TN Bishops: Govt misleading nation on Church's role in Kudankulam

Catholic bishops in Tamil Nadu are up in arms against the recent crackdown on NGOs following allegations linked with the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.

The Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council on Thursday hit out at the Central government for cancelling licenses and freezing bank accounts of Tuticorin Diocesan Association.

The government last month cancelled the licenses of four NGOs on grounds that they diverted funds for protests against the Rs. 13000-crore Indo-Russian nuclear project in Kudankulam, Tirunelveli district.

Archbishop AM Chinnappa, President of the Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council, denied allegations that the Church funded the protest and said the government was misleading the nation giving an impression that the Church was against the national and public interest.

Chinnappa, who is the Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore, urged the authorities to stop harassing the Christian community and withdraw orders issued against the Tuticorin Diocese.

Speaking to reporters, Bishop of Tuticorin Diocese Yvon Ambrose later clarified that his Diocese was not involved in inciting or funding the protest.

However, he said the Church joined people in the campaign as it had a moral responsibility to support those affected by the crisis.

Bishop Ambrose reminded the government of its duty to allay the fears of people before commissioning the nuclear plant.

In a recent interview to Science magazine, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed NGOs funded by US and Scandinavian countries for the delay in the nuclear project.

The Prime Minister's statement sparked off a row leading to People's Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) convener SP Udayakumar filing a defamation suit against Singh

The legal notice sent on Feb. 27 asks the Prime Minister to make amendments to his comments.

The PMANE has been spearheading the agitation against commissioning of the two Russian built nuclear reactors.