Bishops to meet RSS leaders on Sept. 12

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, AUG. 26. In a development which by all means can be termed historical, at least 10 Protestant bishops representing the National Council for Churches in India (NCCI) will walk into the RSS headquarters at Nagpur on September 12 for a meeting with RSS leaders to find a lasting solution to the problems between Hindus and Christians in the country.

Talking to presspersons here today, the member of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Mr. John Joseph, said the date for the meeting, at the initiative of the NCM, was finalised on Saturday after consultations with NCCI and RSS leaders.

On August 21, a similar meeting with leaders of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India (CBCI), representing the Catholic community in India, and the RSS leaders was held at the CBCI headquarters in New Delhi, Mr. Joseph said. While the CBCI side was led by its secretary-general, Dr. Gracious Oswald, the RSS side was led by its chief, Mr. K.S. Sudarshan.

The September 12-meeting is the second step forward in this connection. This meeting would be followed up by another meeting at the RSS office in New Delhi in October in which there will be representations from the NCCI and the CBCI as well.

Mr. Joseph said that though the RSS-CBCI meeting began on a suspicious note, it ended on a note which evoked much hope. Such meetings are the fruition of efforts from the NCM during the past one-and-a-half years. He said the RSS-CBCI meeting would have taken place much earlier but for the manipulations by a section of vested interests comprising laymen which in turn led to spiritual leaders of the community backing out initially. He said the main aim of such meetings is to pave the way for a positive debate on defining the aspect of conversions. Both sides have recognised the importance of this aspect under the prevailing situation.

Mr. Joseph said the NCM request to Mr. Sudarshan that he refrain from making open outbursts against the Christian community in the larger interests had been fully accepted by him.

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