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Christian meet in Kerala commences without incident

D Jose in Pathanamthitta

The Maramon convention, billed as Asia's biggest largest spiritual gathering, got off to a peaceful start on the sand-bed of Pampa river at Kozhencherry, with the Church diplomatically keeping off the controversy sought to be created by two acrimonious forces -- the Sangh Parivar and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.

More than 100,000 people attended the inaugural session held on Sunday amidst tight police security. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which had sounded a warning against foreigners coming on tourist visas speaking at the convention, and the CPI-M youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India, which recruited a 1200-strong secular army to counter the VHP threat, changed tracks in the absence of support from the public.

The VHP, which had threatened to adopt legal and other measures, met the Church authorities and extended full cooperation for the smooth conduct of the convention, being held for more than a century now. They said the organisation had no plan to disrupt the seven-day convention, attended by more than a million people.

The DYFI confined their army to the "barracks" after the district collector urged them not to create any scene at a peace committee meeting he convened on the eve of the convention. They assured the district authorities that the army would not be deployed near the convention centre but warned that they will be kept battle-ready to face any eventuality.

VHP organising secretary Kummanam Rajashekharan told Rediff On The Net that the whole controversy was created by the CPI-M by distorting the Hindu Eikya Vedi statement questioning the practice of foreign evangelists addressing the convention after coming to the country on tourist visas. 'We had sought legal action on this, as it was a violation of Indian visa rules which forbid foreigners on tourist visas engaging in evangelistic activities." He said the CPI-M had forgotten the fact that the convention was being held peacefully for the past 103 years with the cooperation of Hindus in the area. "The Hindus have been cooperating with the church even before the Communist party was born in India."

The church leaders kept both the forces at bay by adopting a diplomatic approach. They rejected the DYFI's 'protection', saying that they had full faith in the VHP that it will not disrupt the convention.

Political circles at Pathanamthitta see the controversy as part of a clever strategy by both the forces to reap political mileage. While the VHP is trying to consolidate the Hindu votes, the CPI-M has its eyes on the Christian votes, which is decisive in the Mavelikkara Lok Sabha constituency.

The CPI-M had made a strong attempt to wrest the seat from the Congress-I in the 1996 election. The party took the seat from its Janata Dal ally and put up an internationally known Church leader as its candidate who lost the seat to P J Kurien by a few thousand votes.

The CPI-M, which is assured of the support of the Nair Service Society holding sway over the Hindu votes, has been desperately trying to wean away the Christians. The secular army was formed to protect the convention with the ulterior motive of gaining the Christian support.

The church leaders saw through the game and rejected the protection offered by the DYFI. The church had reasons to doubt the sincerity of the CPI-M, as the government it heads had failed to book those responsible for demolishing the sub-surface dam constructed across the river for protecting the convention centre from erosion. The police have not filed the chargesheets in the case even after investigations lasting 10 months.

Echoes of the raging debate over conversions were heard at the convention, which in the past one century has paved the way for several religious and social reforms in Kerala.

The convention began on Sunday with the spiritual leader of the Mar Thoma church appealing to the Christians to shun forcible conversion. Dr Alexandar of Mar Thoma Metropolitan, the supreme head of the church who inaugurated the convention, asked the Christians to conduct a soul-search as to whether they were involved in wrong practices. He said there were complaints from various quarters that Christians were misusing constitutionally guaranteed rights. No Christians should indulge in forcible conversion or adopt any wrong methods for the purpose, he said and added at the same time they should not desist from their social and spiritual responsibilities out of fear.

He asked Christians to follow the path shown by Jesus Christ to counter the attack on them in many states in the country. "Let patience and tolerance be your weapons against these forces", he added.

The government had stepped up security in the area to avert any showdown between the Sangh Parivar and the Communists. Three additional companies of police force were deployed outside the convention nagar to take care of the security.

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