New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s latest outreach to the sizeable Christian community in Kerala has led to controversy with a priest, who had led a clutch of 47 families to formally join the Hindutva party this past week, being divested of all Church-related responsibilities. It is unclear exactly why the priest has been on the receiving end of this action as the church has told some papers that the decision was not exactly spurred by his joining of BJP.According to a press note released by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church on January 5, the priest, Ferdinand Shaiju Kurian who served as secretary of the Church’s Nilackal diocese, was removed from all official responsibilities after the church received “some complaints from the diocese members.” The press note said, “A meeting of the diocese council was held on January 4 which decided to form an inquiry commission to probe the allegations against Fr. Kurian and submit a report within two months. During the period of investigation, Fr. Shaiju has been taken off of his official responsibilities within the Church.”Fr. Shaiju had joined the BJP along with 47 Christian families this past December 30 in the presence of Union Minister of State V Muraleedharan at Pathanamitha. The news had hit the headlines as the BJP has been seen wooing Christian voters – particularly in Kerala. This effort also included Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacting with a set of Kerala-based church leaders. Local party members had gone door to door in December to greet Christian families on Christmas. As much as 19% of the population of the state is Christian. Also read: ‘Not in Our Name’: Over 3,000 Christians Dissociate From PM Modi’s Christmas LunchIn the 2019 parliamentary polls, the party’s state unit president K. Surendran had unsuccessfully contested from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency which has a sizeable Christian population. Fr. Kurian’s Nilackal diocese comes under this Lok Sabha constituency. The priest, while taking up the BJP membership, had stated that his decision was based on Modi’s development initiatives.However, soon after his joining the right wing party along with 47 Christian families, a section of people from within the community took out a march to the diocese headquarters at Ranni in protest. What followed was a litany of complaints against the priest from diocesan members, including misconduct towards a woman – leading the Church to institute a probe. A fellow priest, Father Mathews Vazhakunnam, made allegations against F. Kurian in a local TV channel too, leading the church to state in the press note that the committee would look into why he had raised those complaints against a fellow priest in a TV debate than doing it within the platform of the church. An Indian Express report quoting church sources said that Vazhakunnam “had a pro-CPI(M) stance. During the previous LDF government in the state, he had served as a director of the state-run Minority Development Finance Corporation.”“Father Saiju was removed from his roles not for having joined the BJP. At present, the Orthodox Church has not taken any stand on priests joining any political party. Hence, no action is being taken on his BJP membership,” official church sources told the newspaper.