RSS, Christian leaders to hold talks

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, OCT. 15. The fifth round of talks between the RSS and the Christian leaders at the initiative of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) with the objective of bringing about a better harmony between the Hindus and the Christians in the country would be held in Kerala late next month.

The NCM member, Mr. John Joseph, told presspersons here that the talks are deemed as crucial as this would be the first time since the launch of these talks that spiritual leaders from the various Christian churches would collectively come face to face with the RSS leaders for talks.

The Christian side would comprise the Catholic church, the Protestant Church, the Orthodox Church and the Pentecostal Church leaders. The RSS side would be led by the RSS Sarsanghchalak, Mr. K. S. Sudarshan, and the likely venue for the talks would be the Aluva Guest House in Eranakulam District.

The talks between the RSS and the Christian leaders began in this regard when the RSS leaders Mr. Sudarshan, Mr. M.G. Vaidya and Dr. Sreepathi Shasthri, walked into the CBCI (Catholic Bishops Conference of India) headquarters at New Delhi on August 21 last year.

The spiritual leaders of the Catholic church who took part in the talks were the CBCI secretary general, Archbishop Dr. Oswald Gracious, the CBCI vice president, Archbishop Dr. Vincent Consasavo, Rev. Dr. Donald D'souza and Fr. Dominic Emmanuel. Both sides had described the talks as fruitful.

The second round of the talks was held on September 12 last at the RSS headquarters at Nagpur between the RSS leaders and the spiritual leaders of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) comprising the Protestant and Orthodox churches. Here again the RSS side was led by Mr. Sudarshan and the NCCI side was led by the NCCI president, Dr. Geevarghese Mar Kurilos, along with secretary general Dr. Iyp Joseph, the Church of North India coordinator, Bishop Dr. Z. J. Terome, the Lutheran Church chairman, Bishop L. G. Rao, and the CSI Bishop, Dr. A. Rajaratnam.

The third round of talks was held by Mr. Sudarshan at the RSS centre in Delhi with the Evangelists, Bro. D. G. S. Dinakaran and Bro. Paul Dinakaran. The fourth round was held last month at the RSS Karyalayam at Chennai. Mr. John Joseph had also attended all the talks.

He said that as part of the Kerala talks, there is a proposal to arrange a face to face between the Christian laity and the RSS leadership. In connection with these talks, Mr. John Joseph met the RSS Kerala Pranthiya Pramukh, Mr. Sethumahavan and the RSS ideologue, Mr. P. Parameshwaran, here on Sunday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : 1,046 acres of excess land to be distributed
Next     : New S.N. Trust Board to have 854 members