A Catholic bishop has warned the people of Kerala that if the Manipur violence was not condemned, the southern state could be the next target.
Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil of the Diocese of Thamarassery made the remark while offering solidarity with Congress MP M K Raghavan, who observed a hunger strike in Kozhikode in protest of the ongoing ethnic violence in the northeastern state.
"If we maintain silence and refuse to fight the communalism and attacks (in Manipur), then no one will be there to speak for us when we come under such an attack," Bishop Inchananiyil said on Friday.
"If it is Manipur today, it could be Kerala tomorrow ... the attacks in Manipur were scripted," he added. Inchananiyil had led a protest march over the Manipur violence the other day at Thamarassery.
Bishop Inchananiyil said Kerala MP Raghavan's protest was a symbol of secularism. "This protest offers brightness and hope," he said.
Bishop Inchananiyil was among the church leaders who were called upon by the BJP Kerala leadership as part of its Christian appeasement drive on the occasion of Easter earlier this year.
BJP state president K Surendran visiting Bishop Inchananiyil had prompted an angry response from K Sudhakaran, the Congress chief in Kerala. He had referred to the BJP's visit to Christian homes as 'Dhritarashtra Alinganam', a reference to the bone-crushing hug of the mythical king in Mahabharata.
BJP's attempts to get closer to the Christian communities in Kerala hit a hurdle since the beginning of ethnic violence in Manipur on May 3.
The state that has a significant Christian population has been subject to ongoing violence that has claimed over 100 lives and left thousands homeless.
Various churches in Kerala have been holding protest marches, criticising the BJP government in the Centre for its alleged inaction on the violence in Manipur.
