Christians in India to vote for secular parties

In the wake of continued violence against the Christian community every now and then, a Christian group in India urged all the members to vote for secular parties in the 15th Lok Sabha elections which are being held in various stages in the country. The Federation of Catholic Associations of Delhi (FCAD) has asked community members to vote for parties which have proven secular credentials. In a press conference, Jenis Francis, president of FCAD said that every Catholic must exercise his or her franchise as every vote counts. He even asked them to bring their neighbours too. He re-iterated that protection of minorities was a matter of paramount importance and the security of the same must not be compromised in any way. According to some observers the conference is a result of growing incidents of violence against the followers of Christ by the fundamentalist groups who in the pretext of preventing or stopping alleged conversions to Christianity have been constantly targeting Christians, the recent case being the widespread violence against the community in Orissa that claimed hundreds of lives. The hate violence is more frequent in those states where fundamentalist powers are running the government.