Kottayam: A now-withdrawn article published in the online edition of Organiser, a publication linked to the RSS, has stirred controversy by questioning the extent of land owned by the Catholic Church, prompting sharp reactions from Church leaders in Kerala.

Tensions mounted further following reports of an alleged right-wing assault on Catholic priests from Kerala in Madhya Pradesh, a state governed by the BJP. The incident has cast a shadow over the party’s efforts to strengthen its base among Kerala’s Christian voters ahead of the local body elections later this year and the state Assembly elections in 2026.

While the BJP attempted to defuse the situation, an editorial piece in a Church-run daily on Monday stated that every act of violence by the Sangh Parivar against Christians has nationwide repercussions for the community.  

“Even children now believe that the anti-conversion law can be used to imprison any Christian and shut down their institutions. In this situation, how can we criticise the blasphemy law in Pakistan?” the editorial asked. It criticised the central government's silence on the matter, calling it a source of encouragement for continued attacks on churches and Christian institutions.

As reported by PTI, the editorial said that, as in the previous Christmas season, Christians in North India were living in fear as the Holy Week approached. Reacting to the Organiser article—which claimed that the Catholic Church is the biggest non-government landholder in the country—the Church mouthpiece countered that the figures were not just incorrect but laughable.  

“No one here is afraid of the RSS article questioning who owns more land,” it said, asserting that the Church’s land is primarily used for public welfare and that it is not the largest landowner.

The editorial highlighted an exaggerated claim from the article, which suggested that the Church owns 700,000 square kilometres of land—an area roughly 21 per cent of India’s total landmass of 3,287,263 square kilometres.  

“This is clearly exaggerated… The article claims that the Church owns 700,000 square kilometres (172.9 million acres) of land—183 times more than the 940,000 acres held by the Waqf Board,” the editorial stated, questioning the basis of these statistics and how they were calculated.

This row has come at a sensitive time for the BJP, which had recently gained support from various Church organisations in the Munambam land dispute. Christian residents of the coastal village in Ernakulam, backed by Church groups, had strongly opposed a land claim made by the Waqf Board. In response, the BJP introduced the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, citing the need to protect residents’ rights.

BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar clarified that while Organiser did publish the controversial piece, it was taken down upon recognising the error. He added that there was nothing wrong with owning land, but illegal acquisition was unacceptable. He accused the Congress and the Left of unnecessarily amplifying the controversy.

Meanwhile, the Church-run daily criticised both the Congress and the CPM for opposing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, even after the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) appealed for their support.

It argued that opposition parties were attempting to link the Organiser article, Sangh Parivar attacks, and the Waqf issue to discredit the BJP’s initiatives.  

“To those politicians who now ask if that warning was right, the answer is still no. Because the Sangh Parivar does not need the Waqf issue to attack minorities,” the editorial stated. It concluded that the Organiser article was based on falsehoods and criticised the opposition for using the controversy to justify their earlier resistance to the Waqf Bill, rather than addressing the misleading data in the article.