Hindu right-wingers held a last-ditch protest yesterday on the eve of the Pope's visit to India, as the church dismissed their campaign as lacking any public support.
The Pope is due arrive in New Delhi this evening for a two-day state visit, before leaving for Georgia on Monday.
About a dozen activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council) arrived in the capital yesterday at the end of a cross-country march to protest at the visit.
The protesters, who started their journey two weeks ago in the western coastal state of Goa, were greeted by some 200 supporters, chanting: "Pope John Paul, go back. Go back, go back."
VHP leaders addressed the rally, denouncing alleged forced conversions of Hindus.
The VHP, which has links with the Hindu nationalist BJP party of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, is demanding a papal apology for alleged atrocities carried out by Portuguese Catholic settlers in India 400 years ago.
Mr B.L. Sharma, a hardline Hindu and a former BJP MP, told the crowd that Christian missionaries were also responsible for separatist violence in the north-east of the country.
"I am not saying the Pope is involved, but does he not know what is going on in the name of Christian missionary activity?" Mr Sharma asked.
"I want the Pope to say that all religions lead to God. If and when he says that, all disputes will be over and there will be world peace."
Meanwhile, the Hindu right wing Shiv Sena (Shivaji's Army) party, whose New Delhi-based leaders have been arrested by police as a "preventive" measure, warned yesterday that it would stage demonstrations during the papal visit.
A senior functionary, who evaded arrest, told the Press Trust of India: "We will stage demonstrations if the Pope does not apologise on his arrival in India," adding that party activists would wave black flags to denounce the visit.
Church leaders dismissed the protests as the voice of a tiny minority.
"They are just a handful of people," said Archbishop Allan de Lastic of New Delhi, chairman of a committee preparing the papal visit.
He rejected the demands for a papal apology, saying the protesters should "take up the issue with Portugal and not the Pope." He also rejected the charges of false conversions.