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Christian leaders flay BJP for sidelining them

George Iype in Cochin

A day after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wrapped up his year-end holidays at the lake resort of Kumarakom, prominent Christian leaders in Kerala accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of scuttling an audience with the prime minister.

Heads of the influential Syro Malabar Church said BJP leaders and the National Commission for Minorities "used" the prime minister's vacation to create a division among the Christian leaders.

State BJP leaders and NCM member John Joseph had arranged a special meeting of a select group of non-Syro Malabar Church bishops with Vajpayee on Sunday. Though leaders of various church denominations were told by the BJP leaders to get ready for the encounter with the prime minister, invitations did not reach them in time.

"We had prepared an important memorandum and were waiting for the invitation to meet the prime minister. But we were cold-shouldered by the prime minister's office because some vested interests played mischief," Bishop Thomas Chakiath of the Ernakulam archdiocese told rediff.com

The memorandum focused on some crucial issues that included demands for a permanent solution to end the attacks on Christians and changes in the Christian Marriage Bill. Church leaders have been seeking amendments to some sections of the CMB, saying it is against the church's ecclesiastical laws.

The memorandum was signed by bishops of various Christian denominations, including the heads of the Syro Malabar, Latin Catholic, Malankara Catholic, Jacobite and Marthomite churches as well as the Church of South India. Syro Malabar Church Major Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil was to lead the delegation.

Church leaders said it was NCM member John Joseph, a Pentecostal Church leader, who influenced the BJP leadership to ensure that only a select group of clergy met Vajpayee. Those who had an audience with the prime minister on Sunday were Baselius Marthoma Mathews II, head of the Malankara Orthodox Church, Bishop Abraham Clemis of the Knanaya Orthodox Church and Bishop Thomas Dionysius of the Jacobite Orthodox Church.

Upset at Joseph's action, a section of church leaders issued a statement on Tuesday that the meeting was "only to help the political strategy of the BJP in Kerala".

"The fact that the National Commission for Minorities arranged the meeting and took part in it raises a number of questions. The member of the Commission who was present at the meeting has proved beyond doubt that he voices the opinion of the BJP and is playing a prominent role in the BJP strategy in Kerala," the statement said.

The signatories to the statement included Bishop Thomas Athanasius, Bishop Yoohanon Milithius and the Christian ecumenical movement, Samanwaya Ecumenical Centre for Study and Dialogue.

It is not the first time that Joseph, who represents the Christian community in the NCM, has come under fire from within the church. Last year, church leaders had lambasted him for toeing the BJP line on the attacks on Christian missionaries and institutions. Church leaders also cancelled a peace dialogue between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the clergy after Joseph said Hindu outfits should not to be blamed for the attacks.

But Joseph claims he did not bungle the meeting between Vajpayee and the church leaders. "In fact, invitations were sent to all groups of church leaders. Some of them did not respond because they are upset with me," he told rediff.com

The NCM member added that those church leaders who finally met the prime minister took up grave issues like the crash of crop prices and secular matters. "It is sad that some bishops in Kerala wasted a great opportunity by refusing to meet the Prime Minister of India when he was holidaying in Christian-dominated Kumarakom," he added.

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