Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting today in New Delhi with members of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church in an effort to settle the centuries-old conflict between the two Syrian church communities based in Kerala.
At his office, he met three senior priests of the Church, one day after meetings with members of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
The two church groups today released different statements, hailing their meeting with PM Modi as “cordial and fruitful”
Following the enforcement of the 2017 Supreme Court decision, the feud between the two sects escalated, giving the Orthodox party control of more than 1,000 churches and properties attached to them.
After two days of separate meetings with the PM, members of the two parties met in Mizoram Bhawan, New Delhi, for a lunch hosted by Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, who organised their meetings with PM Modi.
The Jacobite group said that their delegates drew PM Modi’s attention to the “denial of religious freedom, freedom of worship and justice that the Jacobite Syrian Church is undergoing” and requested his help to bring an end to the conflict.
In their declaration, the Orthodox contingent was identified as a “dissident group” which split from them and “creating issues by misusing” the 2017 Supreme Court ruling in the Church’s dispute case.
“The faithful of the Jacobite Church are evicted from their churches and even denied burial rights in their cemeteries,” they added. It said that conflicts, particularly those pertaining to religion, cannot be settled by perpetual lawsuits, and that there should be other ways of seeking solutions to the problems. The Hon’ble Prime Minister’s involvement is valuable”, the Jacobite faction said in the statement.
The Church said their delegation appealed to PM Modi to “intervene to protect” their “constitutional and fundamental rights”.
“Also ensuring the democratic rights of believers of this ancient church in India, namely Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, is needed”, the statement said.
The Jacobite church said PM Modi carefully listened to their grievances and assured he would do his best for an amicable solution.
