Pinarayi slams Cardinal Cleemis for Modi remarks

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI-M State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, in an article in the CPI(M) mouthpiece the Deshabhimani, Friday slammed CBCI president Cardinal Baselios Cleemis for his remarks favouring Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The Cardinal’s remarks on Modi hurt the nation’s secular thoughts. The remarks would only help Modi to get more acceptability,” Pinarayi said.

“The Cardinal also downplayed Mohan Bhagawat’s remarks that India is a Hindu nation,” he alleged.

Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) president Baselios Cleemis Cardinal Thottunkal had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital on Aug 18.

After the visit, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis had said the Church preferred to take the Prime Minister’s call for a 10-year-moratorium on communalism seriously rather than the ‘Hindutva-subsumes-all-other-identities’ statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

He also said the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) wanted to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “chance” and not pre-judge him because of his record as the Gujarat Chief Minister or his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Admitting that Mr. Bhagwat’s statements did create anxiety, he said undue weightage should not be given to the personal opinion of one person.