Baselios Marthoma Mathews III meets PM Modi | Twitter
New Delhi: The supreme head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here to invite him to visit their headquarters at Kottayam in Kerala.
Mathews III met the prime minister at his Parliament office. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan was present at the meeting.
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Mathews III said Prime Minister Modi enquired about the church's functioning and expressed happiness about its various initiatives such as schools, medical and engineering colleges, hospitals and orphanages across the country.
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church head said he had extended an invite to the prime minister to visit the church headquarters the next time he visits Kerala.
"It was my desire to meet the Prime Minister after taking charge as head of the church. I feel really happy that it was realised. He inquired about the church's works. He was happy," Mathews III responded to the media.
"We are happy with the union government's development programmes. However, isolated issues like attacks on Christian churches are reality. Such problems should be addressed," he said.
As the BJP targets Christian votes in Kerala, the meeting of the Church head with the PM has significant political importance. The Orthodox Church has a following of around 2.5 million faithful and is the second biggest Christian church in numbers in Kerala after the Roman Catholics. They are traditionally Congress supporters.
With PTI inputs
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