Church feud helped Anoop

KOCHI: The feud between the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church seemed to have set the winds blowing in favour of Anoop Jacob. It is doubtless that the Syrian Christian voters, especially the Jacobite faction, which constitutes more than 40 per cent of the voters (more than 60,000 followers) in the constituency, was a decisive factor in the election. There is a handful of churches in different parts of the constituency, that are caught in an ownership row between the Jacobites and the Orthodox. Though the Jacobites did not extend an open support, the Church was with Anoop. However, the Orthodox faction initially took a stand against the Oommen Chandy Government, but later took a pro-government approach. Again, they took an anti-government stand. “This ultimately led to the consolidation of  Jacobite votes in favour of Anoop,” says Fr Varghese Kallappara, spokesperson of Jacobite Church.“Though our wish was that Anoop should be elected, we restrained from making public statements whereas the Orthodox faction came up with a statement that they would stand against the government. The Church considers Anoop’s victory a recognition to the Jacobite Church and a setback to the Goebbelsian propaganda by the Orthodox faction,” Fr Kallappara said.Though restrained from making a statement announcing its support to a particular candidate, Jacobite Church had insisted on a candidate from its faction, ideally one from T M Jacob’s family.