A Kerala archbishop who said rubber planters and their families will ensure an MP for BJP from the state if the Centre fixes a minimum price of Rs.300/kg for their produce has courted controversy.
Thalassery archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany’s call to the BJP government at the Centre to raise the price of rubber would not have created a stir in religious and political circles of Kerala if he had not tied the price issue with the election of a member of parliament.
“Let’s tell the central government, whichever may be their party, we will vote for you and will make you win. If you procure rubber from farmers after fixing the minimum price of Rs.300, then we the settler community will end your regrets about not having a single MP from the state,” Pamplany told a farmers’ rally organized by the Catholic Congress at Alakode on March 18.
The reason why successive governments have failed in responding to the rights of farmers is because the rubber cultivators were late in realising it, he said.
In an interaction with the media later, the bishop said his statements should not be misinterpreted as being in favor of an alliance between the Catholic Church and the BJP. There are around 15 lakh (1.5 million) families of rubber farmers in the state and they are only getting Rs.120 per kilo of rubber while the production cost itself is Rs.220, he reasoned.
However, both the CPI(M) and the opposition Congress slammed the bishop for his remarks. The religious circles in Kerala were also abuzz with voices decrying the bishop. Some termed him as Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 silver coins.
