Kerala Church conducts memorial services for victims of 'Liberation Struggle'

(June 15, 2009) The Catholic Church in southern India’s Kerala state on Saturday conducted memorial services for the seven people killed in the so-called “Liberation Struggle” that the Church had spearheaded against the educational policies of the then state government headed by Communist chief minister EMS Namboodiripad in 1959. A total of fifteen people had lost their lives in the campaign, which also brought down the first ever democratically elected communist government in the world. At least 150 relatives of the seven killed, attended the services conducted in St. George Parish Church, Angamaly, on Saturday. The church authorities had also organized a series of functions paying tributes to the fallen. State opposition leader, Oommen Chandy of the Congress party also placed wreaths at the tombs. Speaking at the public meeting in Angamaly, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, the head of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church said “the state will certainly witness such strong movements by the people, if occasion arises.” He said, “efforts to wipe away such memories from their minds would result in the fitting reply that the left parties received in the recent Lok Sabha polls.