While the left and Congress, as well as a section of Christians criticized the archbishop, the BJP accused the two of treating the community as a “vote bank”. Pamplany’s comments came a day after the RSS said he would continue dialogue with Christians in Kerala and expressed confidence that the Christian community in Kerala was no longer afraid of the Sangh.
An article in Indian Currents, an English weekly published by Catholic Christians, criticized Pamplany’s views. “Unfortunately, the Christian religious leaders in Kerala have no idea of the ideology behind the BJP, which is the political face of the RSS. His ultimate intention is to establish Hindu Rashtra…The teachings of the official Church should never be aligned with any political party,” says Father Suresh Mathew’s article.
Welcoming the Archbishop’s remarks, Union Minister V Muraleedharan, the leader of Kerala’s BJP, told a news conference at the party’s headquarters. Delhi Headquarters: “Do the CPI(M) and Congress believe that they (Christian priests) do not have the freedom to express their views if they indirectly support the Indian government? It is ridiculous that both parties claim to be in favor of minorities, but if Christian leaders talk about some facts that may favor the government of India, they pounce on them.
Accompanying Muraleedharan were Congress turned BJP leader Tom Vadakkan and former Union minister KJ Alphons.
Muraleedharan criticized the Congress for blaming the BJP for the attacks on churches, adding that most of these recent incidents had been reported from Chhattisgarh, where the Congress was in power. states like Gonna and the northeast, where there were large numbers of Christians and where the BJP is in government, saw no such attacks, he said.
The BJP has been trying to make inroads into Kerala politics and realizes the need for an ally to break through. The party believes that the state’s powerful Christian groups could be the ally it needs, and has been taking advantage of the anger among them over incidents of Islamic fundamentalism in the state.
Space has been made for the party due to the demise of several powerful Christian leaders in the recent past and the decline of the Kerala (M) Congress. The BJP in charge of Kerala affairs, Prakash Javadekar, is leading the party’s new outreach to various communities and has met with community leaders.
On a visit to Kerala earlier this month, while addressing a rally in Thrissur, considered a Christian-dominated area, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke of the Modi government having made Kerala made “safer” by banning the radical Islamist group. popular front of india.
BJP leaders said that Prime Minister Narendra Modiwhich has been calling on the party to bring new groups into the fold, has specifically called for a shift in focus towards the Christian community in Kerala.
He put into words the party’s ambitions for Kerala shortly after the recent Assembly elections in the northeast, where the BJP returned to power in the three states that went to the polls. Modi said the results in Meghalaya and Nagaland showed the party was not seen as “anti-Christian” and said a BJP coalition would also come to power in Kerala.
