Fr. Paul Thelakat is the former spokesperson of the Syro-Malabar Church and former chief editor of Christian journals ‘Sathyadeepam’ and Light of Truth. In an interview with The Hindu, the respected public figure and writer discussed issues ranging from the nature of the relationship between Christian and Muslim communities in Kerala, the question of ‘Love Jihad’, the CAA and the critical nature of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Edited excerpts...
In view of a section of the Syro Malabar Church screening the propaganda film The Kerala Story with the aim of drumming up communal sentiments, some Christian scholars and public intellectuals including you have condemned the move, calling it an attempt to fan the flames of hatred and bigotry. Love jihad, some church leaders say, does exist although it’s been proven in courts that it doesn’t. Why is this section of the church going wrong? Is it happening knowingly?
The screening of the film The Kerala Story in Idukki diocese is an unfortunate event. Some in the church have succumbed to the propaganda against another section of the Indian community. Moreover, there is the absence of a moral power within the church which is a stopper of debates in the church. These Catholics simply forget what happened in Kandhamal and in Manipur. Those were not sporadic communal troubles but communal carnage orchestrated by vested interests with full support of the party in power. These Christians do not understand what is happening in the northern States, especially in the Hindi belt, to the Christian priests and nuns and their institutions. These things remind of the things that happened in Germany during the Nazi regime. There were 60,000 Lutheran Pastors in Germany of whom 60% supported the Nazis. Many church leaders thought of Hitler as the Messiah.
Do you think the efforts by some extreme right-wing elements to drive a wedge between the Christian and Muslim communities in Kerala are working?
Among the 5-Ms that the World Hindu Congress listed out in 2014 as their enemies are Muslims and Missionaries. But in Kerala they know they cannot win an election without the support of one or the other of these minorities. That is the reason they woo the Christian church leaders in Kerala. We have seen some of the church leaders fell only to serve their own interests. There are many ways to pressurise the leaders to capitulate. I have tremendous faith in the common sense of the Christian laity and in their humanism, which has no colour or caste prejudice and which, as George Steiner says, was defined by three Jews, namely Moses, Jesus and Marx.
Like many people say, do you think this is a critical election for the country?
This election is the Indian democracy’s ‘to be or not to be’ moment. Democracy in India is facing a serious threat, if BJP gets a majority, the future of India will be very bleak, a future where every section of people is considered equals will be a myth and the minorities will face issues similar to what is happening in Manipur. This is not wild thinking. These are things what they have clearly indicated in their speeches and writings, They are a part of the Hindutva ideology. They are slowly and steadily moving towards their goal of Hindu Rashtra.
Do you believe that the anti-CAA protests across the State are overhyped and that all minorities will be safe at least in Kerala?
The CAA is a clear indication that citizenship will be a matter of political decision for every citizen. There will be citizens, second-class citizens and those without citizenship. Some among the minorities may get thrown out of the country. But I hope there will be international pressure against it. We are living in a world where countries like China and Russia don’t respect human rights much and elections are simply farcical. There is a fundamentalist craze which considers the other as enemy is creeping into our younger generation. This thoughtless madness eats away the dharma of India. Athithi is no more the divine but the alien to be discarded. I love Hinduism as a religion, but it has been transformed into a fascist ideology.
Is it a good practice that religious institutions are making political statements and are allowing themselves to be used for pushing propaganda?
I do not want any religious leader to enter into partisan politics. But political morality and human rights are also matters of religion. It is a pity that some Christians join in hate propaganda. It is part of fascist politics to fabricate lies to achieve political gains. If you can sell soaps with lies, why not tilt opinions with lies? I am an Indian who believes in the Hindu dictum “Athidhi devo Bhava” – the guest without any qualification is the divine guest. Ethics is hospitality. I was reading Dr. S. Radhkrishnan’s “Eastern Religions and Western Thought” which he winds up as follows: “We are not prepared to pay the price for peace, the renunciation of empires, the abandonment of the policy economic nationalism, the rearrangement of the world on the basis of racial equality and freedom and devotion to the world community. It is obvious common sense, but for it to dawn on the general mind, a mental and moral revolution is necessary.”
In your autobiographical book, Kathavasesham, you speak about listening to your inner self and castigate the church for trying to protect church leaders like Bishop Franco when they come under a cloud. Do you have reason to believe that church as an institution of high morality has lost it completely?
My autobiography is a hermeneutic of my interiority, a reading of my own self. I can never understand my interiority without the ‘other’ in me. I am bound to say with poet Arthur Rimbaud, “Je sui l’autre”- I am the other. I am indebted to Saint Augustine’s Confession for this insight. He wrote in the form of prayer, “Lord, you were within me, I was outside” ... “You were with me, I was not with you.” Man’s spirituality and ethics are written in the interiority. It is the interiority that makes you responsible for the other. I am an ardent reader of post-Nazi period Jewish ethical thinker E. Levinas, who said “I am the Messiah,” By becoming responsible for the other’s redemption, I redeem myself.
I was critical of my Church leaders only for the reason that they were not acting as an ethical voice in the society and are counter witnessing. I hope this is a passing phenomenon.
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