‘Pilgrims of Hope’. Pope Francis officially declared 2025 a Year of Jubilee with a papal bull, titled “Spes Non Confudit” on 9th May, 2024 in Vatican Rome. Hope is the central message of the coming Jubilee. It is also a year dedicated to celebration, forgiveness and renewal. Rome will welcome pilgrims from all over the world who come to celebrate this special occasion. In a time of hopelessness, the Pope wants to drive home this message “Hope Does Not Disappoint.” The Jubilee Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve 2024. The Christians of India are excited about the Jubilee year and are preparing to celebrate the year long Jubilee in various ways.
But their hope is also curtailed by another jubilee which may bring in crisis, conflict and even violence in India. Incidentally, the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) will also celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025. RSS is the parent body of the Bhararity Janta Party (BJP) which has been ruling India for the last 10 years and has come back to power with the support of alliance partners.
There are reports that massive organisational expansion, a review of the Indian Independence movement, and building a global narrative on threats posed by radical Islam, especially to Hindu minorities in the Indian subcontinent, are going to be the key elements of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) roadmap in the run-up to its centenary year (The Print. November, 2021). “The year 2025 is going to be the centenary year of the Sangh. Generally, we prepare a plan to expand the organisation every three years. From this point of view, it has been decided to take our work to mandal level. At present, out of 6,483 blocks in the country, there is Sangh work in 5,683 blocks,” RSS sarkaryavah (general secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale said at a press conference. With this massive expansion intended and clear focus on seeing Muslims and in extension Christians as ‘the enemy other’ what is in store for India is anyone’s guess.
Though in its utterances, it is the Muslims, the RSS and BJP name, in reality, Christians are also considered a threat to their pet plan, ‘A Hindu Rashtra’. Nothing else can be expected from organisations which uphold and operate on fascist, authoritarian, autocratic the principles. Further, these thrive on projecting minorities – Muslims and Christians – as roadblocks for establishing the Hindu Rashtra. It is with these forces, especially the political face of the Hindutva, that the Kerala Church is aligning with and in a sense digging its own grave for some short term gains. The Kerala Church is failing to read the signs of the time written clearly on the wall, all those who align with the BJP loose their identity and existence.
The News Minute in its publication on 10th April, 2024 had this to say, “The annual Viswasotwasam organised by the Syro Malabar Church’s Idukki diocese had a session that stood out from the rest, the screening of the propaganda film The Kerala Story.Viswasotwasam, during which the film was screened, is a summer workshop focusing on Catholic values held in all parishes under the diocese for catechism students aged 6 to 18. Following the backlash faced by the Idukki diocese, the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM) of Thamarassery diocese announced that they too would screen the film. However, the diocese administration has distanced itself from the announcement”.
The News Minute goes on to state that the screening by the Idukki diocese had been condemned by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Opposition leader VD Satheesan. Both political leaders called the incident a ploy by the Sangh Parivar and cautioned against its influence on the public. Pinarayi is reported to have stated “They are trying to achieve their goals by turning one section of people against another. That is the agenda of the Sangh Parivar. It is important not to fall into that trap. Where has such a thing happened in Kerala? A big lie has been presentedthrough the film. These are figments of their imagination employed to defame our state”.
Interestingly, the screening was criticised not just by politicians. The head of the Niranam Diocese of Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church, Geevarghese Mar Coorilos said that “churches should propagate “love stories”, not “hate stories”.He added, “The government and police have stated that ‘love jihad’ is a baseless claim. This is part of a propaganda targeting a particular community based on the politics of hatred and suspicion. A diocese screening a movie based on such lies and fake news for children in the name of awareness, is outrageous and unfortunate. I hope they will reconsider it.”
The timing of the screening, just two weeks before the state goes to polls, has led to sharp criticism of the Syro Malabar church. But in the run up to the election, there have been many visits, meetings, talks and utterances, especially by the official church of Kerala. This was all the more the case of Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara Churches, the two most dominant, powerful and rich churches. Two of the Cardinals from these two churches met Modi at different times. In one of their meetings when they raised the question about the arrest and incarceration of Fr. Stan Swamy who working for the upliftment of the Adivasis of central India, Modi is supposed to have responded saying that ‘the law will take its own course’. Again when they told Modi that many of their aided educational institutions are not getting the salary on time, Modi is reported to have retorted ‘who told you to run the educational institutions?’.
What is extremely disheartening by the omission and commission of these leaders of the Kerala and Indian Church is that they never talk about the Constitution, country and citizens. Forget about this, they do not even talk about the issues that affect the Christian community. It appears that since they are safe and secure, they are not bothered about the Christians. Since Modi is the Prime Minister of this country, these leaders have the right and the responsibility to meet him and talk to him. When there are issues that affect the country and the Christians, they have the duty to meet him and not only apprise him of these but also ask for his response based on his constitutional obligation.
It appears that they have not developed the acumen and wisdom to deal with the politicians in difficult circumstances. For instance, the entire country was gearing up to Lok Sabha election in 2024. On 25th December, 2024, Modi invited some of the Church leaders for a Christmas celebration at his residence. These leaders instead of politely declining the invite saying that they celebrate Christmas with their faithful, gladly accepted the invitation. Some of them went to the ridiculous extent of praising Modi for what he is doing for the country. The conscious and committed Christians and citizens were disappointed by this behavior of their leaders and organized signature campaigns to decry this act.
