The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), a powerful body that has immense authority in Kerala’s political scene and government policies, has extended its support to the Modi Government.
Baselios Mar Cleemis, KCBC president at a meeting on Tuesday said that the organisation will support all the people’s welfare programmes of the new Government.
The KCBC, which lead the campaign against the Madhav Gadgil committee report in addition to the Kasturirangan Committee report for the environmental protection of the Western Ghats, has been seen as the major factor in the defeat of the Congress candidate in Idukki in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The church bodies played a key role in the election of the Left Democratic Front candidate. The LDF had supported the church stand on the Gadgil and Kasturirangan recommendations.
Christians, who configure the largest group among the settlers in the High Range region, stand to lose economically if the recommendations are implemented.
Bishop Mathew Anikkuzhikkattil, the controversial bishop of Idukki who attended the KCBC meeting, told correspondents that the defeat of the Congress candidate was a conquest of the Catholic Church and the farmers. By this, the Congress should learn a lesson from the defeat, he said.