It was a unique methodology of outreach. Within hours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directives that more and more northeastern BJP leaders should improve their outreach among Christians in southern India, senior leader N Chuba Ao reached Chennai to carry out his part of the job.
BJP national vice president Chuba Ao is also the party’s Prabhari (in charge) of another predominantly The Christian state of Meghalaya.
An interaction with Christians in the Tamil Nadu capital was organised on Monday, July 4 by Bishop K Johnson of the International Independent Church of India Diocese.
Chuba Ao told ‘Organiser’: “I was proposing a visit to Chennai for quite some time to meet some Christian leaders. I was only thrilled about it when Prime Minister Modiji in his address at the Hyderabad National Executive meet said that more and more northeastern BJP leaders should visit southern states. So I executed the plan at the earliest”.
Sources said Chuba Ao agreed to attend the interaction programme after doing the necessary coordination with BJP general secretary in-charge Tamil Nadu, C T Ravi, state unit chief Annamalai, and Tamil Nadu organization in-charge Keshavji.
To a question, he said, “I focused on Prime Minister’s vision of inclusive growth. You see, we know from the days of Upanishads, Indian civilisation has followed the principle of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ (The world is our family)”.
“The teachings of this cherished philosophy is that there should be no confrontation between different sections of people in the name of religion. In fact, the theme of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ should be like a religion. This is also suggested in the teachings of Christianity. There is no scope of confrontation especially at this juncture of human history”.
In his address, the Prime Minister on July 3 directed the BJP leaders in the northeast to reach out to non-Hindus and travel states like Kerala to highlight the BJP’s sincere works and efforts to protect the interests of the Christian community in various sectors.
The Prime Minister also advised his party colleagues to reach out to other deprived sections among non-Hindus, such as Pasmanda Muslims, who are among the beneficiaries of various government welfare schemes.
