NAGPUR NEWS:'All those working for poor are welcome'

NAGPUR: Any institution working for uplift of the society should be encouraged irrespective of the caste, religion and language of the people

running it, BJP national president Nitin Gadkari said on Sunday while addressing the delegates of Catholic Council of India (CCI) and Catholics of the city. Earlier, he was felicitated by leaders of Catholic church and Catholic community at a function held at SFS Church.

The tenth general body meeting of CCI is being held in Nagpur for the first time. 250 delegates from all over the country are attending it. Gadkari's felicitation was a part of the programme.

Archbishop of Nagpur Abraham Viruthakulangara, Archibishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis of Syro-Malankara Church in Kerala, Archbishop of Gandhinagar Stanislaus Fernandes, vice-presidents of CCI Prof Abraham Arakkal and Muriel Schooner, Vicar General of Nagpur Jerome Pinto and West Nagpur MLA Sudhakar Deshmukh were present on the dais.

Gadkari further said that his agenda was politics of development and he believed that politics was a tool for socio-economic uplift of the poor. "I am working with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for improving the condition in poor in rural areas. I appreciate any organisation that is doing a similar job," he said.

The BJP chief said that his party did not want to play politics of caste and creed. It wanted to eradicate poverty from the country so that India became an economic superpower. BJP needed cooperation of all agencies in this task.

Praising the Catholic community of the city, Gadkari said that it ran several schools and other institutions that were providing invaluable service to the society. "You are educating poor people to increase their social consciousness. We all have to do something for the poor," he said.

Archbishop Viruthakulangara in his address said that he was extremely happy that a Nagpurian had become the youngest president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Praising the BJP leader, he said, "Mr Gadkari had told me that if your agenda is to inspire youth to work for the country, God and their neighbours then we can have a common minimum programme and we will work together."