A Christian DMK MLA has called for throwing BJP out of power in 2024 through prayers. He said this in an All India Pentecostal conference where CM MK Stalin assured Pentecostal Christians that his government would go out of the way to do everything for them. Following this, the Pentecostal denomination has extended support for Congress candidate Ilangovan in Erode East by-polls.
Inigo Irudaya Raj, the DMK MLA from Trichy East constituency, CM MK Stalin, Revenue Minister Moorthy and TN Minority Welfare Commission chief Peter Alphonse were invited to the 4th All India Pentecostal Conference held in Madurai on February 8. CM Stalin joined the conference virtually and assured the gathering that all demands of the community would be fulfilled.
He recalled the DMK government’s pro-minority steps saying, “The DMK government allocated Rs 5 crore for revamping all churches across the state, and Rs 2 crore for Christian women SHG members. We had also raised the subsidy for nuns who wanted to go on the Jerusalem pilgrimage”. He said that his government would go out of its way to fulfill their demands and do even things that Christians didn’t ask for.
In the same meeting, MLA Inigo Irudaya Raj who runs the Christian Goodwill Movement, advised the assembly, which consisted of pastors and preachers like Paul Dinakaran, to throw away the BJP government at centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls through prayers and bring Congress to power, similar to how they brought DMK to power in the state.
In 2022, a paranoid Catholic priest asked Inigo to bring all the opposition parties together to defeat BJP. He asked him to speak to politicians from other parties from Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, etc. The priest implored him to make them understand that, “We have a common enemy. We may have a 1000 differences between us. But we should join to destroy them”. In an event organised by the Christian Goodwill Movement, another Catholic priest said that the majority Hindus are like mosquitoes that can be swatted away.
Inigo also felicitated the warden named by the Hindu girl Lavanya in her death confession. Lavanya had taken her life following torture at her Christian school to convert. The CM himself said that the government was formed by Christians. An ardent supporter of DMK had openly called for “conversion” and termed it as the “only way to stop BJP’s growth in TN”. Despite their best efforts, BJP came back to power in 2019. They are now trying the same for 2024 polls and further their hate-filled propaganda through such events.
While the MLA’s call for routing BJP through prayers will be seen as a political comment by the fence sitters and the gullible, who they are actually targeting, are Hindus. Evangelists want to have a free hand in proselytising and know that only Congress and DMK will go out of their way to fulfill their wishes. Even though Hindus have no real pro-Hindu party to choose from, electing Congress might prove to be the death knell like in the case of electing DMK in TN.