The November edition of Catholicasabha, the mouthpiece of the Thrissur Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, has come down heavily on the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) government at the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and BJP’s likely Lok Sabha candidate in Thrissur, Suresh Gopi, for their “apathy” in handling the Manipur riots.
In a front-page article headlined ‘Will not forget Manipur’, the archdiocese, which is an influential religious body in central Kerala, said the people who believe in democracy can understand the meaning of the Prime Minister’s silence on the Manipur issue.
“As the Lok Sabha elections are nearing, there is an effort to hide the Manipur issue. The political party, which aspires to come to power at the Centre once again, is taking efforts for this,” begins the article.
Front page of the November, 2023 edition of Catholicasabha. | Photo Credit: K.K. NAJEEB
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who runs to other parts of the county when some disasters happen, ignored Manipur riots totally. He did not even utter a word for maintaining peace there. The Prime Minister, who intervened multiple times when a temple was attacked in Australia, continued his silence even when 300-odd Christian churches were burnt in 48 hours in Manipur. The Opposition had to bring out a no-confidence motion to break his silence. Even there, he tried to simplify the issue,” the article said.
A BJP leader who wants to ‘take’ Thrissur recently said that “the people here do not have to worry about Uttar Pradesh and Manipur as there are ‘men’ to handle issues there,” it said.
Mocking the statement of Suresh Gopi, the Catholicasabha article asked him when Manipur was burning, what were those ‘men’ doing there?” People are asking whether Mr. Gopi has the courage to ask the Prime Minister this question. They are also asking “Will you make Kerala another Manipur if you get power here?”, the article said.
The archdiocese also asked “why Mr. Gopi is planning to contest from Thrissur. Are there no ‘eligible men’ for the BJP in Thrissur.”
“The government’s apathy in Manipur was licence for rioters. People in a democratic India cannot forget it that easily. We cannot think that it was an ‘intelligence failure.’ We cannot also think that the rulers were not equipped to control the riot. But the BJP Government at the Centre and the State did not want to curtail the violence,” it said.
The fact that the BJP Government totally failed to control “genocide” in Manipur is a blot on the democratic country. When rulers use their power to protect the interests of their party and religion, issues such as in Manipur will repeat, the article added.
The archdiocese also called upon the people to keep vigil against “vote-bank politics” by ignoring Manipur.
Catholicasabha also carried an editorial on Manipur riots in the same edition.
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