A public prayer meeting attended by evangelist Brother Anil Kumar, son-in-law of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, was cancelled by the police in Kuwait, on Thursday. The police also questioned one of the organisers, Brother Joseph Reddy, who is working with Kuwait’s interior ministry. The police action followed objections by Kuwaiti MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei against renting out the park at Jleeb, a public area, for the meeting.
Prayer meet stalled on charges of conversion
The prayer meeting attended by evangelist Brother Anil Kumar was cancelled following Kuwaiti MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei’s allegations in a widely published statement that the group was carrying out conversions. The three-day prayer meetings were being held from September 13 to 15 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Kuwait arm of the Kadapa-based Jeevamgala Devudu Sangham (Living God Church).
Brother Anil and his wife Sharmila, the daughter of YSR, later attended a prayer meeting at the National Evangelical Church in Maliya. Explaining the controversy, Dr Livingston Gadde, founder of the Telugu Christian Federation, said over phone from Kuwait, “In Kuwait, religious meetings of other faiths are banned. The organisers went ahead on some assurances from the government. Meanwhile, due to miscommunication, one of the Telugus misinformed the Kuwait MP that the meet is intended for conversions to Christianity. The truth is that it was only a celebration of the church. When the police came in and enquired, Brother Anil was far away from the venue.”
Mr Gadde said that Brother Anil was only to be a participant and there was no case filed against anyone. He added the venue was shifted to the campus of the National Evangelical Church at Maliya. “On the church campus there are no restrictions, and we can have prayers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brother Joseph Reddy, who was questioned by the Kuwait police in association with the allegations of conversions, was let off later. The Telugu Christian Federation is celebrating the 41st anniversary of its formation in Kuwait on September 20.