By P. A. Chacko
Sahibganj: As the palm-fringed ‘God’s own Country,’ Kerala, is swaying with high speed winds unleashed by the electoral tsunami, beggars and crawlers are making a beeline in dramatic fashion.
The hopeful, near hopefuls and the desperados are begging kingmaker voters for a pittance of their votes. Then, there are the crawlers before the rulers pleading for favour and benevolence.
The latter mentioned group consists of certain Church elements playing second fiddle to such anti-secular and religious fundamentalist forces for the sake of opportunism. To curry favour with such forces and to sup with them are nothing but what Judas did by kissing Jesus in the Gethsemane.
The Church leaders crawling before BJP central leaders act as if wanting to strike when the iron is hot. But, these opportunists are presenting themselves in their foolhardiness as malleable elements before a malevolent dictator as it were.
As we Christians are entering the Passion Week with Jesus, we believe that these crawlers are like Judas ‘dipping the bread in the dish’ with Jesus at the Last Supper and collecting the silver coins from the Jewish authorities behind stage.
One wonders if Jesus, who chased out the money changers and sellers from Jerusalem Temple premises, will not come with whip in hand to pronounce judgement and to do a purification ceremony.
We are also painfully aware that some of our separated Christian brethren have enrolled themselves as hardcore bhakts of the Sang Parivar. George Kurien, BJP’s Kerala state secretary, one such stalwart bhakt, has reportedly released a statement with crocodile tears that four nuns ‘had to face some harrowing time due to some overzealous individuals and police.’
With this tongue-in-cheek statement, he plays safe by not naming the Hindu zealots who were those ‘overzealous individuals.’ The Sangh Parivar uses such Christian elements as apt toolkit screwdrivers to repair its sullied image. No genuine Christian will be fooled by such gimmicks of publicity stunt.
Recorded instances show that anti-secular and nationalist fundamentalist forces have ramped up a crusade to harass, terrorize and finally wipe out religious minorities from this secular India. After targeting Muslims as jihadi and anti-national, they have turned to Christians burning their churches, killing their pastors, terrorizing them or jailing them alleging terrorist links because of their involvement with the poor and the voiceless.
Instances like the recent anti-Christian atrocity on four nuns travelling to Odisha or the incarceration of Stan Swami, an 83-year-old Parkinson-affected Jesuit priest, are but links in the chain of criminal acts intended to terrorize and stonewall the Church’s acts of compassion, fellowship and accompanying the poor and the voiceless.
Those who are seasoned with the ideals of Jesus will follow him. His ageless personality will propel every genuine Christian to follow his path. There may be betrayers and backstabbers who sell their souls to the devil. That shall not deter us from our commitment to Jesus and to humanity.
(Jesuit Father P A Chacko works among tribal communities in the Santal region of Jharkhand state in eastern India.)