In BJP’s outreach to Kerala Christians, what do religious leaders stand to gain?
Despite the party’s poor disposition towards minorities, some clergymen in the state have been hobnobbing with its politicians.
First they came for Christmas.
In December 2014, a little over six months after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance won the national elections, the new prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced that December 25 – the birthday of former prime minister and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee – would henceforth be observed as Good Governance Day. A working day, Good Governance Day has been officially commemorated every year since then.
In December 2023, the prime minister hosted a Christmas party on Good Governance Day. Around 100 Christian guests were reported to have joined the celebration, including bishops and other leaders of various church denominations in India, a representative of the Vatican embassy in Delhi, business leaders, a sportsperson, an actor and the principal of a well-known college in the capital.
Within a few days, over 3,000 Christians from across the country, including Members of Parliament and retired police officers and civil servants, released a statement dissociating themselves from the Christian leaders who participated in the event. They made it clear that they did not represent Indian Christians as a whole, let alone have their mandate.
The statement highlighted the situation in Manipur from May onwards, with a large number of churches destroyed and members of the community attacked, as well as...
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