Allow Pope’s visit, TMC tells Centre

Chennai, July 31: Referring to reports that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government had some reservation in allowing the Pope to visit India, Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Moopanar today said the permission must be granted without further wounding the sentiment of the Catholic community.It was not fair on the part of the Government to cite the Lok Sabha elections and Kargil episode as valid reasons to delay the Pope’s visit. “He is the leader of the Vatican and as such he must be allowed to visit the country as other countries’ leaders do,” Moopanar said in a statement.

As the Christian community apprehended that the Sangh Parivar was opposed to the visit fearing an adverse impact on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s performance in the coming Lok Sabha elections, it was imperative on the part of the Government to realise that the Pontiff had nothing to do with matters political, the TMC leader said.