Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] of attempting to prevent the Union government’s measures to provide asylum for persecuted Christians living in India’s neighbouring countries.
Muraleedharan, who on Saturday filed his nomination to contest in the Lok Sabha elections from the Attingal constituency, sought the Church leadership’s stance on the CPI(M) approaching the Supreme Court against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), “which is also meant to grant citizenship to believers who took asylum in India after being persecuted in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh”.
The Minister’s comments came in the wake of Church leaders slamming the attacks on Christian communities in Manipur and North India. The Latin Catholic Church in Kerala have called for a united stand against divisive forces that seek to terrorise citizens in the name of religion and race. Archbishop Thomas J. Netto of the Latin Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram had underscored the need to fight and defeat narrow-minded approaches expressed through legislations such as the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Muraleedharan said that the CPI(M)‘s stand is not for the inclusion of any particular community, but that no one, including Christians, should be provided citizenship. The church leadership should make it clear whether they agreed with this stand, he said.
He said that the upcoming elections will be a verdict on the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government’s performance. The government paid ₹2 crore to senior advocate Kapil Sibal to plead its case against the Central government over alleged withholding of funds that the State had demanded. “The money being borrowed is being spent only for running a political campaign against Narendra Modi. The State government will spend crores for its case against withholding Presidential assent to Bills passed by the Legislature. Even when it is unable to pay welfare pensions, the government is spending crores of taxpayer money in hiring lawyers,” he said.
