Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dubbed a pastor as “ignorant” for criticising the ruling Left’s Lok Sabha poll defeat on Facebook, the pastor on Saturday said he never reacts to personal comments.
In a Facebook post, former Metropolitan of Niranam Diocese of Malankara Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church Geevarghese Coorilos said, “Floods and epidemics do not always come to save lives and people in Kerala will not fall prey to ‘kit politics’ more than once.” The priest, known for his leftist views, made this comment on Facebook in relation to the defeat of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the Lok Sabha elections.
Countering this, Chief Minister Vijayan had said on Friday that the pastor’s post shows that there are sometimes some ignorant people among the clergy. On Saturday, when reporters asked the pastor why he made the post, Kurilos said he had nothing to say on the matter as he had written whatever he had to on his Facebook page and it is still there.
He said, “That topic is closed. I have said what I had to on the issue. Now I will not say anything more.” When asked to react to the Chief Minister calling him “ignorant”, the pastor said, “I have never reacted to personal comments.”
He also clarified that his heart was always with the Left Front and will remain so. Corillos had also said in his social media post that one of the main reasons for the LDF’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections was the anti-incumbency sentiment among the people.