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Walkout in RS over anti-Pope propaganda

Rajya Sabha Chairman Krishan Kant today said it was the country's responsibility to give Pope John Paul-II a befitting welcome when he arrives in New Delhi on an official visit next month.

He said there was a general consensus in the country that the Pope was a revered and honoured guest. All efforts should be made to maintain more ''harmonious atmosphere'' during his visit.

Earlier, the entire opposition walked out in protest against the anti-Pope tirade of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. However, the leader of the house, Jaswant Singh, assured the members that the Pope was a respected guest of the government and he would be accorded the honour he deserved.

During the debate on the issue members cutting across party lines expressed serious concern over the wrong signals sent to the world through the discordant voices raised by certain organisations believing in Hindutva and urged the government to intervene and set things right.

As soon as the House assembled this morning, Eduardo Faleiro (Congress) stood up expressing concern at the anti-Pope tirade launched by the VHP and the RSS. He urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to accord the Pope a welcome befitting the head of a state.

He said Christians were very much part of the struggle against colonialism and there was a strong wish for communal harmony and peace among all parties and nobody should be allowed to disrupt cultural pluralism.

Gurudas Gupta (CPI) said the country could have brushed off the allegations of religious intolerance as of no consequence but for the incidents in Orissa, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The government should see that threats were not translated into action. The statements against the Pope's visit were 'un-Indian' giving a lever to the anti-Indian forces to tarnish the country's image.

Peter Alfonse (Congress) said the protests sent wrong signals to the Christian community and the papal visit should not be seen as an embodiment of forcible conversions. When he referred to the killings of Jains and Buddhists by Shaivites, there were protests from the treasury benches.

V P Doraiswamy (DMK) said India should accord a welcome to the Pope in tune with the Indian traditions.

Kamla Sinha (JD-U) said these statements (issued by the VHP and the RSS) should not be given too much credence and said a similar situation was created on the eve of the visit of queen of England in 1997.

The queen went to the Jalianwala Bagh and paid her respects and the whole visit passed off without any untoward incident.

UNI

ALSO SEE:
Tight security for Pope's visit: Archbishop
'All-faith meet an expression of Church's approach to other religions'

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