Beware of ‘Ghar Wapsi’: Archbishop tells people

ARCHBISHOP of Bangalore Bernard Moras on Sunday asked Christians to be wary of the Ghar Wapasi movement.

Speaking at an event organised by the Federation of Konkani Catholic Association, the archbishop said, “We as Christians should be very careful of the Ghar Wapasi movement. India being a secular country has always given everybody a right to practise their religion. But nowadays this right and freedom are being threatened.”

He said such movements were very harmful, and “we should raise our voice against it and also stand united”. He said saffronisation was slowly creeping into school curriculum and this was a worrying factor.

“I am hearing many reports about how the lessons taught in schools are slowly changing. They have all started getting painted by the saffron brush. We should be very cautious about what is going to be taught to our youngsters, especially in school textbooks,” he added.

While applauding the efforts of the state government for the uplift and development of the Christian community, he asked the government to take a close look at the status of minority schools.

“There is a government order that states that schools in order to retain their minority status should have at least 25 per cent of children belonging to the minority community. This move is not fair since Christians constitute only 2.5 per cent of the population of the state. So how can we fill 25 per cent of the seats?” he asked.

Making strong statements against recent speeches hinting at the concept of Hindu nation, the archbishop said this is very dangerous. “We as a Christian community should take steps to protect ourselves from such ideas.” Express News Service