Dear Readers,

Greetings to you from the Synod of the Church of North India.

Praise God! Our God Almighty is the one who holds our future and knew exactly well what was needed for us, for our country India and the people of the world's biggest democracy, India, have spoken through ballots. The five-phase election that stretched for nearly a month to choose from 8070 candidates belonging to 46 national and state parties registered with the Election Commission, for 543 seats of the 545-member Lok Sabha (as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community) has revealed that a little over half of the country's 713.7 million registered voters who exercised their franchise in the election wants Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to form and lead the new government. Thus through this election to 15th Lok Sabha the secularism has been saved by the people of India.

The sweeping win by Congress means that Minorities can live & breathe easily for five more years, with Hindu fundamentalists effectively shut out of power. History has been created that this was the biggest win for the Congress since 1977. This verdict is also an answer to much prayer especially after Kandhamal incidents which killed many Christians. God does certainly hear prayer and delivers. It was a vote against the extreme Right (BJP) and the extreme Left (Communists).

For the Christian community, hope increases that the rapists, killers and arsonists of Orissa’s Kandhamal and Karnataka will be brought to justice, that our cry for development – articulated in the manifestos we gave to the political parties on the eve of the general elections will be fulfilled. The Christian community needs special economic and development resources from the government, and should not be relegated to the margins because of its unwavering commitment to peace and because it does not always articulate politically its genuine needs. Dalit Christians look forward to a realization of their 50 years old search for equal rights, promised often but yet to be given. 

Election results reflect the electorate’s desire for certainty, for stability. In the Sunday edition of the Indian Express of 24th May 2009 Sudheendra Kulkarni, a close aide of L. K. Advani wrote an article entitled “Why stability won over change”. He wrote – “The people of India chose stability to change. They are looking for a viable and stable alternative. An unstable coalition government, whose attention would get diverted to managing its own internal squabbles and whose energies would be wasted in ensuring its own survival, would not, in the estimation of the electorate, meet the challenges before the nation. The BJP failed to capture the imagination of the people either as an agent of change or as a guarantor of stability.” Change for change sake is not acceptable. The message of Change with strong sense of stability given by Dr. Manmohan Singh captured the minds of the Indian voters. 

Verdict 2009 has sent out a loud message – Left or Right, extremist politics cannot have a permanent place in the Politics. According to Vinod Mehta, Editor of Outlook weekly magazine no hate politics is acceptable in India. Through this election India sends an urgent - The world’s largest democracy, which embraces at once slumdog, and real millionaires, remains firmly committed to secular politics. Our neighbors may be flirting with religious and ethnic extremism, but we have manifestly renounced them.

Praise God. God has given second chance to our Nation to preserve the secularism where everybody has equal right and equal opportunity for growth.

Yours in His Mission.

Rev. Dr. Enos Das Pradhan

General Secretary

The Synod of the Church of North India