By Matters India Reporter

Kochi, Jan 7, 2020: Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, has drawn flak for receiving a pamphlet distributed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

“The BJP in Ernakulam inaugurated their pro-CAA campaign by distributing the pamphlets to Cardinal Alencherry at Mount St Thomas in Kakkanad. Alencherry received the pamphlets and there are photos of it circulating,” Riju Kanjookaran, general secretary of Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (AMT) said.

The layman accused the cardinal of supporting the BJP’s pro-CAA campaign for personal gains.

BJP had a few days back launched a nationwide door-to-door campaign to increase support for the controversial CAA, a legislation which gives citizenship to illegal immigrants based on religion. The act excluded citizenship right for Muslim immigrants while granting the same for Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians who have come to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

The act has triggered countrywide protests, especially students, as it goes against the Article 14 of the Indian Constitution that reads: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”

The AMT, which serves as a corrective force within the Church, alleges Cardinal Alencherry wants to appease BJP to get support in return for the cases against him.

The 74-year-old cardinal is an accused in a controversial land deal case. AMT and others say the cardinal, who is the archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, has sold land belonging to archdiocese resulting in the loss of billions of rupees.

The laity movement says the cardinal’s support BJP is a humiliation to the believers as the party is out to destroy the fundamentals of the Constitution.

It also wants the Church to take action against Cardinal Alencherry, who was recently elected the president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council.

Kanjookaran says CAA is against minority communities. “Today it is Muslims, tomorrow it could be Christians,” he warned and pointed that Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama – the largest Muslim body of scholars in the state, took disciplinary action against one of their leaders for receiving pro-CAA pamphlet from BJP

“The church should do the same to Alencherry to save the interest of minorities,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Syro Malabar Church officials clarified that the cardinal accepted the pamphlets out of courtesy.

“The BJP leaders had taken appointment to meet the cardinal,” a Church official said. The BJP people came to the cardinal’s residence with the pamphlets.

“The cardinal accepted it just out of courtesy that one generally gives to guests who come to our houses. There is nothing more than that, the BJP members itself took a photograph of it,” the official said and pointed out that the cardinal had reacted against the CAA a few days ago.