Kochi: The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) has hit out at the son of a former chief minister of the southern Indian state, for allegedly justifying the conversion of Hagia Sophia church to a mosque in Turkey.

Chandy Oommen, son of Oommen Chandy, said in a recent speech that no one had any issue when thousands of churches were converted into dance bars.

A KCBC statement on February 5 said it was not right to “cultivate communalism” for garnering votes in election.

“Young leaders should understand history while functioning as a political leader. His speech has pained the Christian community. Chandy Oommen has justified the Muslim League leader who had supported the conversion of the church into mosque.”

“What is the purpose of whitewashing the anti-Christian act through this immature behavior,” the KCBC said in a statement.

The KCBC also said such communal statements will hurt society, especially before the elections.

However, Chandy Oommen in a statement said a part of his speech was cherry-picked to create a controversy.

“Thousands of churches in England and Spain are being converted to bars. No one has any issue with that. Since last 30 to 40 years, thousands of churches were being converted to dance bars and no one had any issue. However, it’s being used to create communal divide.”

“It’s unfortunate. Do we really need to fight each other for some matters which had happened in some other country?” Chandy Oommen asked

On February 5 evening, the young politician issued a clarification, saying the RSS and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were spreading false news.

RSS, or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (national volunteers’ corps), is the umbrella organization of Hindu rightwing groups.

“Those spreading false news are trying to mislead the Christian community,” Chandy Oommen said, adding that it was a dangerous trend.

The issue assumed significance amid reports that the United Democratic Front, the main opposition in Kerala, was straying away from the Christian community ahead of the state Assembly polls likely in April-May.

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