Catholics lock horns with CPM in Kerala
The high-pitch campaign carried out by the CPM Kerala unit invoking biblical imagery in connection with its Kerala state conference, allegedly with the intent of attracting Christians support to the party, seems to have backfired.
The powerful Catholic Church in Kerala has expressed strongly worded displeasure at the attempt to misuse and misrepresent biblical imageries. The CPI, a major coalition partner of CPM–led Left Democratic Front in the state, has also disapproved of the attempts to misrepresent religious themes.
The controversy began when the CPM began using posters with pictures of Christ as a part of its publicity campaigns prior to state conference which began here on Monday. CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan spoke of Christ as the greatest revolutionary. This was criticised by political rivals as a misuse of religion for political gains. However, some of the Christian Churches in the state welcomed it.
The subsequent public display of a billboard depicting a political parody of the “Last Supper of Christ” allegedly by CPM workers in Thiruvananthapuram incurred the wrath of the Christian community in Kerala.
