MUMBAI: A Christian organisation from Mumbai has complained to US president Barack Obama about Catholic missionaries being "terrorised" by saffron forces in India. The outfit claimed to have received a "positive response" from Obama's office when all they received was an automated reply directing them to another email address.

The Watchdog Foundation led by former corporator Nicholas Almeida wrote to Obama to say, "We are grossly disturb (sic) by the recent events happening in Raipur district, Madhya Pradesh, India, where Catholic missionaries are being terrorised by the members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad. Christian missionaries' schools in India are subjugated to humiliation (sic) and the freedom of religion guaranteed under the Indian Constitution breached with impunity."

The letter claimed the VHP is a "staunch supporter of the BJP government which is in power at federal as well as state level". "This is nothing but a violation of human rights and both federal and state governments are doing very little to protect the interest of the minorities in India. There is absolutely free run given to the members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, and if this trend is not stopped, the existence of the Christian minority in India would be in jeopardy. As such we kindly request you to take up the matter with the Indian prime minister during your forthcoming visit to India in the month of January 2015," Almeida wrote.

He received an automated email reply which said, "On behalf of President Obama, we appreciate hearing from you. The President has promised the most transparent administration in history, and we are committed to listening to and responding to you. In order to better handle the millions of electronic messages we are receiving and respond more quickly, we have implemented a new contact form on our website. This web form has replaced this email address. This email address is no longer monitored so we encourage you to resubmit your message through the link above."

When TOI asked Almeida why he chose to complain to a foreign country about domestic issues, he said, "Obama is a Christian president and he will come to India as chief guest for our Republic Day ceremony in January, so he may put in a word to PM Narendra Modi to look out for Christian interests." Asked if an automated message comforted him he agreed it was something.