Tags: Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Aug 14 Rejecting a report by a US panel on global religious freedom placing India on the 'Watch List' for the Gujarat and Kandhamal riots, Christian leaders, including the Orissa Archbishop, today said India is "truely secular in letter and spirit".

"India is secular in word as well as practice. There should be no doubt over the secular credentials of India," Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archbishop Rapheal Cheenath told PTI.

"What the US Commission of International Religious Freedom's(USCIRF) said is against our country's Constitution," he said.

Referring to last year's riots in Kandhamal in which at least 40 people were killed and churches attacked, the Archbishop said the country's secular character "overpowered" a few communal elements and has restored peace.

"One should not forget the basics of a country which thrives on secular character since ages," he said, adding that India believed in respecting all religions.

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