Kanchi seer meets Christian evangelist

On the second day of his peace mission in the capital, Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati on Wednesday sought to remove misgivings on the contentious issue of conversions at a meeting with evangelist Paul Dinakaran.

The Kanchi Seer, who met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Sangh Parivar leaders on Tuesday in a fresh bid to resolve the Ayodhya tangle, spent about 30 minutes with the Christian leader who called on him at the Kamaakshi temple in South Delhi.

The pontiff explained to Dinakaran about the recent controversial Tamil Nadu legislation on forced conversions and said some people were misleading the minority community on the issue to gain political mileage, aides close to him said.

He also urged the evangelist to use his good offices and advise the Christian community not to get perturbed by the legislation as it would not affect anyone adversely, the sources said.

Later, the seer left for Bhiwani in Haryana. He would be returning to Kanchi on Thursday.

The Shankaracharya had on Tuesday urged Vajpayee to remove all legal hurdles in handing over the "undisputed land in Ayodhya" to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas to pave way for construction of Ram temple.

Both of them also agreed to continue with the dialogue process. The pontiff also advised Sangh Parivar leaders to tone down their aggressive posture on the issue to create a conducive atmosphere for its settlement.

He had taken a similar but unsuccessful initiative last year also.