Even amidst reports that a high-level delegation from the Syrian Jacobite Church returned from New Delhi on Saturday evening without being able to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, sources in the church said their mission that was primarily aimed at debunking the misconception that the church is a foreign one, was successful.
The Secretary of the Syrian Jacobite Church Peter K. Elias said that people inimical to the church had fanned this misconception about the church being a foreign one.
Away from politics
As a religious denomination, the church clearly preferred to steer clear of politics, he said. Since January, thanks to Mizoram Governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, the church was able to convey to Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders the fact that the Jacobite church was very much interlinked with Hindu/local traditions for the past about 2,000 years.
Propaganda
Propaganda to the contrary was aimed at driving a wedge between us and the BJP-led NDA at the Centre.
“Our aim was to apprise stakeholders at the Centre of this,” he said.
The church also shed light on the nature of documents that were produced by the Orthodox faction before courts, including the Supreme Court, to wrest control of churches where members of the Jacobite faction were in vast majority, Mr Elias said.
Yet to take a stand
He also added that the church is yet to take a stand on which front to support in the impending Assembly poll.
The church’s spokesman had said a week ago, quoting the church’s Synod decision, that it would extend help to whichever political formation that reaches out to help it out of the crisis it is encountering.
This was in view of the rival Orthodox Syrian Church citing a court order and demanding control of churches where members of the Jacobite faction were in majority.
