Indian Church Strengthening Political Ties with Communists

Wednesday February 16 2005 10:09 IST
THRISSUR
newindpress.com

When CPM’s Lonappan Nambadan MP on Saturday attended the meeting of the Irinjalakkuda Catholic Diocesan Pastoral Council as a member, it was a sign of the Church opening its doors a bit more wide to the CPM.

Nambadan pegs his nomination to the Council by Bishop Mar James Pazhayattil on the changed equations between the two institutions and the ‘‘decentralisation’’ that has taken place within the Church.

‘‘This is perhaps the first time that a CPM Parliament member is being nominated. It further proves that the days of the Church’s blind anti- Communist - pro-Congress attitude are over. The Church now has an openness which can acknowledge good deeds regardless of political colour,’’ Nambadan told this website’s newspaper.

The Church has been ‘decentralised’ and the faithful have more voice today, said Nambadan, who was minister on two occasions and an MLA for 25 years.

The Pastoral Council of the Syro-Malabar Church is an advisory committee to the Bishop on matters religious and material.

‘‘The suggestions of the council are not binding. But to be nominated is an honour,’’ Nambadan, who admits to be a regular church-goer, said.

He is not a novice at the Pastoral Council either.

He was a member of the council of the unified Thrissur Diocese back in 1977.

‘‘I was with the UDF then, though. But at the time an LDF MLA - not even a CPM MLA - would have found the council out of bounds. The fact that I contested under the official party symbol and still could find a place on council proves things have changed,’’ he says.

Nambadan points to his thumping victory over Padmaja Venugopal (Congress) in the last Lok Sabha elections as another potent sign of the traditionally-pro - Congress-faithful accepting the CPM.

‘‘Mukundapuram was a constituency where K.Karunakaran won a majority of 52,000 votes. But in the last elections, we had a majority of 1.17 lakh votes, the lion’s share of which came from the traditional Christian vote bank of the Congress,’’ Nambadan says.

However, Nambadan had to cut short his attendance at the first Council meeting on Saturday due to the death of CPI leader and former Minister Krishnan Kaniyamparambil.