By George Plathottam
Manila, Sept 28, 2021: People who wanted to go after the blood of Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Palai have made a heady cocktail of issues such as fanning communal disharmony, pandering to rightwing politics of the BJP and Sangh Parivar, interreligious marriages, conversions, peaceful co-existence of people of different faiths and many more.
The concoction has been the toss of the media and many activists, political pundits, including those who have axes to grind against the Malayalees and more particularly the Syro-Malabar Church. The fact remains that Kerala has largely remained as a place of Hindu-Muslim-Christian harmony and peaceful co-existence.
But there were a section of media and religious and civil society leaders who took the debate out of its core ambit and gave it a dangerous coloring. The carefully nuanced warning from a concerned Church leader against false love and its nexus with drug trafficking was taken out of context and mixed with interreligious marriages and genuine conversions.
Instead of staying focused on the core concern raised by the bishop and doing a serious soul searching, the swords were bared to attack him, blame him for causing communal and religious rift. Little did the people who attacked him for his homily realize that he did not coin the two words he used, namely, ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Narcotic Jihad.’ You may hate him, call him names, if you choose, but do not give him credit for coining those two words. Let those who coined them take the credit or blame.
By now perhaps all those who wanted to speak on the issue of the bishop’s homily have aired their views. Now it is time to call for an end to the mudslinging and name calling. Let those who hold responsibility for dealing with the issue he has raised investigate and bring out the truth and take action. That includes religious and political leaders, law enforcement agencies, civil society leaders and media.
Neither the language of political expediency nor the false alarm of a perceived communal conflict prevents those who are duty-bound to act with decisiveness and determination. The writing on the wall is clear and convincing. The debate should remain on the core issue and not meander into all sorts of unrelated and even imaginary ones.
In any honest debate on religion, we should refrain from taking the worst in a religion to project it as the fault of religion itself. Often it is not the fault of the religious tenets but the failure of the adherents to practice what they teach and exhort. It is also the task of religious leaders to see that their adherents or anyone for that matter do not misuse religion for vested interests. For scoundrels and criminals, religion is not a means for righteous living or salvation, but a convenient tool, an allay or alibi for their nefarious activities.
Every religion and ideology needs critiquing. Every religion and political party must isolate the fanatic fringe. Religious leaders must restrain those who speak a language of hatred and polarization, tame the hate-mongers and caution those who tend to go astray in their misplaced fervor or false zeal.It is the task of all religious communities as well as political parties. No one should inject the poison of hatred and falsehood.
Those who attempt to fish in troubled waters should be identified and isolated. Those who are guilty of violating the law of the land should be booked without fear or favor. Those who make use of the loopholes in the law to indulge in brainwashing activities and radicalization in college campuses or getting false marriage consents through intimidation should be acted against. Here again we are not talking about responsible, free and informed decisions to marry a person of one’s choice. Let such cases rest on their merit and let us not drag them into the current debate.
Those who are crying foul saying the Church in Kerala is pandering to the Sangh Parivar and the BJP ideology must know that Kerala has not elected even one BJP man or woman to the Parliament so far, and not a single member to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in the recent elections.
I do not think it is due to the presence of the two dominant political factions in Kerala. The BJP’s waterloo in the recent elections happened despite the many well-orchestrated campaign visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other higher ups in the party, pumping in lots of money and making all out efforts to woo the electorate. The party fielded some well-known personalities like film stars and the much respected ‘Metro man of India’ E Sreedharan, used helicopters to campaign in the small state of Kerala. The party fervently hoped to open its account in the Kerala Assembly. BJP’s disappointment was palpable.
If the voters in Kerala did not elect even a single BJP member to the assembly, those from other states and places who keep accusing the Christians in Kerala of cozying up to BJP must sit up and think whether there is any truth in their allegation. The Church leaders meeting the Prime Minister or any BJP leader is not an indication that they have fallen prey to their ideology. It is an affront on the political maturity of the people of Kerala to insinuate that they are sitting ducks for right wing ideology of communal politics. Kerala does not need lessons on how to keep it secular and keep at bay Hindutva or BJP’s polarizing political ideology.
