BHOPAL: Archbishop Leo Cornelio has condemned, what he said, an irresponsible statement given by BJP MLA of Huzur constituency in Bhopal Rameshwar Sharma. At a religious function, he had asked people “to stay away from Father and Chaadar", meaning Christianity and Islam respectively.
According to Fr Maria Stephen, public relations officer of Archdiocese of Bhopal, the Archbishop in a strongly worded statement said, "An MLA representing the people of a state should have a sense of what to speak and what not to speak from public forum.
His statement has deeply hurt the sentiments of peace-loving community. Through such a statement, he tries to derive cheap political mileage for a short term goal, which will harm the development of the society in the long run.
The Archbishop asked the people to become aware of evil intentions of planting seeds of hatred and discord in the society. The recent report says country is far behind in alleviating poverty and is doing worse than neighbouring countries. “Our MLA should focus on development of society based on Constitution instead of disrupting communal peace,” a press release stated.
The PRO Fr Maria Stephen said, “Our Hon'ble MLA has not even learned the basic etiquette of respecting people in public. His recent swooping statement to gain cheap popularity has deeply hurt the sentiments of Christian community, good will. Our MLA should learn the basic culture of embracing every one as its members of universal family, which has brought glory and honor to the country.”
He further said, “His (MLA’s) irresponsible statement has proved that our MLA is not for "Sab ka Sath, Sab ka Vikas and Sab ka Vishwas’ slogan given by Union government. The Christian Community has tirelessly worked for the development of all the communities before and after independence.”
