Commentary 24/10/02 Dialogue only way to peace in ‘God’s own country’

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Dialogue only way to peace in ‘God’s own country’

Confrontation between Christian and Muslim communities in India’s southern Kerala state has snowballed

A Catholic devotee kneels in prayer in front of a statue of Jesus during a Good Friday procession at a beach in Chowara, a village of fishermen in Kerala state, India, on April 2, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

By John Dayal

Published: October 02, 2024 11:25 AM GMT

Updated: October 02, 2024 11:27 AM GMT

With some prayer and a lot of negotiation, it is hoped that some 600 families of fishermen — 450 of them Christian, the rest Hindu — will not be dispossessed of their homes in the Munambam coastal area in the Kottapuram Latin Catholic diocese in Kerala.

Talks have been inconclusive, but they have begun with some sincerity between the residents and the leadership of the Muslims in the region who are claiming ownership over the land. They say the original owners had given it to the charitable trusts, or Waqfs, as the Islamic Shariya calls them.

The confrontation between the Christian and Muslim communities in this part of Kerala has snowballed, bringing in the leadership of the three rites of the Catholic Church, the highly politicized and, some say, radicalized Islamic clergy and their supporting organizations, and the Congress party leader Hibi Eden, who is the local parliamentarian.

For good measure, the Hindu right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has also joined in, fishing in the very charged waters to penetrate deeper into the Christian community, which helped it win its “historic” first seat of Thrissur in the state where governance has rotated only between the Congress party and the Marxist Communist party (CPM).

For the BJP, Waqf and the large properties they own across the country are a pivotal argument in mobilizing public support across the nation, in every town and hamlet where there is land under a mosque, Eidgah, madrasa, or even a graveyard, each seen as a symbol of foreign aggression over the centuries.

Therefore, reexamining the legality of Waqf boards, which manage these properties, has been a major, if often unspoken, promise in their election rhetoric. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government indeed brought a bill before parliament this summer to amend the Waqf board laws.

Though the federal government had the right to oversee the functioning of these boards and appoint administrators if thought fit, management was essentially left to the community, and often to the heirs of the person who founded an individual trust.

Many a time, the Waqf managements have been accused of corruption, or selling land under their control. Some of the biggest hotels in Delhi stand on Waqf land. Civil society also points to the homes of some of the wealthiest men in the world built on Waqf land in Mumbai.

The opposition and nationwide outrage in the Muslim community, which is at least 12.5 percent of India's 1.4 billion people, forced the Modi government to first send the bill to a joint committee of parliamentarians for deeper study, and for ascertaining the points of view of various stakeholders.

In previous years, many of the properties claimed by Waqf boards have been digitally documented, including their locations as registered by satellite data.

The Kerala villagers’ cry for justice has therefore been heaven-sent to question Waqf's control of many properties.

It also helps that the Catholic community and their bishops in the Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara sui juris rites have in recent years accused the Marxist government of favoring the Muslim community in everything from scholarships for students to jobs for the unemployed.

Muslims outnumber Christians in Kerala, though both are far less than the Hindu community.

But Kerala, billed as “God’s Own Country” by its tourist department has a hothouse impact on the faithful, as much as it has had on atheist Marxists. 

Kerala’s Marxist party and government are marching along, albeit with a marked limp, while their comrades in distant Tripura and West Bengal have all but withered away, no longer in power that they had held for decades on end.

The Muslim community in Kerala is economically better off than in the rest of India. The richest Malayalee is a Gulf-based Muslim. The millennials among them are also highly educated, and sharply radicalized.

The now-banned Popular Front of India enjoys great popularity among them, and its frontal organizations working among students, youth and women are active in northern states.

The Catholic religious leaders too are mostly Kerala-based, with the state hosting the headquarters, the Synods, of the powerful and well-endowed Syro Malabar Church and the smaller but no less influential Syro Malankara Catholic Church.

The Latin Church, which is part of the Catholic Church across India, has a strong presence among fishermen, boat owners and both coastal and agricultural and tea estates, rubber plantations, and paddy field worker communities in the state.

A Catholic spokesperson said the sensitive Waqf issue "will change the political landscape of Kerala” if both Congress and the Marxists refuse to find a solution soon. Many interpret this as implying that Christian support for the BJP in Thrissur in the Lok Sabha election may well expand to the entire state in the next elections to the state legislative assembly.

The local Congress parliamentarian, Eden, was accused of ignoring the case and supporting Muslims because he opposed the Waqf amendment.

Eden, in turn, told a gathering, which included priests, that when the BJP brings a similar bill for targeting Church properties, he and his party would be their only support.

The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and Syro-Malabar Public Affairs Commission had urged the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill to take immediate and decisive action to resolve the issue and ensure such claims on lawfully owned properties of Indian citizens are not repeated in the future.

After the letters were sent to the parliamentary commission, the Syro-Malabar Public Relations Office and the media commission launched a social media campaign #SaveMunambam.

It is obvious that the Catholic Church has decided to make this a major weapon in its ongoing battle with the ruling Marxist party and with its social and political competitor, the Muslim community, and its political organizations.

In the words of a Kerala journalist, “Muslims in Kerala are seen to be more radicalized, and Christians fear their fate will be that of Lebanese Christians in the next decade.”

That’s how radicalism works in the three religious communities in this state where jobs are few, agricultural land scant, and industries all but non-existent. Most families survive on the remittances sent by the several million workers toiling in the oil-rich countries of West Asia.

Another voice says, “There must be a solution other than helping Modi to denude Muslim religious capital.”

The experience of the Christian community, especially in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, leads many to fear that the BJP will next target Church properties. Ample notice has been given in the speeches of important leaders of the party and the Hindutva groups.

There is apprehension that the issue will also divert attention from the larger threats that the community faces in the rest of the country, from Manipur to Tamil Nadu and even coastal Kerala.

Latin Catholic voices are urging their bishops to articulate a more holistic and comprehensive position for the state’s Christian community, considering the issues that Christians face in the entire country.

Hope therefore depends on an amicable and fast solution to the crisis in the coastal village of Munambam. Political elements must not be allowed to fish in the waters of the Munambam stretch of the Arabian Sea.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.