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Archbishop to call Krishna Kant's bluff

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Archbishop of Delhi Alan de Lastic will visit Vice-President Krishna Kant to inquire about his health.

The vice-president was scheduled as the chief guest of the inter-religion meeting at Vigayan Bhavan on November 7, to be attended by His Holiness Pope John Paul II. But early this week, the archbishop received a communication from the ministry of external affairs telling him that since the vice president was indisposed, he would not be able to attend the meeting.

"I am only paying a courtesy call on him as he is not feeling well," the archbishop told rediff.com.

Church sources said that the archbishop would politely express his unhappiness at the way the vice-president suddenly declined to attend the function. "The appointment had been fixed months in advance. The situation in the last few weeks has changed drastically. The mounting pressure on the government from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other organisations has forced the Government of India to advice vice-president Krishna Kant against attending the function. This is not a good sign for a so-called secular government," said an agitated functionary in the archbishop's office.

The sources said the archbishop was so hurt by the change in the government's attitude that he initially decided not to call any important political leader for the inter-religion meeting. When a scribe asked if they had got in touch with P A Sangma, the former Lok Sabha speaker, to preside over the function, the sources said that calling Sangma would not be in good taste as he did not enjoy the government's patronage.

Though the archbishop would say nothing on the subject, the sources said that he was still trying to get Lok Sabha Speaker Balayogi or Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Dr Najma Heptullah to be the chief guest.

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