Kottayam: The Orthodox faction in the ongoing Church feud in the Malankara Church has turned against the communist government in the State. The Supreme Court had given a favourable verdict to the Orthodox faction in July, 2017. However, the government has failed to execute it in support of the Jacobite faction.
This is what has infuriated the Orthodox faction. The Church Secretary, Biju Oommen, said that the government is showing double standards when it comes to executing the Supreme Court verdict. He was referring to the government’s hurry in executing Sabarimala verdict while going slow on the Church issue.
Biju Oommen said that the government was not showing the same enthusiasm that it showed to execute Sabarimala verdict by the Supreme Court. He reminded that the Chief Minister is repeatedly saying that the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala to allow women entry will be executed. He asked then why the Chief Minister is not so enthusiastic to execute the verdict favourable to the Orthodox faction.
The leadership of the Orthodox faction has also blamed the government that it was not executing the verdict for certain political gains.
Meanwhile, the Orthodox faction has approached the Supreme Court against the government for contempt of court. Even after the verdict has been given, the Chief Secretary is still asking for proof, which is nothing but contempt of court says the Orthodox faction.
The Chief Secretary is giving no value to the Supreme Court verdict and thus the faction decided to file a contempt of court.
As the by-election of the Pala constituency is nearing, this public statement of the Orthodox faction will affect the prospects of the CPI(M) led Left Democratic Front.
It must be noted that the communist government was adamant in trying to take women in the holy shrine of Sabarimala even after massive protests from the Hindu community. The party kept saying repeatedly that they had no choice but to execute the Supreme Court verdict. This had hurt the sentiments of millions of Hindus in Kerala and also across the world who are devotees of Lord Ayyappa.
However, the communist party is in no hurry to execute the Supreme Court verdict in the Church feud, even after one year of the order.