The Nawab of Arcot, Prince Mohammed Abdul Ali, has praised India’s Christian community for its outreach to non-Christians

The Nawab of Arcot, Prince Mohammed Abdul Ali, has praised India’s Christian community for its outreach to non-Christians, providing schools, health care, hospices and orphanages to the needy without regard to their religion. His remarks came at a reception held last week following the consecration of the Bishop in Madras, the Rt. Rev. Jeyaraj George Stephan at St George’s Cathedral in Chennai (Madras) on 30 April 2016. The Nawabs of Arcot were the rulers of an Indian princely state centered in Madras. Following the death of the thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan in 1855, Britain annexed the principality. Queen Victoria made Ghouse Khan’s uncle the Prince of Arcot in 1867 and the Nawabs of Arcot were given a tax-free pension in perpetuity in return for their allegiance to the Crown.  The 1948 Indian Constitution codified this status and the family retains its princely privileges and titles and is the titular leader of Muslims in Tamil Nadu, but does not exercise political authority. In his address, the Nawab denounced the rise of militant Islam saying the terrorism being carried out in the name of Islam was repellent to the faith’s teachings. He extended his personal greetings to Dr. Stephan, and expressed the hope the new bishop’s tenure would see closer ties between Christians and Muslims in Southern India.