Gujarat elections 2017: RSS-backed legal body issues notice to Archbishop of Gandhinagar

The Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), an RSS affiliated legal body, has initiated legal proceedings against the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Gandhinagar over a signed communique that was issued by Thomas Macwan in which he had urged members of his congregation to vote to "save secularism" and India from "nationalist forces", which were on the "verge of taking over the country".

The Legal Rights Observatory national convenor Vinay Joshi sent a legal notice on Tuesday, asking Macwan to withdraw the letter and answer his 15 questions within a week, failing which the organisation would file criminal proceedings under the Representation of People's Act.

"In the letter he has specifically … (made) serious acquisitions against the nationalist forces which clearly implies that he does not want nationalist forces to work for the nation and that he is instigating the people of the country against the nationalist forces. This conduct is clearly intended to cause disharmony in the forthcoming assembly elections of Gujarat," Joshi told while talking to DNA.

The notice said that the letter written "purportedly to Christianity followers raising various political issues in a clandestinely worded religious terminology" had "made unsubstantiated, unfounded and tainted allegations against the democratically elected Government...". It also called it "unsavoury remarks" on the "nationalist" forces.