HVK Archives: Nayanar's pilgrimage to Rome irks BJP
Nayanar's pilgrimage to Rome irks BJP - The Pioneer
Shubhadeep Choudhury
()
22 June 1997
Title: Nayanar's pilgrimage to Rome irks BJP
Sub-Title : Meeting with Pope aimed at cornering Christian votes
Author: Shubhadeep Choudhury
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 22, 1997
Straying from Karl Marx's diktat that they should stay away from the "opium
of the masses", some of his comrades seem to have drifted into religion for
electoral convenience. The CPI(M) politburo member and Kerala Chief
Minister E K Nayanar is a case in point.
The Chief Minister, along with his Cabinet colleague Pinayari Vijayan and
other members of the entourage are currently in Vatican City and have paid
a visit to the Pope.
The setting was far from "Red' and more like a meeting between two
religious men. Mr Nayanar gave the Pope an English translation of the
Bhagvad Gita, while the latter presented him a rosary during their meeting
which lasted six minutes.
Whether Mr Nayanar donates the rosary to the local museum, as he did with
the mementos he received (like the exquisite hammer and sickle from
Czechoslovakia and the miniature communist Manifesto from Berlin) is yet to
be seen. But once back, the jovial Chief Minister will have to answer a
few uncomfortable questions which the political adversaries of the CPI (M)
are planning is greet him with.
"He must explain whether he believes in Hindu religion and culture. He
ought to explain it to the people of Keral," State president of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sreedharan Master said, unable to hide his
amusement at the "drama" enacted by the Chief Minister.
He said, "Mind you, his pilgrimage to Rome has no other reason, not even
superficial, it is purely to see the Pope. The meeting has not been
organised by the Indian Embassy, it is the local Bishop who was
instrumental in getting the Pope's sanction". The BJP State president said,
"Though we are not condemning the meeting, what I am saying is that Mr
Nayanar and his party should no more sneer at the Hindu monks."
Mr Master said the CPI (M) had issued instructions to local committees to
see to it that the cadres were not members of any temple religious
committee and communal or caste organisations. "After doing all this, the
meeting with the Pope is funny", Mr Master said, adding that presenting the
Bhagvad Gita to the Pope was an attempt to keep the Hindu Keralites at home
in good humour.
Apart from meeting Pope John Paul II, Mr Nayanar also addressed Catholic
missionaries from Kerala in Rome in the course of which he made a cautious
mention of the spread of the liberation theology in Latin America. He
emphasised that the existing gap between the Communists and the Church in
Kerala was giving way to a new-found camaraderie.
Indeed, wooing the Christian voters of Kerala, who form a bulk of the
population and have, so far, been inclined to the, Congress, is what Mr
Nayanar visit is all about. The CPI (M)'s attempts to woo them was also
demonstrated in its decision to field Independent "Catholic" candidates
from Ernakulum.
But then, presenting the Pope a copy of the Bhagvad Gita was certainly a
political masterstroke, as it would balance the feelings of the Hindus at
home, as pointed out by the BJP's State president.
What Mr Nayanar's plan for the Muslims is during his present tour is not
known. What is known though is that he has a stopover at Dubai.
Wooing the Christians was certainly the motive of his Rome trip on his way
back from North America via Paris, and the dose of Bhagvad Gita was
administered to do the balancing act back home.
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