Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has flayed a pastoral letter read in some churches of the Quilon diocese against the southern Indian state’s Left Democratic Front government.
The sanctity of the pastoral letters will be questioned by devotees, the chief minister said March 26. They (a section of church leadership) are attacking the government just like the opposition, he said. The allegations raised by them are not their own, Pinarayi said.
The Latin diocese on March 21 targeted the Kerala and the federal governments, claiming there was an “organized effort” to destroy the fishing sector and sell it to corporates.
State Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma accused the Church of speaking for the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front.
Kerala will go to polls on April 6 to elect its 140-member legislative assembly and the major contenders are LDF and UDF. The pastoral letter, targe-ting the LDF government, said “the controversial agreement with a foreign company, EMCC, was withdrawn following wide-spread opposition.”
The fishing community should also be aware of “Blue Economy” project, a move by the central government giving permission for mining for resources from the sea, it said.