Following a long-standing dispute between two Christain denomination, the Syrian Orthodox and Jacobite of the Malankara Church, the Kerala High Court has issued an ultimatum to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of Pinarayi Vijayan stating that the Central Reserve Police Force shall take over the Church if the court order is not implemented. 

The High Court has said that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) ruled government, has to take over the St Thomas Church at Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district by 8 January or face the deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The dispute over the control of about 1000 Churches and its properties  has been long simmering between Jacobite and Orthodox factions. The Malankara Church dispute is an important one. The High Court refused to accede to the Jacobite faction plea to maintain status quo.

According to Malayalam daily, Malayala Manorama, the State government sought three months time to take over the Church as many of its officials have been deployed tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kerala CM also had raised concern with regards to law and order problem if the Church was to be taken over but the High Court came down heavily on the government for its inaction.

The hypocrisy of the Left government Kerala came out in the open when in 2018, the Kerala government followed the instructions of Supreme Court ruling to allow women aged between 10 and 50 years into the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple, despite the law and order situation it had created.

When protests broke out, the Vijayan government did not hesitate using force to implement the rules in various parts of the state, particularly at Sabarimala.

The historicity of the dispute 

The conflict between the Jacobite and Orthodox groups in Kerala started in 1912 when the Malankara Church was split into the Jacobite and Orthodox groups. However, they reunified in 1959 only to break up again in 1973.

In 2017, the Supreme Court had ordered that the Kerala government take over the Jacobite churches and hand them over to the Orthodox faction.

Since then, both the factions have been at each other throat over the control of the churches and properties of the Malankara Church. This dispute over 1,000 churches led to the closing of many churches for years now and some are in dilapidated condition.

In 2017, the Supreme Court’s ruled after a petition was filed by the Orthodox Church, demanding that all churches under the Malankara Church be governed as per the Church Constitution of 1934.

However, the Kerala government has not made any attempt to implement the apex court ruling.