New Delhi: Narendra Modi greeted Pope Francis with a warm hug when he visited the Vatican on Saturday. Nothing unusual for the Indian Prime Minister, who has often been seen embracing global leaders over the years.
But his hug with the Pope has kicked up a storm back home.
Bollywood personality, journalist and poet Pritish Nandy advised Modi to do a similar gesture with Muslim and Sikh spiritual leaders.
“It’s heartwarming to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi embracing the Pope in the Vatican today. Would love to see him do the same with Muslim and Sikh spiritual leaders. It may help to tame the belligerent bhakts embarrassing India,” Nandy had tweeted along with a picture of Modi and Pope Francis.
It drew contrasting reactions, with some backing Nandy and others questioning his wisdom.
Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi reacted sharply, asking Nandy whether it is a craze to bash the Prime Minister or if there is a conspiracy to bash India.
“Brother, is this a craze of Modi-bashing? Or, a conspiracy of India-bashing?” the minister of Minority Affairs wrote on Twitter.
India’s Christian community was happy that Modi met the Pope and looked forward to the latter’s visit to India.
“This has a historical importance,” Cleemis said about Saturday’s meeting. “The meeting should not be seen merely as one between two country heads; rather, it was the head of the largest democracy and an ancient culture meeting the head of a large religious community,” The Sunday Express quioted Major Archbishop Baselios Cardinal Cleemis as saying.
Cleemis, who headed the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), had requested Modi to invite the Pope to India in 2014.
