26 March 2009
- Kochi: As the Lok Sabha poll campaign gathers steam in the Left-ruled Kerala, a top Church official has described the CPI-M as a 'threat' to democracy and warned that India will suffer the same fate as China under Mao Zedong. "The Marxist party will use all kinds of tactics to strengthen itself in places where it is in power. That they will do throughout India once they get to power at the Centre, will be no different from Mao or Stalin," says Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil in his book 'Straight From Heart'.
The influential Cardinal, known for his critical views even on the church establishment, says, "The Marxist fundamentalism is a greater threat than the religious fundamentalism of the BJP...The Navy, the Army and the Air Force will come under their complete control. We can reasonably expect that what happened in China under Mao will happen in India under their rule." "Where is the logic of democracy if they are convinced atheists? But if they are atheists against their conscience and belief, then they are not true to themselves...Convinced atheists cannot be democratic. Democracy is based on respect for the individual and on the rule 'of the people, by the people, for the people'," Vithayathil, who is also the Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar church, says.
The first Communist government of Kerala, Vithayathil says, was dismissed because they took recourse to some Marxist techniques like rule by party cadre when they came to power. "But even now, it is the party that rules in Kerala and not the government," the Cardinal says.
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