Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Christmas lunch with leaders of various Christian denominations and prominent people from the Christian community on December 25, continues to cause political tremors down south in Kerala with the ruling CPM slamming the programme.
Without naming the prime minister or his party, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday slammed the Christian outreach programme as an attempt by "people in the higher echelons", to cosy up to the minorities. “When the people from the community were brutally attacked, the very same people holding the higher positions didn't even bother to raise a little finger against the atrocities. They failed to rein in the attackers at that time,” he said and added that people understand the ground reality.
The Congress-led opposition UDF, however, criticised the ruling LDF for attacking the Church leaders on the issue of the PM's Christmas lunch. "Let us not deride the Church leaders who attended the lunch programme organised by the prime minister. They were invited in the official capacity hence you cannot blame the church leaders," said opposition leader V D Satheeshan.
Union minister and senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan accused the CPM of attacking the Church leaders for wrong reasons. "The entire community is being derided for attending the program. Insulting the bishops and church leaders is akin to insulting Kerala," he said.
Earlier Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) the highest body of priests of the Catholic Church in the state slammed culture minister Saji Cherian for criticising the bishops who attended the PM's lunch. The minister attacked the bishops for not raising the Manipur violence during the programme hosted at the Prime Minister's official residence. The bishops forgot to raise the Manipur issue after relishing grape juice and cake offered during the programme.
The minister's 'offensive’ remarks against the Church leaders came close on the heels of a priest and around 50 Christian families joining the BJP in the Pathanamthitta district.
KCBC spokesman Fr Jacob Palackapilly said people holding high offices should refrain from using insulting remarks against Church leaders. He clarified that the Prime Minister had hosted the Christmas programme to interact with the Church leaders on various services provided by the country's Christian community. "It is wrong to portray the programme as an event of a particular political organisation. Such negativity should be shunned since the Church leaders had taken part in the programme as their duty towards the nation.
He reminded me that Saji Cherian is someone who lost his ministership for criticising the Indian Constitution.
