The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), the apex body for Protestant and Orthodox churches, today issued a set of ‘guidelines’ and an appeal to the electorate. The statement was a result of three days of deliberations at the pre-election consultations on the topic, ‘From divisive politics to inclusive democracy,’ at the Church of North India (CNI) headquarters in the Capital.

Apart from the NCCI, the consultation had representatives from Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS), Student Christian Movement of India (SCMI) and Interfaith Coalition for Peace (ICP).

“We felt that the political situation in the country over the past few years with parties mushrooming all over, communal and caste based agendas and fractured mandates, made it necessary for us to think about the political future of the country,” said Bishop Taranath Sagar, President of NCCI.

Speaking at a news conference today, the delegates, however, denied that this was an attempt to consolidate a ‘Christian vote bank.’ “We are not talking here about communal politics but clean politics. Yes, we have our concerns but our objective is for the nation as a whole, irrespective of any community or caste,” said Bishop D K Sahu, General Secretary, NCCI.

The delegates might claim that they do not believe in vote-bank politics but all of them lashed out at the BJP for practising the politics of hate. “This time, the youth and first time voters form a large part of the electorate. Varun Gandhi, as a young politician, has taken a very negative stand by speaking against a particular community. I don’t think the BJP has any secular ideals. They just want to come to power by attracting the majority vote bank and marginalising the minorities,” said Bishop Sagar.

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