KOTTAYAM: More than in any other Lok Sabha segment in the state, Kottayam has proved to be a virtual laboratory for the Syro- Malabar Church in its strategy to pound calculated shocks against the LDF. The role played by Archbishop Mar Joseph Powathil in transforming the seething anger of the faithful against the Left Government and CPM on a state-level, through a strategy fine tuned at his instance, has had its impact, it has to be gauged.
The machinery of the Catholic Church, including scores of feeder organisations, much to the envy of even established political outfits, were working overtime for more than six months to conscientise the faithful on the pitfalls being laid for them by the Leftist ruling establishment in the state and the CPM heading it.
The much despised statement of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan depicting Catholic bishops as ‘ugly creatures’, the recommendations of the Justice V R Krishna Iyer panel to impose curbs on the administration of Church institutions and the reforms in the education sector were highlighted as detrimental and deliberate moves to belittle the faithful and as a gameplan of the Left to weaken various communities, one by one, for political ends.
It is also a fact that more than any other Catholic Church headman, the main target of the CPM and especially its state secretary was Archbishop (emeritus) Mar Joseph Powathil, who, as the chairman of the Inter-Church Council for Education, and one who had never compromised on faith and Church traditions, even while spending his retired life now at a Church home, had led a moral offensive with an undeclared but underlying political zeal, against the Left.
In fact, everyone knows that Mar Powathil was the architect against the war declared against the Left and the brainchild behind a strategy for systematic and uniform thread of contentious topics being reeled out before the faithful as pastoral letters and in core group meets, for forceful thinking and collective response as well as on the perspective of existence of the church.
In Kottayam Lok Sabha segment,the 3 lakh plus Catholic votes, including those from the comparatively lesser Latin and the Malankara Catholic order in the belt, in the around 11 lakh strong electorate and polled votes of around 8 lakhs, has apparently shown a character enbloc, in tune with the clarion call of the Church, eventually bringing out results as desired by the group.
There are also a few other segments in the state which handed out a similar picture of backlash against the Left, but it was either a collective one from different Catholic denominations or from the part of the Latin Catholic segment, like in the coastal belt.
The general impression gained by the faithful is that the just held Lok Sabha polls, atleast for them, was indeed a war held between Pinarayi Vijayan and Mar Powathil.
However, the latter, as is his wont, remained a silent horse knowing fully well of the impact of the mission taken up by him on behalf of the Church.
It is another matter that the Left, in general, had underestimated the role of the Church and the prowess of the moves of Mar Powathil in various Church forums under the jurisdiction of the Changanassery Syro-Malabar Archdiocese, which covers many districts from Kottayam to the south of the state.
