INDIA Modi, Pope Francis and the controversies in India

Some Hindu nationalist leaders displayed the photo of the hug with the pontiff in the streets to applaud Modi. Opposition Reply: “Where were you when Christians were attacked in Manipur or Fr. Swamy died due to unjust confinement in jail?” The Episcopal Conference reported that the Church “is ready to receive the Pope with enthusiasm.”

Mumbai () – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s embrace of Pope Francis – accompanied by the renewed invitation to visit the country – has unleashed political controversy in India, at a time when the country is still suffering the consequences of a disputed electoral campaign which confirmed the Hindu nationalist leader in the government a few days ago, although with less consensus than in the two previous rounds.

Ashish Shelar, a BJP MP, displayed posters in the streets of Mumbai with the image of the hug between the Pope and Modi, praising “the mutual love, commitment and respect that both showed”, as well as the invitation made by the first minister to the pontiff to visit India. He has drawn particular attention to the fact that they have been exposed a few meters from the Holy Family hospital, where the Jesuit priest Stan Swamy died three years ago after nine months in prison for unjust accusations in which the government did not want to intervene.

“If Prime Minister Modi, the BJP and Ashish were so concerned and attentive to the Christian community – Varsha Gaikwad, local deputy of Congress, the historic party currently in opposition, responded on the social network X – where were they when Christians were persecuted in Manipur, when 157 churches were destroyed and more than 70 thousand people were forced to leave their homes? Father Stan Swamy was denied first aid and he was tortured to death in prison because he had been involved in a court case on false charges: where was your love for Christians at that time, Ashish? When a Christian school principal was tortured in Pune by Hindu fundamentalists, when a nun was stripped of her habit in Assam, when the BJP government deliberately stripped most Christian institutions of their FCRA license to receive foreign funds,? where were you?

“The love that you say you feel for Christians – he adds – is empty and opportunistic, only to get the votes of the great Christian community. But people have already understood their hypocrisy.” In Kerala, on the other hand, an ironic tweet by the Congress provoked a strong reaction. Alluding to the aura with which the prime minister inaugurated the Ram temple in Ayodhya a few months ago, he comments on the photograph of the hug between Modi and the Pope with the caption: “Finally the Pope had the opportunity to meet God.” The publication sparked a huge political controversy in the State and the party withdrew it. The BJP declared that apparently the account X of the opponents. politicians “belong to radical Islamists or Maoist guerrillas.

Congress publicly apologized to those members of the Christian community who felt “emotionally or psychologically affected” by the comment. The party stated that the people of the State clearly know that it is not their tradition to insult and denigrate any religion, priest or religious idol, and none of its members have ever thought of insulting the Pope. “However, the party does not hesitate to mock Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who insults the country’s faithful by calling himself God” and his “shameless political games.”

Beyond these political controversies, the Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) expressed in a statement its joy at the prime minister’s renewed invitation to the Pope to visit the country. The text recalls that in a meeting with his president, Archbishop Andrews Thanzhat, Modi had declared last year that he would do so. “The Catholic Church in India – says the note from the Episcopal Conference – looks forward to the visit of Pope Francis and is already preparing to receive him with a warm welcome.” Regarding dialogue between the Catholic Church and the government, the bishops hope that the meeting between Modi and Pope Francis will lead to “greater collaboration on various issues, including social and environmental problems” in the country.

Finally, it is worth remembering that during the election campaign the governor of Goa, who is also a member of the BJP, like Modi, had spoken of an invitation to Pope Francis on the occasion of the decennial exhibition of the relics of Saint Francis Xavier, which will take place in that southern city from November 21, 2024 to January 5, 2025. Bergoglio has always been very close to the figure of the great Jesuit missionary, but the appointment in Goa is too close and it must be taken into account that the pontiff already will carry out a long trip in September to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.