by A. J. PHILIP
I was saddened by a report that appeared in the Malayala Manorama on Monday last about your statement on Professor P.J. Kurien at the Maramon Convention. You described him and Mr Thomas Chandy, MLA, as “proud sons of the church”. It amounted to giving a clean chit to the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, who is allegedly involved in the Suryanelli gang rape case.
Let me hasten to add, while I have reason to believe that Kurien is involved in the case, based on the evidence available in the public domain, I would love to be proved wrong. In fact, I would be the happiest if Kurien is found to be innocent after the due process of law. You may ask why. Before that, let me share with you my thoughts about the Maramon Convention, considered the mother of all conventions.
Millions of people go to Maramon on the banks of the Pampa every year to hear the word of God, not to hear bishops giving clean chits to people involved in controversies. The last time I attended the convention a few years ago, I was shocked to find you rising up from your seat, rushing to the podium and announcing on the public address system a special welcome every time a politician arrived. I regret to say that you did it so many times that I lost count.
As head of the church, it is your responsibility to welcome all to the convention but that does not mean that you should overdo it to please politicians and thereby become a caricature. I wish someone had told you that most politicians turn up at the convention pandal, not to hear the sermons but to cultivate their vote banks among the Marthomites. An omnibus welcome would have been sufficient.
You described Kurien as a “proud son” of the church. Is it because he holds a position of power? But what about that girl, a victim of circumstances, who has been insisting for the last 17 years that he abused her? Is she not a “proud daughter” of the church? Here I use the term “church”, not to mean the Mar Thoma Church but “ecclesia” or called out people.
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