Date:06/03/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/03/06/stories/2003030604641200.htm

National

Bishops' council protests unveiling of portrait

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI March 5. The Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council has expressed its deep displeasure over the unveiling of the portrait of Veer Savarkar in the Central Hall of the Parliament, as ``he was the chief architect of Hindutva and was a strong supporter of Hindu nationalism''.

In a letter to the President, a copy of which was released to the press, the council, which met at Pondicherry from February 28 to March 2, said that the unveiling of the portrait ridiculed our democracy and it wounded the hearts of all peace-loving people, especially the minorities.

``The country is also aware that Savarkar was one of the accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi,'' the council president, Arul Das James, said in the letter.