The head of a prominent Christian denomination in Kerala gave a thumbs-up to Narendra Modi yesterday, becoming the second Church leader in the state to laud the BJP prime ministerial candidate in a week.
Thomas Mar
Timotheos, head of the Jacobite Syrian Church, told reporters after a
meeting with BJP national secretary P.K. Krishnadas that followers of
the Jacobite Church in Kerala or Gujarat did not have any problems with
Modi.
“Followers of the
Jacobite faction in Kerala do not have any problems with Modi. We also
have believers in Gujarat. They too don’t have any difficulties with
Modi. In fact, they applaud his developmental efforts,’’ the priest
said.
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| Thomas Mar Timotheos |
Krishnadas told The Telegraph
that he and a group of district BJP leaders had visited the
headquarters of the Church in Kottayam district to attend a New Year
event.
“After the event,
we spoke to him (Timotheos) for a while. In the course of the
conversation, he said that the country was passing through a very
difficult stage and that the need of the hour was a stable government
and a strong, non-corrupt leader.’’
A week earlier,
the head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church had praised Modi’s
development programmes and indicated the BJP leader was welcome as Prime
Minister provided he was “tolerant’’ in his approach to religions.
 |
| Baselios MarThoma Poulose II |
“There is a
general perception that he (Modi) is not a tolerant person. I never had a
chance to know him personally,” Catholicos Baselios MarThoma Poulose II
had said.
“But members of
our community in Gujarat say he has taken a very helpful stand in
(relation to) their businesses, enabling them to pursue their trade
without being caught in any red tape.”
The Orthodox and Jacobite sects have been at loggerheads for many decades over the administrative rights of certain Churches.
Source:www.telegraphindia.com
