Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 3 (IANS) The state unit of the Congress party has condemned the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for using a Jesus Christ portrait at an exhibition here as part of its state conference.
‘We condemn this act of the CPI-M. It is like what Satan did to experiment with Jesus Christ in the desert. This is a blot on the faithful,’ state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala told reporters after a meeting of the party office bearers here Friday.
He was reacting to a painting of Jesus Christ being placed along with that of Communist leaders like Karl Marx, Lenin and Che Guevera at an exhibition titled ‘Marx is correct’, which delves into the history of struggles for social and political emancipation over the centuries.
‘A political party should not have done this. It is not at all correct to use god like this, while there is nothing wrong in putting up pictures of social reformers like Vivekanda and Sree Narayana Guru,’ said Chennithala.
Last month, CPI-M state committee member M.V. Jayarajan at a meeting said that ‘Christian religion is Communism and the leader of Christians, Jesus Christ, is like their party general secretary Prakash Karat.’
When reporters asked why the Congress is upset over the picture, Chennithala said: ‘Who knows, the time is not far when the CPI-M might even put a picture of Indira Gandhi.’
The CPI-M, however, said there is nothing wrong in putting the Christ picture because the objective behind the exhibition was to look at human history in totality.
Christians constitute close to 23 percent of the state population, which stands around 33 million.
Spokesperson of the Synod of Catholic Bishops Paul Thelekkat told IANS what the Marxist party has done is symbolic of what is happening in the party.
‘It appears their icons of history, namely Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others, can no longer be exhibited as models to the public of India. They are borrowing models acceptable to the general public in India. In that, they are going back to their own ancient roots. Marxism rose from the Judeo-Christian heritage,’ said the senior Catholic priest.
‘The Marxian practise of the class struggle and materialism denying any religious and spiritual dimension have made a suicidal end to communism. They may be returning to Christ and trying to remodel their ideology. Then, it is welcome thing. We need a social system which is more humane than market capitalism,’ said the priest.
Thelekkat added that maybe this can be a tactical action in line with the Marxists’ principle ‘end justifies means’ and fool the people with Christ.
‘Then, it is betrayal of Christ. Then they are making Christ a Marxist which is like the Maoists making Gandhi their icon – a contradiction and foolery. Christ is not a private property of any church, but those who use the name must also be honest and truthful to his message to pray and to love,’ added Thelekkat.
