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CPI-M to 'protect' spiritual convention

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Tension is growing in Maramon, the venue of Asia's biggest spiritual convention after the Democratic Youth Federation of India, the youth wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, decided to take on Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists who are trying to disrupt the century-old convention.

The organisers of the event in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala are apparently tense and the DYFI is planning to deploy a 1,000-member secular army to protect the convention from a VHP attack. The VHP had warned foreign evangelists against conducting religious discourses in violation of Indian visa rules.

The DYFI plans to post trained volunteers on either bank of the Pampa River at Maramon on all the days of convention, to be held between February 14 and February 21. DYFI state secretary M V Jayarajan said the organisation is taking no chances after VHP organising secretary Kummanam Rajashekharan warned off foreign evangelists. He said the DYFI was executing its social obligation to protect the constitutional rights of the minorities and that it was quite willing to use force if necessary.

He said Kummanam Rajashekharan's statement that they would obstruct the convention was part of the Sangh Parivar's efforts to disturb communal harmony in the state. The DYFI said that, prior to the convention, a rally would be organised that would culminate in a public meeting at Kozhencherry. CPI-M politburo member V S Achutanandan is to inaugurate the meeting.

DYFI all-India president N N Krishnadas, state president C N Mohandas and secretary M V Jayarajan will also address the meeting. He said that the party volunteers would protect the convention without actually entering the premises.

Meanwhile, Kummanam Rajashekharan said no Hindu organisation had ever stated it would obstruct the Maramon convention. He accused the CPI-M of misinterpreting his statement about legal action being taken against foreigners speaking at the convention on tourist visas. He alleged the CPI-M was trying to create a communal wedge between the Hindus and Christians in the state.

Rajashekharan said the Hindu Eikyavedi had only urged the authorities not to allow any foreigner visiting country on tourist visa to deliver religious discourses since the country's visa manual forbids this. There was no need for the CPI-M to be agitated over the demand that foreigners visiting India should obey the law of the land, he said, adding that the CPI-M was trying to take political mileage by creating a communal divide.

A member of the organising committee told Rediff on the Net that no protection has been sought and the presence of armed DYFI volunteers could have a negative effect on the convention.

He said that neither the VHP nor the DYFI activists would be allowed onto the sandy part of the river where the convention is to be held. "Our volunteers will take care of any eventuality," he said.

Convention organising secretary Fr P P Abraham said the controversy was avoidable since the foreigners invited had reputations to protect and were unlikely to flout of the laws of the land. He refused to comment on moves by the VHP and the DYFI, saying he had no official information about their intentions.

Congress leader and member of Parliament P C Chacko said there was no need to politicise the issue and that the CPI-M was trying to exploit the situation, trying to make itself look like a protector of the minorities.

He said that that if the CPI-M had really been concerned, it should have got the police to take action against those responsible for demolishing the sub-surface dam in the river. That, he said, would have better served to protect the convention. But the police have not even filed a chargesheet against the accused, Chacko said. He also felt the recent attack on two pastors at Kumbazha in Pathanamthitta district could have been averted had action been taken against those behind the attacks on churches.

He said that the proposed DYFI march to protect the Maramon convention would make the situation worse.

The convention is organised every year by the Mar Thomas Evangelistic Association ever since a revival movement got going in the Malankara church about 165 years ago. Several speakers from India and abroad address the gathering.

CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, while defending the DYFI move, said his party would resist any threat by the Sangh Parivar to stop the Maramon convention. According to him, the image of Kerala as a secular stage would be tarnished if the convention was disrupted.

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