Thiruvananthapuram: Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis, the archbishop of Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, has criticized the central government for the ethnic violence in Manipur. The archbishop also went to the extend saying that no one can wipe out Christianity from India.
Cardinal Cleemis was speaking at a protest led by Congress leader and MLA, Mathew Kuzhalnada, on Saturday. The MLA was protesting against the Prime Minister’s silence on Manipur.
Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis, who is also heading the Kerala Catholic Bishop Council (KCBC), had met the Prime Minister in April during the latter’s visit to Kerala. The meeting was part of BJP’s outreach campaign ‘Sneha Yatra’ and took place at Hotel Taj Malabar.
Though, the Manipur violence is a clash between ethnic groups Meiteis and Kukis, the narrative that has been spread in other states, especially in Kerala, is that it is a religious conflict.
The recent violence in the north eastern state broke out after the High Court asked the government to look into the demand of the Meitei people to include them in the Scheduled Tribes. This was not taken lightly by Kukis who led a protest opposing to the demand of the Meiteis on May 3. This triggered the conflict that has claimed the lives of more than a hundred people.
Meiteis who are the majority in Manipur occupy only 10% of the land mass of the state. As they are not part of the Scheduled Tribes, the Meitei cannot buy land in the hilly region of the state, which occupies 90% of Manipur, where ethnic groups like Kukis are living. As Kukis are included in the Scheduled Tribe list, they can settle in the hilly regions and also buy property in the valley region.
It is reported that there is widespread poppy cultivation and drug smuggling in the hilly regions and illegal migrants enter through the border areas with Myanmar. Recently, the Manipur CM had said that the conflict was primarily between government forces and illegal migrants from Myanmar.
When the roots of the conflict are mainly social, economic and ethnical, a false narrative has been spread to turn the violence into religious lines.
In Kerala, the recent outreach of the BJP and the Prime Minister’s initiatives towards the Christian minority communities had sent alarm bells in both the UDF and LDF camps. Both Congress-led UDF and CPI(M)-led LDF leaders began criticizing BJP and Church leaders for initiating dialogues with each other.
The Manipur ethnic conflict was the perfect ruse for those with vested interests to create fear among Christians living in Kerala. Social media was widely used to spread the message that Manipur violence is between Hindus and Christians and that the Christians are being persecuted in that State.
However, there were no discussions about the root cause of the issue and the ethnic and social dimensions that led to the conflict.
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