Mumbai (AsiaNews) – The Indian Church is "happy" that a secularist coalition won in Maharashtra, but it urges the new Congress-led administration to "protect minorities' interests". This is what Mgr Percival Fernandez, Secretary General of the Bishops' Conference of India, told AsiaNews following the elections in Maharashtra. The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Alliance took 140 seats in the 288-member State Assembly. Rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won only 118 seat down by ten from the 1999 elections. This was an important test for Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who won the Union-wide elections in May.

Maharashtra has a population of 100 million and generates about 12 per cent of India's GNP and two thirds of the country's corporate taxes.

Before the elections some political analysts had begun to wonder whether the honeymoon between voters and Congress was over. The Maharashtra vote ended the speculation and shows that Congress is still riding a favourable wave.

"The people of Maharashtra have given a crushing defeat to forces that wanted to divide our country on the basis of religion and caste," Prime Minister Singh told reporters after election results confirmed Congress' victory.

The business community was also happy with the results. Now the same party controls the central government and the government of the country's richest state and can purse its policies of economic reform.  "Mumbai could be on the fast track to becoming another Shanghai", said one business leader.

Here is the interview Mgr Fernandez gave AsiaNews.

Are you happy that the secularist alliance led by the Congress Party is now going to govern Maharashtra?

"I always felt that our people are mature when it comes to elections. I will not say that I am satisfied with a secularist government per se; we have to see how it works. Was it not a Congress-led state government that brought in an Anti-Conversion Law?  While I am happy that we have freely elected a secular-oriented coalition government in Maharashtra, I rather watch and pray that they perform as such!

Recently, there have been some attacks against Christians in states where the Congress is already in power; in Kerala, for example. Do you think that minorities' interests will be protected by this government?

There will be a question mark in my mind until I see how they act. We shall continue to keep a watch and do all we can to protect minorities' interests. If the new government fails, our people will certainly teach them a lesson in the next elections".