The Congress in Kerala has always taken extra care not to enrage the Christian clergy under any circumstance, especially during elections, but it has now proved that it is even capable of penalising own leaders who try to defend the party and its candidates against attacks from allegedly politically motivated Catholic Bishops.
The State leadership of the Congress on Sunday decided to censure young party legislator VT Balaram who, through a Facebook post, responded sharply to Mar Mathew Anikkuzhikkattil, Bishop of the Catholic Church in Idukki, who had the other day showered abuses on the Congress and Youth Congress when party candidate Deen Kuriakose called on him. The leadership also severely criticised another young party MlA, TN Prathapan, for pointing out that the Bishop’s behaviour was not suitable for the position he was holding. Even before all this, the party had denied ticket in the lok Sabha election to PT Thomas, Idukki’s sitting MP, for locking horns with the same Bishop over the report on the protection of the Western Ghats.
Mar Anikkuzhikkattil had showered abuses on the Congress, its leadership and Ministers for not showing respect to the Church when Deen Kuriakose, State Youth Congress president and Congress’s candidate in the Idukki lok Sabha constituency, visited him the other day to seek his blessings.
Accusing the Congress leaders of being arrogant, the Bishop told him that they called on the clergy only during elections and they would forget everything once they got positions and power. He told Deen that he was particularly angry towards the Youth Congress, which had taken a stand that was different from that of the Church over the Western Ghats report.
Referring to the failure of PT Thomas to get ticket to contest from the Idukki seat, the Bishop said this was the result of reluctance to stand with the people of the area. He also said that Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash, who was not allotting Pattas (title deeds) for the lands of settler farmers of the upland regions, should be expelled.
Balaram, in his Facebook post, said that it was only a matter of common ethics that people respond with tolerance to candidates when they make visits to seek support. “It is a pity that still there are some disgusting creatures among us who humiliate and scare away those who call on them,” Balaram said in the post in obvious reference to Mar Anikkuzhikkattil.
TN Prathapan MlA, during a television debate the other day, said that the act of the Bishop was not appropriate as far as religious heads were concerned, adding that he expected him to correct his mistake. Prathapan also praised PT Thomas, who had carried out a war of words with Bishop Anikkuzhikkattil, during the discussion. Despite the videographic evidence shown by TV channels, an apologetic Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday claimed that Bishop Anikkuzhikkattil had not reprimanded Deen Kuriakose. State Congress vice-president MM Hassan said statements like those of Balaram and Prathapan would adversely affect the party’s prospects in the election.
At a meeting of the State Congress’s election campaign committee meeting on Sunday, top leaders demanded that Balaram should be censured as his FB post could bring harm to the party in election. State party president VM Sudheeran readily offered to call up Balaram and reprimand him for his statement. The standoff between the Congress party and the Bishop had started after the Union Environment Ministry issued on November 13 a directive listing 123 villages in Kerala, most of them in Idukki, as eco-sensitive areas as per the recommendations of the K Kasturirangan committee on the protection of Western Ghats.
When the settler farmers of Idukki under the High Range Protection Council, which had the blessings of the Idukki diocese of the Catholic Church, launched an agitation against this, Congress MP Thomas objected to this, leading to a protracted war of words between him and Mar Anikkuzhikkattil.