A catholic archbishop from Kerala who offered the BJP electoral support on the condition that rubber prices be raised to Rs 300 per kg has also emphasised that the BJP should not be viewed solely as a party that assaults churches.
“I stand by my statements. The BJP should not be viewed solely as a party that attacks churches. It is the country’s ruling party. As a result, farmers’ complaints about dropping rubber prices were addressed,” said Mar Joseph Pamplany, metropolitan archbishop of Tellicherry (Thalassery) archdiocese in Kannur district.
The archbishop was responding to the counter campaigns by Congress and CPI(M) leaders by highlighting the attack on the Christian community by the Sangh Parivar outfits.
Meanwhile, the BJP began to capitalise on the archbishop’s promise of political backing.
The BJP Kannur district leadership shared a photo on social media of Kannur party leaders recently calling on the Bishop.
“The archbishop had shared the concerns over falling rubber prices during the recent meeting... His demand to raise rubber price to Rs 300 would be taken up with the Centre,” said the post quoting the district leaders.
Minister flays CPI(M), Cong
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan accused the ruling Left-Front government in Kerala, and the Opposition Congress of treating the Christian community as a “vote bank” while stopping them from expressing themselves.
He said that Thalassery Archbishop was abused after he offered to help the BJP.
He said that when the Bishop of Palla spoke about the ‘narcotics jihad’, he was criticised too. “Is freedom of speech denied to them because they are Christians? This double standard of the Congress and the CPM shows they are concerned about their vote banks and not the farmers,” the minister said.
(Published 20 March 2023, 18:52 IST)
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