Setback for BJP? Organiser article attacking priests draws ire of Church in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP's efforts to strengthen its foothold in Kerala with the backing of the Christian community have taken a hit, following a controversial article published in the online edition of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser.

The article raised questions about land owned by the powerful Catholic Church, stirring unease among Church leaders in the state.

The saffron party, which has been steadily courting bishops and priests in a bid to build a political alternative to both the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF, has now been forced onto the back foot.

Tensions have further escalated after reports of an alleged right-wing attack on Catholic priests from Kerala in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, casting a shadow over the party's outreach efforts.

Although the BJP--which has been trying to expand its vote base ahead of the local body polls later this year and the Assembly elections next year--sought to downplay the issue, a hard-hitting editorial in the Church-run daily Deepika on Monday stated that Christians across the country are affected by every atrocity carried out by the Sangh Parivar.

Even children now believe that the anti-conversion law can be used to imprison any Christian and shut down their institutions. "In this situation, how can we criticise the blasphemy law in Pakistan?" it asked.

The editorial alleged that the situation has worsened due to the silence of the central government, which, according to it, has become a source of encouragement for those who attack Christian institutions and places of worship.

As was the case during the last Christmas season, Christians in North India are living in fear as Holy Week begins next week, it said.

Responding to the now-withdrawn article in Organiser, which claimed that the Catholic Church is the largest non-government landowner in India, the Deepika editorial said no one here is afraid of the RSS article questioning who owns more land.

Not only because the Catholic Church is not the largest landowner, but also because most of what it owns is used for public welfare, it said.

The editorial stated that, according to the RSS article, if its claims were true, more than one-fifth (21 per cent) of India's total land area would belong to the Catholic Church.

"This is clearly exaggerated, as India's total land area is only 3,287,263 square kilometres. The article claims that the Church owns 700,000 square kilometres (172.9 million acres) of land—183 times more than the 940,000 acres held by the Waqf Board," the editorial said, ridiculing the Organiser article and questioning where these figures came from, as no one seems to know.

The Church-run daily raised concerns over the recent attack and a brewing land controversy just as the BJP was looking to ramp up its outreach to Kerala's Christian community.

The move came as the party sought to highlight the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, passed with the stated aim of supporting residents of Munambam village in Ernakulam, who have been protesting against a Waqf Board claim on their land.

The residents of Munambam, most of whom are Christians, were strongly backed by various Church groups in their protest seeking protection from the Waqf Board’s claim over their land.

BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Organiser had published an article but deleted it after realising it was an error.

Seeking to downplay the issue, Chandrasekhar further stated that owning land is not a crime in India, but land grabbing is wrong.

He accused the Congress and the CPI(M)-led LDF of attempting to "amplify" the matter.

The Deepika editorial also targetted the Congress and the CPI(M), which opposed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Parliament, despite pleas from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) to support the legislation brought forward by the BJP government.

It alleged that the opposition is trying to conflate the RSS's attacks on Christians, the Organiser article, and the Waqf issue.

Citing statements from Congress and Left leaders--who had earlier warned that the BJP would target Christians after the Waqf--and claiming this is now coming true, the editorial responds: "To those politicians who now ask if that warning was right, the answer is still no. Because the Sangh Parivar does not need the Waqf issue to attack minorities." The editorial further argues that the contents of the RSS article are false.

"Instead of addressing those inaccuracies, the opposition (the Congress and the Left) is using this as an opportunity to justify its mistaken stand against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill," it said.