Nirmala Carvalho

Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Singh do not want to get involved in Sri Lankan affairs. Religious working in relief centres in Tamil Nadu says the real problem is that refugees in India live in the country as foreigners and do not integrate into society.

Rajnath Singh, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party has already admitted defeat. Msgr. Fernandes, secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India comments on a “welcome result” in favour of “the nation's secularism”.

The Archbishop of Mumbai is “proud” of the election results which reflect the “heart of the common people”. He asks the future government to “avoid populist measures” and to “fulfil their promises”. Most urgent needs: long term policies for the poor, women and minorities.

The authorities reject the list of dead submitted by the diocese of Bhubaneshwar. The president of the Global Council of Indian Christians says the government is reducing the number relying “false justifications” in an attempt “to cut compensation to the victims.” In Kandhamal tensions remain high as Hindu extremists try to storm a refugee camp at night.

For Asghar Ali Engineer the Pope’s trip will increase “brotherhood among the nations.” Confessional divisions are not caused by religion, but by its “political use.” He extends his best wishes to the Christians of the Middle East.

After fleeing the island in the nineties, he describes the fears his compatriots are going through in refugee camps in India. “Almost 90 per cent of refugees hope to go back to Sri Lanka, but the Sri Lankan government has done nothing for Tamils,” except to push for “a Sinhala and Buddhist nation.”

Secretary General of the Indian Bishops Conference hopes the visit will contribute to “accelerating the path of justice for the Christians of Kandhamal”. “The Church does not want revenge”, but peace and reconciliation.

Oswald Gracias appeals again to Christians to go out and vote. The next government has two tasks to fulfill: to guarantee the separation of state and church and fight poverty.

Chinese police tries to hush up the arrest of three monks in Ganchu. Court in Sichuan postpones ruling in the trial of well respected Lama Phurbu after his trial gains international attention.

Hundreds of religious protest against anti-Tamil violence, slamming the Indian government for “supplying personnel and technical assistance to the Sri Lanka army and simultaneously making vocal appeals” for an end to the war.

The Supreme Court sets up a commission to verify the responsibility of Narendra Modi in the violence against the Islamic minority in 2002. A polemical reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which considers the governor of Gujarat a candidate for Indian prime minister. The Chief Minister, a leading figure of the new party, accuses: "it is a conspiracy of the Congress party to put me behind bars."

Bishop Thomas Dabre talks about the elections that are underway, and about the task of the next government. Religious and cultural minorities represent one sixth of India's population. "You cannot have progress and development" when entire segments of the population are "languishing in underdevelopment." India's moral authority on the international level is tarnished by persecution and discrimination toward minorities.