A priest and fifty families from the Christian community embraced the Bharatiya Janta Party in Kerala on 30th December. The party has been courting the minority population in the state for some time. The saffron party stated on Facebook that around fifty Christian families with Father Shaiju Kurien, Secretary of the Orthodox Church Nilakkal Bhadrasanam located in southern Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district joined the party with Union Minister V Muraleedharan in attendance.
A large number of members of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) faction also became part of the party in the presence of state president K Surendran in the Thrissur district in central Kerala on the same day. Bharatiya Janata Party ascribed the appeal for minorities to join its ranks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s imaginative approach to development and added that it is refuting the idea that misinformation can discourage minorities from entering the party.
“The Modi government is moving ahead with the vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.’ Over the past decade, it has shown a strong dedication to development. This is a significant factor motivating minorities to support and join the BJP. Programs like ‘Sneha Yatra’ aim to debunk misconceptions that minority groups have regarding the Bharatiya Janata Party. More people will likely join it in the near future to participate in development politics,” the post read.
This news came soon after the saffron party kicked off its outreach initiative, ‘Sneha Yatra’ which seeks to build stronger connections with the state’s Christian community. The campaign was first started during the Easter season this year and the party resolved to carry out the yatra over the Christmas period at a recent meeting of the state committee.
The prime minister’s Christmas wishes were personally delivered to notable clergymen in the state including Cardinal George Alencherry, the previous leader of the well-known Syro-Malabar Church at St Thomas Mount in Kakkanad and Archbishop Joseph Kalathiparbil of the Latin Archdiocese of Verapoly by the BJP state chief.
On the occasion of Easter, prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and workers had undertaken the yatra and visited houses and places of worship belonging to Christians.
For the first time, a serving Catholic priest in the state joined the BJP in October this year 73-year-old father Kuriakose Mattam was officially accepted into the political party as a primary member, according to confirmation from the Diocese of Idukki. KS Aji, the president of the BJP’s Idukki district unit granted a membership to him. The past three years have been spent by Father Kuriakose Mattam as the parish priest of St. Thomas Church in Mankuva. He has two more years left before he retires. KS Aji reported that after ‘keenly observing’ the current occurrences, the priest decided to sign up for the party.
Interestingly, “Members of the clergy are not allowed to side with a political party. The simple reason being that a parish will have people of different political views and a priest cannot be partisan,” alleged the representative of the diocese.
