Relations between the CPM and the Church hit a new low on Sunday, with both sides trading charges over the last rites administered to party MLA Mathai Chacko. He had died of leukemia a year ago.

The trouble began with party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan calling a bishop a “wicked being’’ for spreading  “rumours against Chacko who lived and died a communist’’.

He remarked,“It is a blatant lie to say that Chacko consciously demanded that his last rites be performed according to Christian tradition. It is an ultimate insult to a man who had led a model communist life all along.’’

He was speaking at a function organised in connection with Mr Chacko’s first death anniversary on Saturday evening at Kozhikode. Mr Vijayan also accused the bishop of “spreading the lie” for the benefit of the UDF.

Fr Jose Kotta said he had performed the rites on the instruction of the Bishop of Thamarassery Fr Paul Chittilapally, who had visited the ailing MLA during his last days at the Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi.

“Chacko was not conscious when the anointing of the sick was done. But it was performed, no doubt,’’ he said. Fr Chittilapally said he had not uttered any lie and that the rites  were performed on the advice of his family.

However, in Kozhikode, Chacko’s family members denied that the rites were performed on  their request.

Christians protest

Irked by Vijayan’s outburst, several Christian organisations came out with strongly-worded counter-statements against him. They included the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, the Minority Protection Council and the Syro-Malabar Church, to which Chacko was attached. They said the statement was part of a conspiracy by the CPM to denigrate the church and portray bishops in a bad light before believers.

For the CPM, the fresh controversy has come at the most inopportune moment, when speculation is rife about Parliamentary elections in the offing. It was not long ago that pastoral letters were read out in churches across the State against the government’s “anti-minority education policy.”

As expected, UDF leaders including Oommen Chandy and K M Mani were quick to lash out at Vijayan for his “shameful” and “insulting” comment.