By Matters India Reporter

Kochi: Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, courted another controversy on June 20 when he called on the Mizoram governor, a former Hindu rightwing leader.

Kummanam Rajasekharan, who was sworn-in as the governor of the northeastern state on May 29, was on a visit to Kerala, his home state.

Cardinal Alencherry, who is based at Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital, called on the governor at the government guest house in the city.

A source close to the Syro-Malabar headquarters told Matters India that Rajasekharan had expressed his desire to meet Cardinal Alencherry. The cardinal informed the governor that he would meet him at the guest house. The governor also reportedly served meals to the cardinal.

Church sources said it was a courtesy call. They also said the cardinal’s meeting was the sign of his respect for a constitutional post.

However, the cardinal’s gesture found disfavor with some people in Kerala, who used social media platforms such as WhatsApp to voice their resentment.

“It is not the cardinal’s job to give legitimacy to the Sanghi,” says one of the posts. Sanghi is a term used to denote rightwing Hindu activists.

Rajasekharan was the immediate past president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala. He is a former worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, national volunteers’ corps), the umbrella organizations that strive to turn India into a Hindu nation. He was also the chief of the ‘Hindu Aikyavedi’ (united front) in Kerala.

After the meeting the cardinal told reporters that he has urged the Catholic prelate in Mizoram, Bishop Stephen Rotulunga of Aizawl, to cooperate with the governor in the state’s development works.

He said this after the reporters brought to his notice protests by some Christian organizations in Mizoram opposing Rajasekharan’s appointment as their governor.

Aizawl is a member of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, the national association of Latin rite bishops.

The Syro-Malabar Church head said he had informed the Mizoram bishop that Rajasekharan was a leader who maintained cordial relations with all religious sections in society.

The social media posts pointed out that no Catholic group in Mizoram had protested Rajasekharan’s appointment. “Only a few nondescript Pentecostals had opposed and the RSS projected it as a big protest to draw mileage,” one post read.

What the Catholic cardinal has got to do with the statements issued by some Pentecostals, it asks.

Cardinal Alencherry is still recovering from a controversy over land sale in Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese. A section of priests has accused him of incurring huge loss for the archdiocese.