KOCHI: Senior Congress leader A K Antony on Thursday expressed his disapproval of the trend in Kerala to donate money to renovate churches at great cost.
“Instead of donating money for constructing air-conditioned religious places, people should donate to charity,” he said at the 14th anniversary function of a free-meal programme run by K V Thomas, MP from Ernakulam.
"In Kerala, donations made by people go to reconstruction of religious places. Some of them are being constructed by spending Rs 50-60 crore. Do we need such huge religious places? We need funds for the welfare of the poor. Rich people should contribute a portion of their wealth to charity," Antony said.
He pointed out that 50 per cent of the wealth in India is concentrated in the hands of a mere 1 per cent of the people.
"The government has limitations in finding funds for welfare programmes. The government and rich people should join hands to fund welfare works that can eradicate poverty and shore up education," he said.
Antony praised Thomas for providing free meals and scholarships to meritorious students. "K V Thomas is one of my best friends. I have great respect for him because of the charity work he is engaged in," he said.
The free meal programme, started by Thomas at a school near the KSRTC bus station in 2003, provides free meals to more than 50,000 students in 164 schools across Ernakulam constituency. His organization Thomas Vidyadhanam is planning to provide noodles to students of these schools in the evening.
Later, Antony addressed political issues in remarks he made to reporters at the Ernakulam guest house. He stated that CPM leaders’ hardline approach towards the RSS in Kerala is confined to their speeches. Government officials know of the Pinarayi Vijayan government's 'soft approach' to the RSS and that was why the birth anniversary celebrations of Deendayal Upadhyaya were organised in Kerala too.
"The CPM leadership speaks against the RSS but in action they support the RSS. When RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat raised the national flag in Palakkad, the government decided to remove the district collector. In Kerala, the CPM leadership considers Congress as their main rivals," he said.