Top Tweets for #Secularists

Hindu Woman Married to Christian Man is Okay as Mayor of Kochi, but Christian Woman Married to a Hindu is Not Acceptable. This is secularism Kerala style. Thread: 1. The appointment of VK Minimol as Kochi's Mayor by the Congress party reveals the hypocrisy in how interfaith marriages and community identities are treated in Kerala which loudly claims to be an upstanding secular state. In reality, secularism means humiliation of Hindus and appeasement and enriching of Christians and Muslims. 2. Minimol, born into an Ezhava (Hindu) family, is married to a Christian. This interfaith marriage appears to be viewed favourably by party leaders and is supported by Roman Catholic priests, making her acceptable for the role in a city with a significant Christian population (around 38%). 3. In contrast, Deepthi Mary Varghese, a Mar Thoma Christian and KPCC General Secretary, was sidelined despite being a strong contender and the projected mayoral face during the 2025 local body elections. Deepthi is married to a Hindu and openly wears sindoor — a Hindu marital symbol — which some within the party see as making her "not Christian enough." 4. This is the double standard of secularism in Kerala. An incoming interfaith marriage (Hindu woman to Christian man) is kosher, because it aligns with Christian community demands. But an outgoing one (Christian woman to Hindu man) leads to rejection. Pressure from the Latin Catholic community clearly played a role, as Deepthi isn't from that subgroup. 5. Kochi's demographics show Hindus at 44%, Christians at 38%, and Muslims at 17%. Despite being nominally the majority, Hindus are treated shabbily because they have swallowed the pill of secularism. On the other hand, the Latin Christians care a rat's tail about secularism. They are adamant about having a Christian mayor. As my ex friend Francis Bastian, a Latin Catholic, told me during my university days: "We Christians make no compromises when it comes to our religion." With both the local MLA and MP being Latin Catholics, the Congress prioritised Christian appeasement and chose Minimol over Varghese. 6. The Church will of course deny intervening, but the optics suggest otherwise — the clergy backed Minimol because she appears co-opted whereas Varghese is gulity by association and tainted by sindoor. 7. This isn't just about one appointment; it's how Kerala's distorted "secularism" works. Their slim majority notwithstanding, Hindus in Kochi, and many parts of Kerala, are effectively disenfranchised. This is due to the Hindu vote splitting three ways - Congress, CPM and BJP. Whereas the Christians (and Muslims) vote as a bloc. Even the most educated among them vote as per the orders of the church. 8. Parties like the Congress lecture on secularism nationally but practice a perverse version of it in Kerala that is tailored to local demographics. This is the kind of appeasement politics that makes right thinking people sick. If the BJP is rising in Kerala it is because some Hindus have stopped swallowing the Secularism Pill.