Manipur violence hits BJP-Church ties in Kerala

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may have waited for decades to strike a right chord with the influential Catholic Church in Kerala. The initial excitement over this putative relationship, which touched a crescendo recently with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing a meeting with top bishops, however, appears to be on an inexorable decline.

This sudden slide in relationship has been triggered by the reports of raging attacks against Christians in Manipur and other States, which has caught the Catholic Church here in a bind. The violence appears to have fanned the flames of a seething anger over the purported favourable stance adopted by a section of its clergy towards the national party.

Second thoughts

“People are having second thoughts as evident from an unending series of questions posed by our counterparts in the North and North East,” noted a senior functionary of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala.

In an explicit sign of this moderating relationship, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, have openly expressed concerns over the attack against Christian religious establishments in Manipur and called for steps to restore peace in the State.

Sathyadeepam, a publication of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, however, has taken it a step further by accusing the BJP led government of Manipur of aiding a genocide of Christians in that State.

“The Church leadership is still reluctant to speak out that the Manipur conflict has worsened to the point of genocide under a plan executed by the Sangh Parivar with the support of the BJP government. It is yet to be known if the Church leadership still has the position that Christians are safe all over the country. Those who claimed that the talks held by the Church heads with the Prime Minister in Kochi were successful are bound to answer this,” read its latest editorial.

Outside Kerala

The Catholic clergy outside Kerala too appears to hold a similar view as they accuse Hindutva elements of harassing Christians with fabricated cases alongside unleashing physical attacks.

“The issue at hand varies from the increasing attacks on Christians under the Modi government to the logic in enacting anti-conversion laws despite the Christian population facing a stagnation,” noted Fr. Suresh Mathew, a Catholic priest and chief editor, Indian Currents

Sensing that it might lose some important ground among the Catholics in Kerala, the BJP leadership has embarked on yet another round of peace mission with the Catholic clergy.

As part of the strategy, BJP’s Kerala Prabhari Prakash Javadekar held a meeting with Bishop Mar Jose Pulickal of the Kanjirappally diocese here the other day.

Though both sides denied having discussed political issues, the meeting assumed significance, especially as the Bishop had earlier served in Imphal, the capital of Manipur.