The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Church to commemorate ‘liberation struggle’

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Church to commemorate ‘liberation struggle’

Special Correspondent

Major Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil ’s circular read out at churches

Special prayers at churches on June 13
No change in church stand on education

KOCHI: The Catholic Church, which has been on a standoff with the current Left Democratic Front (LDF) government over certain changes in the education policy, is planning to observe the 50th anniversary of the 1959 ‘Vimochana Samaram’ that it had carried out, along with some political parties, against the education-sector reforms planned by the first E.M.S. Namboodiripad government.

The Syro-Malabar Church is observing on a large scale the 50th death anniversary of the ‘Angamaly martyrs’ on June 13 at St. George Forane Church, Angamaly, where the seven people killed in a police firing were interred. The firing had intensified during the 50-day-long final and crucial phase of the Vimochana Samaram, which led to the dismissal of the EMS government by the President on the advice of the Central government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. This brought to end the first communist government voted to power by the people in the world.

On June 13 morning, there will be special prayers and a holy mass at the church. There will be a symposium at the parish hall on the history of the Vimochana Samaram and the crisis in the education sector. Delegates from all Syro-Malabar dioceses across the State will attend the symposium. In the afternoon, a public meeting will be held at the church to mark the 50th anniversary of the Angamaly police firing. Speakers representing different organisations and affiliations will address the meeting.

A circular issued by the Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, which was read out in all churches in the archdiocese on Sunday, called upon the faithful to attend the meeting at Angamaly in order to turn it into a big success. The cardinal also urged the church members to pray for the martyrs.

The cardinal, in the lengthy circular, said that the church’s stand on the education sector would not be altered, no matter which party ruled the State. He urged the faithful to be always vigilant and alert lest the rights of the parents of students and the church should lose their rights. He noted that the recent Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, in which the Left was routed, was termed a ‘silent, second Vimochana Samaram.’

The cardinal claimed that the Vimochana Samaram was carried out for the protection of secular democracy. The struggle had been provoked by the communist party’s attempts to sabotage democracy and the Indian Constitution, he alleged. The cardinal said the education reforms planned to be carried out by the first EMS government were out of synch with God’s existence and India’s cultural moorings. The Bill, proposed by Education Minister Joseph Mundassery, aimed to eliminate private agencies from the education sector and deny the minority privileges in the education sector. The government would have absolute control over the education institutions had the Mundassery bill been passed.

The Major Archbishop also said that the recent education reforms attempted by the current LDF government contained elements denying the existence of God and thwarting moral values. He also pointed out that this was one of the reasons for the LDF rout in the elections.

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