By Vincent D’ Souza

Tiruchi: Vote against the BJP, and its ally, the AIADMK. This in essence is what was conveyed to the 400-plus gathering of Catholic priests, nuns and lay people who attended a one-day meet held at the Charismatic Centre in Tiruchi town in Tamil Nadu on March 20.

The meet was hosted by the Christhuva Vazhvurimai Iyakkam (Christian Right to Life Movement), a non-political movement formed in 2008 consisting of the religious and the laity.

Tamil Nadu goes to the polls on April 6 in state Assembly elections, after the AIADMK party completed its five-year term in office, a party which returned to power in 2016 when it was led by J Jayalalithaa, who passed away later that year. Edappadi Palaniswami (known as EPS) took over the reigns as chief minister.

The national BJP, which has a very thin presence in this south Indian state, has now sought to make inroads by pushing its ally, the AIADMK for more seats to contest in this current election and making the right noises that the AIADMK is a part of the NDA, the alliance.

It is the emergence of the BJP and pro-Hindutva outfits that has worked up the more sociopolitical Christian bodies here, the Iyakkam being the more prominent among them.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Iyakkam organized meetings of the Catholic communities, mostly in the region of Tuticorin – Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari where Christians make a sizable number. It backed the DMK fully and it helped locally; the DMK and its alliance won in 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats for which elections were held.

With the BJP now making a strong bid to win seats on its own steam, the Iyakkam is kicking off its own campaign to sensitize Catholics across the state.

Said Father James Victor of the Tuticorin diocese, a former team member of the Iyakkam, in his opening remarks: “We are here to decide whom we must vote for.”

Followed Bishop Neethinathan Antonyswamy of Chingleput, who in honorary head of the Iyakkam, “We gather here as representatives of the Catholics. We must be clear who we must not be with today at a time when there are parties who swear by only one religion and are keen to gain a foothold in the state.”

Present at the meeting and on stage were Archbishop Antony Pappuswamy of Madurai who also heads the TN Bishops’ Council, Bishop Stephen Antony of Tuticorin and archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras-Mylapore diocese. Also on stage were religious and laity leaders of the Iyakkam.

Speaking at the morning session, outlining over a dozen issues that needed attention of the electorate Father Xavier, lawyer and a force behind the Iyakkam said, “We must not vote as Christians but as Tamils and as a minority who face a party which claims it has come to save this land that is ruined.”

In many ways, the speakers echoed what DMK leader M K Stalin, who is being projected as the chief minister candidate is saying at all his campaign meets – to defeat the designs of the BJP.

Said Father Xavier, “There are Catholics in all parties and have their own loyalties. They are free to vote the way they want. All we are saying is vote against the party that is blatantly Hindutva in its outlook.”

Those words may find an echo among many Catholics in the state but there are new challenges ahead. For example, in Padmanabhapuram Assembly constituency in Kanniyakumari district where Christians are dominant, while the DMK has put up a Christian, the AIADMK has chosen a Catholic – a strategy that the BJP has used well in Goa and reaped handsome gains.

Says Father Maria Vincent, who hails from that area, “We don’t mind Christians as candidates put up by any party but we want to ensure our votes do not go to the alliance that holds up the Hindu ideology.”

Over the years, the Iyakkam has not been able to progress ahead due to various factors – tardiness by bishops who are still treated as the godfathers of the movement they sowed the seeds for, reluctance of priests to let go of the laity who fear a strong, vocal laity leadership and continuing tendency of laity to fall back on the clergy for guidance and action.

However, an effort is being made to get nuns involved. Said Sister Sahayam, who handles the Iyakkam’s reach out to congregation of nuns, “We have managed to get many nuns involved and also attend this meeting. We hope they too can talk about the issues that affect us all and go beyond religious duties.”

There were some 90 nuns at the Tiruchi meet.

In the runup to the polling day even as teeny-weeny Christian outfits in Tamil Nadu issue statements and beat their drums, the committed members of this Iyakkam have a job on their hands.

(Vincent D Souza, based in Chennai, has been in journalism for over 32 years and now edits and publishes Mylapore Times a free, weekly neighborhood newspaper.)