuse the anti-conversion law enacted on 9 January is a regular feature here. Now UP and Madhya Pradesh have made it easy for them by enacting the law. They drag you to the police on the basis of complaints made by anyone who is inimical to us. The authorities may not be hostile, but there are groups who look for reasons to harass and create problems for gaining political mileage. The BJP government here is using this new law as a political weapon to further communalism.

Abp Leo Cornelio
Bhopal