MONDAY, JULY 01, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The media in Kerala, with a spillover to national publications, is agog with reports of the BJP stoking its political fires over a Kerala prelate’s support to the BJP in lieu of the party increasing rubber prices, the first-ever instance of an archbishop pledging political support in return for a sop.
Gleaned from mainly Kerala and South India media like The Hindu and Matrabhumi, and digital sites, each of these developments are important pieces that make up the picture.
To start with, at a press conference in March, the Kerala leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) spoke about their “continual discussions with Christian groups as a natural occurrence”.
They rejected any suggestion that Christians in Kerala were skeptical about the motives of the RSS.
A few days later, Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of the Thalassery Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church said farmers in Kerala would join hands to send a BJP member to the Lok Sabha if the Centre increased the price of natural rubber to ₹300, which is more than double the price now.
The Syro-Malabar prelate was addressing a farmers’ rally at Alakode, a village in the eastern region of Kerala’s Kannur district, with a significant Catholic population, where rubber is the main crop.
The BJP immediately responded. Addressing a press conference, Union Minister V Muraleedharan welcomed Pamplany's statement that their community can help the BJP if the party addresses the concerns of farmers.
The media then reported that then: “The numerically strong Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro Malabar Church hauled the bishop over the coals in its weekly mouthpiece, Sathyadeepam, for his short-sightedness and for sidestepping the larger problems of settler-farmers in hill districts.” The paper went on to add: “The fact that the Archbishop has refused to withdraw his support for a Central government was a matter of concern for all those who believe in the Constitution.”
Moreover, on the sidelines, the media added that meetings were held by some leaders of the Roman Catholic and Syrian Orthodox churches with the BJP.
But politics was evident on both sides as per reports The Syrian Jacobite Church, seen as Left Front, backing reiterated support for the CPI (M) in the wake of the State government’s move to bring a legislation to end its century-old stand-off with the Orthodox Church
Meanwhile, niche publications called out Archbishop Pamplany’s stand. Father Suresh Mathew, editor of Indian Currents weekly said “Archbishop Pamplany’s statement cannot be accepted as the stand of Christians in Kerala, though there have been attempts by Christian leaders to align with the BJP,”
Archbishop Pamplany however was quoted in the Hindustan Times as then saying: “Is there a situation that we cannot talk to the BJP? We normally won’t support any party. At the same time, BJP is not untouchable for us. Be it the union or state government we will stand with those who support farmers.” He added there is no need to misinterpret it as an alliance between the church and the BJP.
But the BJP Kerala president K Surendran saw this as open support. Surendran pointed out that the Bishop expressed the Church’s faith in the BJP Central government.
Also, A C Michael, the president of the Catholic federations of the Delhi Archdiocese, says the archbishop has a choice to resign as a priest and join a political party if he is interested in politics.
Yet another digital website wrote that recently a bishop from central Kerala met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah along with leaders of a proposed new Catholic-oriented political party. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and a Malayali bishop serving in the north-eastern States were also part of the unofficial discussions, it is learned.
What started off as a one-off speech of an Archbishop, has become a full-fledged discourse not just limited to Kerala and sparked off a debate on the intermixing of religion and politics.
