Church’s call to rally against intolerance to have political ramifications in State

Archbishop of Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Trivandrum urges devotees to observe performative acts of prayer and fasting on March 22 as a benign form of protest and social action against the rising tide of religious bigotry; attacks on Christians jumped f

The Latin Catholic Church’s call for action to create social awareness against increasing attacks on Christians and growing religious intolerance for minorities arguably held attendant electoral ramifications for the duelling political fronts in the hectic runup to Lok Sabha polls in Kerala, especially in the coastal districts.

On Sunday, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Trivandrum Thomas J. Netto urged the laity to observe performative acts of prayer and fasting on March 22 as a benign form of protest and social action against the rising tide of religious bigotry and worsening prejudice against minorities.

The Church’s message is arguably a nod to the political narrative that the ascendancy of the Hindu farright outfits posed an existential threat to the values of democracy, diversity and secularism.

The Archbishop noted that the attacks on Christians had jumped from 147 in 2014 to 687 in 2023.

According to the 2011 census, Latin Catholics constituted 13% of Kerala’s Christians (18% of the total population). They remained a crucial electoral bloc that could sway the prospects of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the

United Democratic Front (UDF), and the BJPled National Democratic Alliance (NDA), especially in Thiruvananthapuram.

The BJP and the Congress have fielded two political heavyweights, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Shashi Tharoor, MP, respectively, in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has fielded party veteran Pannian Raveendran, who represented the Parliamentary constituency from 20122015.

The Latin Catholic community has rarely behaved as a homogenous voting bloc, given the level of political fractionalisation, chiefly between the UDF and the LDF.

Voting pattern

However, the ruling front and the Opposition anticipate that the Church’s increasingly vocal concern about the rising threat of farright majoritarianism in the State might galvanise the minority community into adopting a more uniform voting pattern in the upcoming elections.

Nevertheless, the jury is out on whether the UDF or the LDF would benefit more from a probable consolidation of the Latin Catholic vote, which the Church has now brought into active electoral play because of its plainspoken and visceral worry about the Sangh Parivar’s ascendancy.

Last week, the government sought to erase a sore point between the ruling front and the Church by withdrawing cases registered against fishers and the clergy for spearheading the antiVizhinjam port riots in 2022.

Latin Catholics form 13% of Kerala’s Christians. They remain crucial electorate in district