About communist leaders and some Catholic bishops

Newspapers seldom lend ear to philosophical dilemmas. But when it was the soul of a late comrade that was at stake, it was front page stuff.

When Catholic bishops and communist leaders were engaged in a bitter war last week, the momentum was set by the media. Every silent bishop was hounded for a quote as their militant counterparts exhorted the believers to come out of the Marxist fold.

The latest rift in Christian-communist relations started when CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan accused Thamarassery bishop Paul Chittilappilly of lying.

The bishop had earlier said at a public meeting near Kozhikode that the late legislator Mathai Chacko had received the last sacrament in his deathbed at a hospital in Kochi last year.

Vijayan, at a memorial to the late comrade, said the bishop was out of his senses.

Thus started the great week-long debate: Was Chacko a believer or an atheist?

His wife, relatives and comrades insisted that Chacko was a confirmed materialist, but the priests wouldn’t let go of his soul.

The priest who claimed to have given the dying man the sacrament, the priest who claimed to have solemnised his wedding and the leaders of the laity were instant celebrities, thanks to the media frenzy.

Meanwhile, Chacko’s wife and brother refuted the Church’s claim.

The priest said Chacko was unconscious at the time of his visit. The bishop said he never said that Chacko received the sacrament consciously.

But television channels fished out old footage of the bishop’s speech, where he said Chacko was grateful to the gesture. The bishop proved he was not yet ready for political games in the time of electronic media.

More drama followed when a parish priest in Kochi publicised the church’s wedding register where Chacko and his wife had signed.

The day Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi reproduced the signed register, television channels, led by CPI(M)-owned Kairali TV, looked the other way.

They proved that the signature was fake by collecting Chacko’s sign in the election register and other records.

By the time the bishops, comrades and reporters got bored of the controversy, it was October 15, the latest deadline set by chief minister VS Achuthanandan to repair the pathetic roads in the state.

Every paper, except perhaps CPI(M)’s Deshabhimani and CPI’s Janayugam, was at the government’s throat. Features on potholes reappeared.

As the CM sought another fortnight, it was raining cats and dogs in Kerala.
—Don Sebastian