The ruling front and the Opposition seem to have seized on the arrest of two Keralite nuns on “questionable charges” of forced conversion and human trafficking in Chhattisgarh last week as part of their larger political gambit to blunt the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) efforts to woo the electorally significant Christian community in the State ahead of the local body polls and the Assembly elections.

Seemingly stung by widespread criticism from civil society and Church leaders, and chary of losing the ground the party believed it had gained among Christians, the BJP in Kerala dispatched an express delegation headed by State general secretary, Anoop Antony, to Chhattisgarh to secure the early release of the nuns, Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeta Mary of the order of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI), and ensure an “unbiased investigation” in the case. 

‘Fear-inducing’

It also seemed not to help the BJP that Deepika, the mouthpiece of the Syro-Malabar Church, flagged an alleged dichotomy between the BJP’s words and actions, chiefly in BJP-ruled States, wherein Christians allegedly faced severe persecution. Church leaders, including Mar Andrews Thazhath, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), termed the arrest “unsettling, fear-inducing and unconstitutional”.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State fommittee accused the Chhattisgarh police of siding with Bajrang Dal activists, who falsely accused the nuns of “smuggling” three women from the Durga railway station in Chhattisgarh to Agra for “coerced conversion” after an extrajudicial public trial.

Of Stan Swamy, Staines

The CPI(M) reminded the public about the “Sangh Parivar-backed custodial murder” of Jesuit priest Stan Swamy and, earlier, the 1989 murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and family allegedly at the hands of Bajrang Dal activists in Odisha. 

The Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Binoy Viswam said the overzealous arrest of nuns on “trumped up” charges by the BJP government in Chhattisgarh revealed the actual fascist nature of the party. 

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who visited the ageing parents of Sister Preeta Mary at Angamaly, portrayed the BJP as a “wolf in a sheep’s clothing”. 

VHP justifies arrest

Meanwhile, Vishwa Hindu Parishad State general secretary Anil Vilayil justified the arrests. He accused the CBCI of obfuscating the “facts” of the “human trafficking” case. He alleged that the women travelling with nuns included an underage tribal community woman.