Philanthropic Baselios Marthoma Paulose II kept politics away from religion

Despite being a left-wing sympathiser, his political views had never crossed his religious life. “Religion and politics are two different entities and both should remain separate. The practice of using religion for political gains and meddling of religions in politics are very dangerous. Religious politics will destroy religion but politics may not be affected much.” These words of Baselios Marthoma Paulose II put spotlight on his concerns on religions turning out to be influencing powers in politics.

He was not ready to sacrifice his religious views for any political interests. Not going in line with left-right wing politics in Kerala, he took firm stand in various instances. Even when the Supreme Court ruling came in favour of the Orthodox Churches, he criticised the government over the negligence in implementing the verdict. He stood for the poor and weaker sections of the society and he termed it his responsibility.

However, he was not reluctant in appreciating any vitreous move in favour of the Orthodox churches irrespective of the colour and nature of political parties.

There are so many incidents in front of us to recall his extraordinary will power, sheer confidence, unwavering loyalty and noble humanitarian qualities. When there was an allegation of sexual harassment against some of the Orthodox church priests, he called for justice to the victim and urged the alleged priests to quit posts. He requested all priests to undergo self-evaluation in view of this incident and also restricted priests from using social media.

The sad demise of this great humanitarian figure is a complete loss to the entire nation. But he will definitely survive through the great ideologies and philanthropic perspectives left for us.