Further, when it comes to talking about issues like the violence unleashed on the Tribal Christians of Manipur, these leaders are totally silent. In the same way in central India, especially in states like Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha churches have been vandalized, priests and nuns have been attacked, preachers and teachers have been severely assaulted, summer camps are disturbed, school assemblies are disturbed and closed. But the Church leaders do not open their mouth to decry these. At the most, they will call for prayer service. Thrissur Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath who is also the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) met Modi on 21/12/2022. Archbishop Andrews is heading one of the biggest conferences of Bishops in the world but when it comes to exercise his power to be the voice of the Christians, it is disappointing.
But it is crystal clear that when it comes to their interest, they go to any extent. For instance, it is reported by The News Minute on 19th March, 2023, that the Thalassery Arch Bishop of the Roman Catholic church, Mar Joseph Pamplani said that if the Government of India raises the price of rubber to Rs 300 per kilogram, the church will help the BJP in Kerala and will overcome the situation of the BJP not having an MP from the state. These leaders seem to forget the words of Jesus, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Mathew 6: 24).
It is pertinent to raise this question here, “What ails the Kerala Church?” Jos Chathukulam and Manasi Joseph in a well articulated article ‘What is Plaguing the Catholic Church in Kerala? Is it ‘Jihad’ or something else?’ in Mainstream, September 18, 2021, spell out some of the arguments. In September 2021, Mar Joseph Kallarangatt Bishop of the Syro- Malabar Catholic Church, Diocese of Pala, while addressing a gathering said that ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’ are used by jihadis to trap young non-Muslim girls. He alleged that non-Muslim girls, especially those belonging to the Christian community, were largely being converted “after trapping them in love, exploiting and misusing them for destructive activities like terrorism”.
As usually done, the Pala diocese later clarified that Bishop Kallarangatt didn’t intend to hurt anyone or target a particular community and added that the Prelate was only trying to remind people about the responsibility of the society to annihilate evils and wrong-doings, the controversy refuses to die down. Since the one who made this statement was a ‘religious leader’ he was scot free, while a lay person would have been put behind bars. Interestingly, it is also reported on the marriage of a Catholic woman and a Muslim man based in Kochi was solemnized by the former Bishop of Satna.
If one is willing to delve deep into the reality of Kerala Church, then one traces the following facts: 1) the dwindling Christian population is a matter of concern for the Church. Catholic youth are moving to various parts of the country and abroad for job and education thus reduction in the number of Christians. 2) The Church which is already anxious about the dwindling Christian population fears the strength of the Muslim community in terms of population as well as their educational and financial growth. Above all Church is worried whether the capability of Muslim community to collectively bargain with LDF and UDF in the name of minority rights which could eventually marginalize the Church. 3) It is also reported that lots of the Dalit Christians due to denial of benefits of reservation as well as ill-treatment by the Syro Malabar Christians are enlisting themselves as Hindu Scheduled Castes. 4) A tussle that broken out in the SyroMalabar Church in Kerala between the Church leadership and a section of the priests and laity over how the Mass is conducted has taken its toll on the Church. 5) There have been sex scandals in the Church which has tarnished its image beyond repair. 6) The Catholic Church in Kerala has been facing an image crisis for some time owing to shady land deals. 7) Last but not the least, the Church leadership did not refrain from making public statement that were for and against, which ultimately tarnished its image.
It is seen by those who have been analysing the state of the Kerala Church that to overcome much of the damage and to do an image makeover, the Catholic Church seems to be in need of some political backings and patronage. The Church further seems to feel that for the present it is the BJP which can provide this platform to it. Hence it is playing cards ‘love and narcotic jihad’ to be in the good books of BJP leaders. BJP on the other hand, hoped to open its account in Kerala by hobnobbing with the Church. In the just concluded election, Suresh Gopi won from the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat. But in a sense, he won the seat on his own merit than due to BJP or the Church.
It is a fact that Kerala Church plays a political role in Kerala. Since, it had shown inclination to align with the BJP, the official Church remained mostly silent. But in public it took a stand of being very progressive. This can be stated from the fact that in the CBCI General Body meeting held in Bengaluru in February, 2024 the theme was ‘Church’s Response to the Current Socio-Political Situation of the Country’. It made a bold statement, “There is an apprehension that divisive attitudes, hate speeches and fundamentalist movements are eroding the pluralistic, secular ethos which has always characterized our country and its Constitution. The Fundamental Rights and Minority Rights guaranteed in the Constitution should never be undermined”.
Expectedly, all these remained mere statements and not put to in practice. The official Church was busy preserving its power, position, privilege and prestige. It repeatedly cautioned the faithful, priests and nuns not to ‘enter into politics’ but keep away from it. By this, the official Church wanted to protect its financial, wrong financial dealings, FCRA, etc. Further, the official Church of Kerala prohibited the Christians to be politically active. Irrespective of their warning many individual nuns, priests, men, women and youth were in the forefront to defeat the BJP at all fronts in Kerala. They kept the BJP out of Kerala by not even allowing success in one seat. Christians voted for Suresh Gopi not because he was a BJP candidate but because as an individual he could bring some change for the political culture of Kerala. Now these nuns, priests, men, women and youth from the Christian community are emboldened since the BJP barely managed to come back to power. Like the members of civil society elsewhere, these Christians of Kerala are also waiting for internal contradiction to break forth within the BJP and NDA so that the fascist forces are kept out of power and so that the Constitution, Country and the Citizens of India are protected.
Dr.Prakash Louis is a political analyst
