It was our ‘nationalism’ that helped us save people across the world: PM Modi

Rajkot: Lashing out at the archbishop in Gujarat who had asked Christians to save the country from ‘nationalist forces,’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday stated that it was their nationalism that helped them bring Father Tom, who was captured and held hostage by ISIS in Yemen, back to India.​

Addressing a rally in poll-bound Gujarat’s Rajkot, the Prime Minister stated that those releasing ‘fatwas’ against nationalists should see the efforts the government took to bring Father Tom back.
“Father Tom was guided by his love for Lord Christ and was working. We got Father Tom back. We also got back Father Prem, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan,” he stated.

“Our nurses were stranded in West Asia. When these nurses, who are doing such humanitarian work, are stranded how can anyone sleep in peace? Every effort was undertaken to bring them back home,” PM Modi added.
PM Modi also mentioned the work External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was doing.

“Have you seen how active Sushma Swaraj ji is? Guided by humanitarian values, she is serving so many people in need – they can be in any part of the world, but she helps them,” PM Modi stated.
Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Gandhinagar, Thomas Macwan, had last month issued a letter in which he had urged the members of the community to save the country from so-called “nationalist forces”. According to him, the sense of insecurity among minorities was increasing due to the notion of hyper-nationalism.
A notice was then sent to him by the Election Commission asking the archbishop to clarify his intention behind issuing such a letter.