CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury had said in Vijayawada after the party's extended Central Committee meeting that his party wanted the Church "not to take its position in politics".
The long-drawn conflict between the CPI(M) and the Catholic establishment in Kerala has sharpened with the Church resenting the reservations expressed by Marxist leaders over the "intervention of Bishops" in state's politics.
Rejecting the CPI-M's charge that sections in the Church hierarchy are indulging in propaganda against the party by issuing politically-loaded pastoral letters, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) has said the Church would not renounce its "rights and responsibilities to uphold certain values even if it required intervening in politics."
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury had said in Vijayawada after the party's extended Central Committee meeting that his party wanted the Church "not to take its position in politics".
According to KCBC sources, the Church's assertion of political responsibility did not mean that it was going to meddle in mundane politics for or against any particular party or coalition. On the other hand, it was part of the mission to safeguard genuine Christian concerns, they said.
The CPI-M's official organ "Deshbabhimani", however, saw the KCBC's reaction to the Party's views on the issue as a clear evidence of its political bias (against the Left).
"More than challenging the Communists, the KCBC's position amounted to openly contradicting the Church's stand as enunciated in the documents approved after the Second Vatican Council held under the leadership of Pope John," Deshabhimani said in a strongly-worded editorial today.
The Vatican Council had come out against discriminating human beings based on the questions of "belief and no-belief" since the Gospel of Jesus Christ was meant for all, the party daily said.
The CPI-M paper also criticised the Kerala Bishops' practice of issuing pastoral letters frequently saying it also went against norms laid down by the Vatican Council on the matter.
The Catholic Church in Kerala has often accused the CPIM-led LDF Government in Kerala of pursuing its "hidden agenda" through its policies, especially those pertaining to education sector, with a view to loading young minds with atheistic philosophies.
Recently, KCBC issued a circular asking the faithful to use their votes for civic polls judiciously to ensure that the concerns of the believers were safeguarded.
The CPI-M dubbed this an open intervention by Bishops in day-to-day politics against the Left
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