Having settled this, the major challenge for Kerala now is to fight the growing menace of radicalization of the youth in the name or religious ideology, smuggling of gold, drug menace, recruiting for internationally known terror outfits, sex crimes, brain washing and a host of other unlawful activities under the pretext of religious ideology.
The victims are gullible youth and college students. For those who care to be enlightened on the issue the evidence of this is too difficult to ignore. The nature and extend of this dangerous situation is well documented by international organizations, media, courts and the law enforcement authorities in India and abroad. What we see on social media is only a tip of the iceberg. I dare say, those who say they are the figment of someone’s imagination is in absolute denial mode.
It was against this frightening backdrop that Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Pala chose to caution his faithful during his homily during a Mass on September 8, in one of the oldest Marian shrines in the world, Martha Mariam, Kuravilangad. Bishop Kallarangatt is known in the worldwide Church for his scholarship. He is not a man who will blurt out things in an unguarded moment. Those who know him, including his many seminary students who are priests today, know his deep knowledge of things and his moderation in speech.
But he was pilloried for speaking the truth, even if that truth, like most truths, hurts. For those who have listened to the whole speech and understood, it must be said in all fairness, he spoke with moderation and abundant caution. He started by explaining the root of the word Jihad. He was not speaking of Islam, he did not tarnish the Muslim religion nor faulted its tenets. He spoke of the fanatic fringe in that religion that indulges in nefarious activities and bring ill-repute even to good Muslims. Any well-meaning Muslim should welcome his call not to let religion be misused. His statement is not an attack but a defense of Islam and the majority Muslims who live by its noble teachings. They should be happy to see that their true religion is not tarnished by those with terrorist or criminal links.
It would not be far-fetched to imagine that the bishop would act promptly and decisively as the leader of the Catholic community in his diocese if he were told of some Catholics indulging in any criminal or terrorist activities. One can be sure he would use all his powers to dissuade the wrong doers and guard the tenets of the faith which as bishop he is duty-bound to uphold and teach. We have heard it umpteen times that terrorism and criminal activity have no religion, and that the true religionists must distance themselves and their faith from those who misuse it to cover up crime.
Within days of his homily, the Bishop of Pala became the subject of a smear campaign. The television channels chose to make the subject the spicy menu of their evening debates. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and some other political leaders criticized the statement of the bishop. But some soon took a U turn when evidence from many quarters surfaced to show what the bishop said was real. They came from the authoritative comments of CPM veteran and former Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthananthan, the recently retired Kerala police chief Lokanath Behera and numerous others. Social media came out with numerous recordings of highly dangerous talks that were emboldening and supporting the process of radicalization.
In Kerala there was huge support for the bishop from people of all religious persuasions, political parties and civil society. Many of the families that had suffered as a result of their sons and daughters walking away from their homes and their dear ones and their religious beliefs to embrace Islam or join terror groups like ISIS, knew the bishop was fearlessly voicing their concern. They hailed him for his courage to speak the truth.
As for those who had axes to grind against the Syro Malabar Church in Kerala or the Malayalees in general, this was a god-sent opportunity. Their main charge was that the bishop and the people of Kerala in general and Christians in particular were being used by the Bhartiya Janata Party, a charge which came mostly from outside the state, which has few takers in Kerala.
Peruse through the names of people at the forefront of the attack on the bishop through their writings, signature campaigns and utterances. Most of them have little knowledge of the ground realities in Kerala. While calling for communal, religious amity, some of them even crossed the Lakshman Rekha of moderation, sobriety, and propriety. Those who wish to champion the cause of communal harmony and tolerance must speak the language of moderation and must neither exaggerate nor exacerbate.
Let me end with an old Malayalam adage which says: “the bull has given birth so hasten to bring the rope.” Long before fake news became popular, the people of Kerala had this proverb to caution them against falsehood which might masquerade as truth and sensationalism of the kind some of the mainstream media are indulging in. It is time to put the sword back into its sheath.
(Salesian Father George Plathottam is the executive secretary of the in charge of the media office of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in Manila.)