Kottayam: Stepping up its demand for making the functioning of the minority welfare department of the government non-discriminatory, transparent and just, the Catholic Church in the state has said that the chief minister should handle the department from the next government onwards.
Interestingly, the Jagratha Samithi of the Changanassery diocese has raised the demand soon after the resignation of minister K T Jaleel who handled the minority welfare department in the Pinarayi Vijayan ministry.
The church has made the demand after assessing the performance of the department in the current LDF and the previous UDF governments. It was Manjalamkuzhi Ali of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) who was in charge of the department under Oommen Chandy government.
A letter has been sent from the church headquarters to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, LDF convenor A Vijayaraghavan, former chief minister Oommen Chandy, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, UDF convenor M M Hasan, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and the leaders of political parties which are the constituents of both the political fronts.
One of the major concerns raised by the church was the 80:20 ratio in the utilization of the funds for the formulation and implementation of projects for the welfare of minorities.
"As much as 80% of funds are being used for the welfare of the Muslim community and only 20% is used for the rest of the minority communities. We have been raising this issue for years. This is an unjust practice," said Joji Chirayil, PRO of the diocese.
The church has also been raising its objections on the amendments made to the Kerala State Commission for minorities in 2017. Chirayil said the Catholic Church wants the chairman post of the commission to be made rotational so that all minority communities will get a representation. The church has also raised concerns over the appointment of officers under the minority welfare department.
The Catholic Church had earlier come out in the open slamming IUML for opposing the state government’s decision to implement economic reservation. Changanassery archbishop Joseph Perumthottam, in a strongly-worded article, had said that it was sad that some communal forces are opposing reservation for the economically weaker sections without any valid reasons. He had also opined that one needs to suspect that IUML’s policies are becoming a threat to other communities.