‘Don't grant citizenship on religious basis,’ Bengaluru Archbishop writes to PM Modi
All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights opposes CAA
Bengaluru, Jan 9: The Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, Peter Machado, on Thursday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and the Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to grant citizenship to illegal migrants on the merit of individual cases but not on religious basis.
"Religion should never be the criterion for citizenship of a country. There is a danger that there could be a polarisation of our peoples along religious lines, which is very harmful for the country," said Machado reiterating the statement that the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bombay, Oswald, Cardinal Gracias made in December.
Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Machado said it implies that any other group or community other than illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants will not be eligible for citizenship.
The CAA excludes persecuted Muslims of all kinds such as Shias, Ahmediyas and others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan from the citizenship offer.
According to Machado, CAA caused misunderstanding among the Assamese people, leading to an uproar and violence which now is slowly spreading to other parts of India.
He also appealed to the citizens to maintain peace and harmony, shunning violent methods to fight for their cause.
The Archbishop called the government to strike a dialogue with people opposing CAA and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness.
"By doing so, it can meet out justice to all the illegal migrants and thus promote equality among them. More so, it can also convince the citizens of the country that it upholds the sacredness of the Constitution and respects the rights of all the linguistic and religious minorities without any discrimination," he said.
Empathising with the victims of religious discrimination, Machado said: "We also express our solidarity with those who have been discriminated on the basis of religion and assure them of our support an fellowship that justice may be granted to them and that all of us may live as one family as brothers sisters in this our motherland."
He pledged that the Christian community will continue to work for the betterment of all the citizens without any discrimination and will continue to build the nation based on equality, justice and fairness.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
