THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With their mouths gagged, heads of various rites of the Catholic Church in Kerala led hundreds of nuns, priests and laity in a silent march from the Martyrs’ Column to the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, protesting the arrest of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh.
Addressing the protesters after the culmination of the march in front of the Raj Bhavan, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council president Cardinal Baselios Cleemis minced no words in criticising the BJP, which is in power in Chhattisgarh.
“Questions are being raised about some people arriving at palaces with cakes for Christmas and Easter... The Christian community expects a little more sincerity,” he said in an apparent reference to the BJP’s Christian outreach programme. “Rajeev Chandrasekhar has admitted that the allegations against the nuns are not true. Then, why are they still behind bars? Why can’t they be released?” he wondered.
The imprisonment of the nuns is a clear violation of religious freedom, Mar Cleemis said. Expressing anguish over reports that some had celebrated the rejection of their bail plea, he said, “Is this the kind of secular democracy that we have been talking about? Those in power must show the will to resolve this issue. The nuns are not traitors.”
Besides Mar Cleemis, Thiruvananthapuram Latin Archdiocese Bishop Christudas Rajappan, Metropolitan Archbishop Thomas Jessayyan Netto and Mar Thoma Syrian Church Bishop Isaac Mar Philoxenos led the protest march.
Cleemis slams Union ministers from state
Cardinal Baselios Cleemis criticised Union ministers from Kerala, Suresh Gopi and George Kurien, for not intervening in the issue of nuns’ arrest. “As far as I know, Suresh Gopi and George Kurien have not contacted the church or offered any help.
The church’s position on BJP’s Christian outreach programme will be decided on the basis of the justice delivered to those two innocent nuns,” the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church said. The church is not against talks.
“We know that dialogue will always lead to results. However, when attacks against Christians and priests in other parts of the country continue unabated, how would a harmonious condition prevail in Kerala? Attacking us on one hand, and making peace on the other is not acceptable,” he added.