NEW DELHI, Feb. 19, 01 (CWNews.com) - Catholics in southern Karnataka state have been stunned by the decision of the Indian government to ask a 79-year-old French missionary priest to leave India after he has spent two-thirds of his life in India serving the poor.
Father Francois Marie Godset, belonging to the Paris Mission Society who came to India 55 years ago at the age of 24 years, got the shock of his life recently when the federal government refused to renew his resident permit. The missionary is now at his wits end as he has visited his home country only three times in half a century, and "is now asked to return to a place about which he has the least idea at the age of 79 years," said the Global Council of Indian Christians in an appeal on Saturday on behalf of the priest facing imminent expulsion from India.
"In fact, the (Karnataka) state registration officer has recommended Father Godset's stay up to year 2005 but the central (federal) government wants him to return to France," pointed out the forum. The expulsion of the missionary, the statement said, is "clear demonstration of anti-Christian sentiments of the present government and also sheer indifference towards the services rendered by the 'good old man' who cared for the faceless and voiceless people of our country."
Under the Indian immigration laws concerning foreigners, those who came to India before 1984 need not go back to their home countries to obtain fresh visa from the Indian embassy in their home country.