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Communist Party of India MP Binoy Viswam on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pointing out that the Christian community is not currently being represented in the National Commission for Minorities.
He urged PM Modi to take necessary action to fill the vacant position in the Commission as soon as possible "so Christians of the country could avail the protection under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992". Binoy Viswam said that he wrote the letter in the backdrop of PM Modi's meeting with Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, in the presence of two Union Ministers, Rajeev Chandrashekhar and V. Muralidharan in the Parliament House on Friday. "On earlier occasions too, your outreach and meetings with Christian Bishops and business leaders, mainly from Kerala and the North East, were much discussed. According to the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson- Chairperson and members of the National Commission for Minorities are to be nominated from the minority communities only," Binoy Viswam said in the letter. "However, the Christian Community remains without representation in the National Commission for Minorities and matters pertaining to the well-being of the community go unheard in the National Commission for Minorities. This absence is a violation of the spirit of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 and does injustice to the Christian community of the country," he added in the letter. He said that Christians communities were targeted recently by hooligans in many instances and Churches and Schools were harmed. "In Manipur, I myself could see the violence, arson and attacks Churches and schools faced. In such a situation, no Christian representation in the National Commission for Minorities deprives the community of the protection of an important institution of our democracy," he wrote. "In this context, I urge you to take necessary action to fill the vacant position in the National Commission for Minorities as soon as possible so Christians of the country could avail the protection under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992," he added. He said that in the absence of the redressal of the situation, PM Modi's outreach attempts to the Christian community "will be construed as empty gestures with narrow political motivations, devoid of any genuine feeling for the rights of the community." (ANI)
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