But Sangma saw things differently. The fact remains that this has nothing to do with Christians or the Church. This shows that the Church has nothing to do with Sonia Gandhi. The parliamentary leader is certainly not hostile to the public interests of Christianity. Religion is something that I want to divorce from politics.
Religious belief has to be set aside.
Sangma had enjoyed a meteoric rise in the Congress Party, beginning with his election to parliament in 1977 and culminating with his emergence as the unanimous choice as speaker of that parliament in 1996. Had I continued in the Congress Party, I would have remained well placed. But the nationalist in me made me speak out. An Indian cannot be a party to a decision where a non-Indian becomes the prime minister. However, Sangma refused to accept the notion that his break with the Congress Party had helped the cause of the BJP, by supporting the nationalistic protest first raised by Hindu militants.