Week after joining BJP, Kerala Orthodox Syrian Church priest removed from posts
Fr Shaiju Kurian, who served as secretary of the Nilackal diocese of the Church, and 47 Christian families had taken membership of the BJP on December 30 in the presence of Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan at a party function in Pathanamthitta.
A week joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a priest belonging to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala was stripped of his official responsibilities within the Church on account of some complaints that have been raised against him, officials said.
Fr Shaiju Kurian, who served as secretary of the Nilackal diocese of the Church, and 47 Christian families had taken membership of the BJP on December 30 in the presence of Union minister of state V Muraleedharan at a party function in Pathanamthitta.
Subsequently, a section of the faithful marched to the diocese headquarters in Ranni to protest against the priest purportedly due to some allegations against him.
Another priest, Fr Mathews Vazhakunnam, levelled some allegations against Fr Shaiju during a television news debate.
The Nilackal diocese of the Church on Friday clarified that Fr Shaiju was removed from official duties due to complaints raised against him and not because of his entry into a political party.
In a press release late on Friday evening, the Church said, “After receiving some complaints from diocese members, a meeting of the diocese council was held on January 4 which decided to form an inquiry commission to probe the allegations against Fr Shaiju Kurian and submit a report within two months. During the period of the investigation, Fr Shaiju has been taken off of his official responsibilities within the Church.”
“The council also decided to seek a clarification from Fr Mathews Vazhakunnam who chose to raise the allegations in a TV channel debate instead of raising complaint in a proper fashion in the councils of the Church. There is no link between these decisions and the political discussions being held right now,” the Church added.
After he joined the BJP last week, Fr Shaiju had said that he had accepted the party’s membership as he wanted to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“It is my personal belief that I should work under PM Modi to further the development of this country,” he had told reporters.
The BJP has been on an overdrive in Kerala to attract votes of the Christian community, which comprises nearly 19 percent of the state’s population. Last month, the party conducted a ‘sneha yatra’, an extensive outreach campaign, during which its workers fanned out across the state going door-to-door to Christian homes and families to exchange greetings on Christmas.
The BJP, which has no representation in the state Assembly and has never been able to win a Lok Sabha seat on its own, understands that it needs to get a chunk of the Christian votes in order to win seats like Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur and Pathanamthitta which have large Christian populations.
