By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 21: The state Congress on Thursday ridiculed the VPP for trying to be holier than thou and asked the party to apologise to the Church for maligning their image with their loose talk to mislead the people.
“The VPP has damaged the reputation of the Church not only in Meghalaya but the entire country. They should stop misleading the people of the state with their loose talk,” MPCC chief and Shillong MP, Vincent H. Pala said on Thursday.
Reports said VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit publicly stated that some ‘Tymmen Basan’ (Church elders) allegedly distributed liquor during elections.
Stating that the VPP has now started attacking the Church, Pala said it takes years to become Tymmen Basan and if VPP leaders have the courage, they should identify the persons so that action can be taken against them.
“Simply saying that pastors or priests or Tymmen Basan are involved is very easy. This is a design. First, they will attack political parties and then the Church as if they are the holiest party and the rest are all crooks,” he said.
Stressing the important role the Church has played in shaping society, Pala said: “If the Church is weak, society is weak and if the Church is strong, society is strong. The VPP needs to identify the Tymmen Basan who distributed liquor. Otherwise, all Church elders are portrayed as drunkards.”
Accusing the VPP of copying and pasting the BJP ideology of divide and rule, he said the BJP divides people on religious lines or based on tribe and the language a community speaks, as in Manipur.
Drawing parallels with the BJP, Pala said the VPP follows the same pattern and divides people into Garos and Khasis vis-a-vis the reservation policy, then the Church and society.
“The VPP is systematically trying to weaken the Church, society, and the political parties and to give the impression it is the only party that is correct and works for the people,” he added.
Call against politicising religion
Pala said he does not believe in politicising religion and scoffed at the alleged bid by the NPP-BJP to break his Catholic vote bank. “I do not believe in playing politics by using my religion. Weak people can use and misuse religion. A communal party like BJP speaks for itself but the people of the Church are smarter,” he said while replying to reports of NPP and BJP teaming up in Shillong to eat into Pala’s support base among the Catholics.
“I have good relations with other Churches too but I do not want to use the Church for votes,” he added
He claimed he enjoys the support of the Catholic, Presbyterian, Church of God, Sein Raij, and Sein Khasi people. “I respect the Church and I am proud to be their representative,” he said, claiming some BJP workers also support him.