Even as the government is smarting from the touchy science versus religion controversy that swamped Speaker A.N. Shamseer’s office, Culture Minister Saji Cherian drew intense flak for allegedly suggesting that he found no overt expressions of faith in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Fresh from a visit to the Gulf kingdom, Mr. Cherian said at a public function in Thiruvananthapuram that he had embarked on the tour with the impression that Saudi Arabia was a country of extreme religious views. Instead, he found a welcoming and progressive nation with a tolerant and accommodative faith.
Mr. Cherian claimed he rarely heard Muezzin’s call to prayer while in the country. He said a fellow traveller informed him that Saudi Arabia restricted the sound of the call to worship to within the mosques’ precincts.
Mr. Cherian also contrasted “religion as practised in Saudi Arabia” and “jarringly clangorous expressions of faith” in India.
Mr. Cherian said he saw scores of churches in Saudi. However, the prayers and observations were confined within their premises and not broadcast noisily. “You can’t pass a church in Kerala without being drowned by the din of loudspeakers,” Mr. Cherian said.
Soon, criticism erupted on social media.
The Congress waded into the issue with Youth Congress leader V.T. Balaram accusing Mr. Cherian of undermining religious harmony by treating belief systems contemptuously.
Mr. Balaram alleged that CPI(M) leaders seemed intent on tearing Kerala’s secular fabric by openly disparaging religions and scoffing at believers.
Mr. Cherian seemingly beat a hasty retreat. He said his statement that Islam’s daily public call summoning the faithful to prayers appeared subdued in Saudi Arabia was based on wrong information he gleaned from an ill-informed fellow traveller.
Later in a Facebook post, Mr. Cherian said he meant no hurt and some quarters had distorted his comments to portray him in poor light.
Earlier, Mr. Cherian’s comments on Constitution had resulted in his resignation and a police case. Meanwhile, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) legislature party, which convened here on Monday, reportedly asked its members to refrain from dwelling on faith to avoid political gaffes when the Assembly was in session.
