India has had a vibrant Catholic community for nearly 2,000 years since the arrival of the apostle Thomas. There are many in India who believe that Jesus actually traveled in India during his "lost years". Today Christianity is the 3rd largest religion in India with over 25 million, 20 million of whom are Catholic.
Catholics hold many high offices in India today including Sonia Gandhi Current President of the Indian National Congress Party and chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance. She was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in the year 2004. Margaret Alva Governor of Indian state of Uttarakhand from July 2009. George Fernandes Founder member of the Janata Dal (United) party and defence minister in the National Democratic Alliance (India) Government. Ambika Soni Current minister of information and broadcasting. She also served as the minister of tourism and minister of culture from 2006 to 2009. Ajit Jogi First Chief Minister of the state of Chhattisgarh, Oscar Fernandes Minister of state of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, P. A. Sangma Former Speaker of Lok Sabha and Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Agatha Sangma The youngest Minister of State in the current Cabinet and Sunith Francis Rodrigues Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1990 to 1993 and the current Governor of the Indian State of Punjab.
