Respect Lakshman Rekha: Ramesh to Caritas

"I expect Caritas to respect the sentiment of not getting involved in religious mobilisation. That is not the objective," Ramesh said inaugurating the golden jubilee celebrations of Caritas India, a Catholic organisation.

"The objective is to use the powers of the organisation like yours to help us breakdown the deficit of trust between the Government and the tribal communities. That is our objective," he said.

Addressing a packed audience of Catholic priests including Archbishops and bishops, the Minister said he does not talk about Caritas as a Catholic organisation but as a social organisation run by Catholics.

Focusing on the issue of Maoist influence, Ramesh said the challenge is "how we deal with the whole issue of Maoist violence which is spreading across large parts of tribal areas. Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh. All central Indian tribal belt today is in the grip of what our Prime Minister has described as the most serious internal security challenge of our country."

The Minister said that people in these areas are unable to carry out their very existence in peace, normalcy and harmony because of the growing incidents of an ideology that is dedicated to the overthrowing all democratic institutions.

He said that organisations like Caritas and Ramkrishna Mission have a very important role to play in such areas, "provided social organisations respect certain `Lakshman Rekha`".