The relations between the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the CPI(M)-led Kerala Government vitiated further by Thursday as the working committee of the Church expressed its concern over the attempts by the Pinarayi Vijayan Government’s move to derail the July 2017 Supreme Court verdict granting the control of the churches in the State to the former.
“The draft bill allegedly prepared by the Law Reforms Commission appointed by the State Government is an attempt to subvert and derail the Supreme Court verdict which had ruled that the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was the rightful owner of all the Churches coming under the Jacobite sect. The Kerala Government instead of implementing the apex court verdict has been trying to dilute and nullify the same by illegal means,” Father Johns Abraham Konat, chief spokesman of the Church said in a release after the meeting.
The working committee meeting that was presided over by Baselios Marthoma Poulose II and attended by most of the senior Metropolitans of the Church described the Kerala Government move to bring in a Bill to dethrone the Supreme Court verdict as an open challenge to the Indian Constitution and Judiciary. “We strongly believe this draft bill is an attempt by the government to divide the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church with political intentions. The Church will strongly resist the move by the Kerala Government to split the Church and the believers with the intention of harnessing political dividents,” said the spokesman in his release.
The Metropolitans made it clear that the Supreme Court verdict was the law of the country. “The rulers who once declared that it was not possible to bring in legislation against any verdicts delivered by the Supreme Court should not go back from their words. We hope and trust the Government should abide by the Supreme Court verdict and rule the State as per the law of the land,” said the Working Committee meeting.
The spiritual heads of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently and briefed him about the state of affairs in the Church in the backdrop of Kerala Government’s refusal to help the Church officials to take possession of the places of worship legally belonging to the sect.
The MOSC has a crucial presence in districts like Kollam, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. Meanwhile the faction owing allegiance to the Antioch has been staging sit-in demonstration in front of the State Secretariat for the last one month demanding they be handed over the administration of the Churches.