ARCHBISHOP SNUBS KARNATAKA CM – What happened after that?

Archbishop snubs Karnataka CM– the full story September 24, 2008.

 

The English language media reported only what happened at the carefuly rehersed performance of Archbishop Bernard Moras’s outburstwhen the Karnataka CM Yediyurappa visited him.

 

Kannada papers have given a more complete account and Moras’s stunt seems to have backfired.Here is the account from an insider who was actually present. First,the idea that the CM should visit the Archbishop came from a member of the Archbishop’s camp who is also close to the Congress party. NDTV had also been invited and the opening greeting was in English though bothspeak Kannada. (Yediyurappa does not like to speak English.) But the performance was for national consumption, so the English.The Archbishop ave the rehearsed performance, which was broadcast onTV.

 

The CM controlled his normally quick temper so as not to make a public scene and lose his dignity. But once inside, away from lights and cameras, Yedurappa gave theArchbishop a piece of his mind. First he said a person in his(Archbishop’ s) position should set an example to youth with his behavior, but he had failed in this task by his undignified public out burst. His conduct was unbecoming of a man claiming to be a’dharmaguru’ .Then Yediyurappa told him that the state was having enough troublefighting terrorism and the church violence due to the activities of unruly missionaries was adding to the police burden. He told Moras that he could help the government do its job by controling the missionariesand put a stop to their activities.

 

At that point, one of Archbishop’s men started whispering something in Moras’s ear. It was now Yediyurappa’ s turn to lose his temper. He told everyone present that a man of god had no need for secrecy, only politicians need secrecy. So there was no need for anyone to whisper anything to the Archbishop. They could say the same thing openly. The message was clear- the Church was playing politics in the name of religion. That was the end of the meeting. It is clear that Congress and JD (S) were behind the whole thing and Archbishop Moras was a useful idiot. I saw the story in the Kannada daily Samyukta Karnataka and got more details from a person who was present at the meeting.

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