Are Kerala Christians listening?

By M K George

Rome, Oct 6, 2022: In one of the boldest and most lucid articulations on the Kerala Catholic ‘friendship with the BJP,’ Father Kuriakose Mundadan (Satyadeepam September 29, 2022) described it as BJP fishing in troubled waters.

His analysis is simple and straightforward. With the knowledge that the BJP cannot make headway in the Kerala state without the help of a minority group, they are cleverly using the messy situation of the Church politics to enter into a ‘friendship’/alliance with the Catholic leadership. The recent visit of the party leadership to of the archbishops in central Kerala prompted the reflections.

Of course, the usual anticipatory bail statements have already come out. The visits of the BJP leaders to the Catholic bishops were only ‘friendly’ ones.

Father Mundadan draws attention to the way post truth narratives have built up an atmosphere for such leanings. There are far too many divisive narratives that even those who read, listen and debate are confused. And Christian groups seem to be actively promoting them. There are enough confusions in the Kerala Christian churches, whether it is financial, liturgical or simple administrative ones, that taking sides fanatically with one group or other or just ignoring the whole debate are the two most common responses of an ordinary Christian.

With less and less sensible people involved, the debate is left to vested interests and that is where ‘the troubled waters’ become easily available to a group who have no qualm of conscience in buying , or intimidating people into compliance.

Now, what one cannot understand is how you can make friendship with someone who wants you either exterminated or kept as second class. How can people keep forgetting the foundational statements of the party to which they want to be friends with?

“The foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment -not even citizen’s rights.” –(We, or Our Nationhood Defined, Bharat Publications, Nagpur, 1939). They have clearly articulated the three internal enemies: Muslims, Christians and communists.

In a recent article titled ‘Apologizing to Bilkis Banos’ Sandeep Pandey wrote thus: “Some people feel that supporting BJP or RSS is in the interest of the country without realising that the sectarian politics espoused by these organisations is taking the society apart, alienating people even among close circles of friends and relatives, condoning hatred and violence which they would have otherwise not done and ignoring the socio-economic reality of the country intoxicated by some obscure notion of Hindu rashtra. They are so blinded by this narrative that they don’t even realise that they are being misled purely for the political gain of a virulent ideology.” (Janata Weekly 2 October 2022)

Now, one could come up with the argument that Christian call is to love the enemies. Yes, love your enemies with the caution that Jesus gave us. ‘Behold, I am sending you out, as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.’ (Mathew, 10:16) Is there a social analysis that undergirds the moves of friendship? Are the resonance of Synodality from Pope Francis heard in these debates? Is there a commitment to reconciliation and Justice, characteristic of the new Church that Pope Francis is desperately trying to promote? Are the Christians in Kerala aware of the eventualities of a full-fledged Hindu Rashtra, which is the declared final goal of the RSS/BJP?

What strikes one about the moves of the Christians in Kerala, particularly the leadership, is the sheer lack of any serious sociopolitical analysis. They seem to be incapable or unwilling to see beyond their navels. Look at their discussions, debates, dialogues. None of the burning of the issues finds a prominent place. Of course, there are the usual statements to the press or the pastoral letters. However, are they really followed up, is a million dollar question?

Look at the model of Pope Francis. The issues that obsess the Pope should at least be major concerns for Kerala Christians too. The ongoing wars and calls for peace, the problems of refugees, the growing hunger in the world, climate change that is at our door, the threat of nuclear war, the need for reconciliation, creation of an abuse-free world and so on. They are all marked by compassion and conversion. In contrast, the discussions of the Kerala Christians are marked by animosity, vengeance and call to docile homogeneity.

The concluding statement of Father Mundadan is something for all Christians to chew. He says, ‘No Christian believer with secular thinking and desire for the good of all will be able to support those who are polluting the Kerala Society by mixing caste and communal poison and leaning on the shoulders of organizations like BJP and RSS who maintain their power by fermenting caste, religion and class hatred.’

The Christians in Kerala, including bishops and priests, should wake up. Otherwise, history will judge us harshly.