Thiruvananthapuram: The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, said that the government is committed to solving the fighting between the two factions of Malankara Church only through consensus.
The Chief Minister said that the Supreme Court has specifically said that there should not be any untoward incident while the verdict, which is favourable to the Orthodox faction, is implemented. He said that the government would not allow any clashes that might lead to the locking up of the church.
He added that the government is trying to build a consensus between the two factions so that both can follow the holy path of their beliefs.
The Orthodox faction had raised strong condemnation of the government for its failure not to implement the Supreme Court verdict. The head of the Indian Orthodox Church, Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, said that the government had gone back on its promises to the church which it made before the elections and said that the communist government had taken a U-turn in the issue of Piravom Church.
Pinarayi Vijayan was speaking in reply to the submission of Anthony John MLA asking the government to solve the issue as soon as possible.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Kerala government for not implementing their verdict which was favourable to the Orthodox faction. The court even told that the Chief Secretary will be put behind bars if the government tries to delay the court’s order.
The Orthodox and Jacobite factions in the Malankara Church have been fighting for control of church properties and buildings for the last several decades. The main contention between these two factions lies in the authority of the Patriarch of Antioch on the Malankara Church in Kerala. While the Orthodox faction does not accept the authority of the foreign patriarch, the Jacobite faction views him as the supreme temporal authority of the Malankara Church.
