Piravom: Church feud could be decisive factor

KOCHI: What could be the decisive factor in Piravom? It seems to be a profound question as the major political parties are using all tricks up their sleeves to woo the voters.Poll pundits feel that the Christian voters, who constitute more than 40 per cent of the total voters, could make a difference in Piravom. The state government’s failure in resolving the dispute between the Orthodox and the Jacobite factions could virtually alter the UDF expectations in the bypoll. The UDF admits that the Jacobite votes are decisive, whereas the LDF feels that the voters in Piravom are secular and would vote accordingly. The Orthodox Church has clearly indicated that they would be voting against the Oommen Chandy government as they have a strong resentment against the government for not taking an official stand in the church feud even after the court issued several orders. The Jacobite Church, which had insisted on a candidate from its faction, says that they are happy that Anoop Jacob, son of the late T M Jacob, is the UDF candidate. This gives a clear indication of its stand. Sources in the Jacobite Church are confident that their 70,000 plus votes have a clear upper hand over a mere 10,000 of Orthodox votes.“What the orthodox had said regarding the votes against the government cannot be believed. Moreover, we don’t want a faction from Kottayam to rule the churches in Piravom,” a Jacobite church official said. The UDF believes that they would be able to garner the Jacobite votes. They also feel that the CPM’s alleged defaming of Christ and disrespect to the religious sentiments would turn the votes in their favour.But the CPM alleges that is the Congress who has been engaged in dirty politics in the name of religion. “We have votes in both the Orthodox and Jacobite factions and is not allying with anyone,” CPM district secretary M V Govindan said, adding that the government should have taken a firm stand in the ‘church row’. “The people here are secular-minded and they would take an appropriate decision,” he said. However, DCC president V J Paulose said the controversy between the Orthodox and the Jacobite factions dates back to the 1970s. “In all these years, we had contested several elections and won majority of them,” he said.Stating that the Jacobite votes were decisive, he hoped that the entire Christian community would stand by the Congress as the Marxists had always spread hatred in religious institutions.  “The recent controversy regarding the ‘Last Supper’ poster had put the CPM on the defensive. How can the CPM expect to  get Christian votes by defaming Jesus?,” he asked. Regarding the Orthodox faction that has shown signs of resentment against the government, he said the faction had not taken any official stand till now, which meant that they wanted the followers to take a decision.