Expressing 'deep hurt' and 'anguish' over the report, the Archbishop of Bangalore Archdiocese Father Bernard Moras said, 'It has failed to address the terms of reference of the Commission and has failed to do justice to the Christian community.'
Unanimously rejecting the Somasekhara report, absolving BJP and Sangh Parivar from the attacks on churches and prayer halls in several places in Karnataka in 2008, the Christian community in the state today demanded a CBI probe into the strikes.
Expressing 'deep hurt' and 'anguish' over the report, the Archbishop of Bangalore Archdiocese Father Bernard Moras said, "It has failed to address the terms of reference of the Commission and has failed to do justice to the Christian community."
He also demanded that the state government initiate a CBI probe into the attacks.
"We will make a representation to the government putting forth our demand. We will make a representation to the chief minister, the governor, various organisations including the human rights and the Central government," he told reporters here.
Depending upon the response, Moras said the community members will chalk out their next plan of action.
Terming the report as 'highly communal', 'propagandist' and 'divisive', he said, "The church attacks were an attempt to defame the community by some vested interest forces and to divide the state into majority and minority by attributing certain stereotypes to the community."
Moras said though the report stated some attacks to be "deliberate, well-planned, communal, antagonism with fundamentalism brewing since several years", it failed to identify the persons and organisations behind them.
He said despite being a mere 2.1% of the total population, the Christians were accused of mass conversion.
"While upholding the right to practice, profess and propagate religion in accordance with the tenets of our constitution, we denounced the agenda of vested interest groups to malign the community using conversion as a device," he said.
Condemning the recommendation of the report that Christian places of worship should be brought under some legislation and stringent financial check and audit of pastors to control churches, he said, "It creates an impression that churches are anti-social institutions."
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