Joseph Pamplany, an Archbishop of the Catholic Syro-Malabar Church has said in a farmers meeting at Kannur that Christians would vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if the central government increased the prices of rubber to Rs 300 per kg.

Pamplany came down heavily on the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and said that it had forgotten its election promise of hiking rubber prices to Rs 250 per kg.

Rubber prices have fallen in recent years due to reasons like lower demand in the automobile sector. Small cultivators get a price of Rs 170 per kg due to a price support scheme of the government.

The statement came after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had said that dialogue with Christians would continue at the state and district levels.

Among the other concerns of the Church are the increasing man-animal conflict in hilly areas where animals like wild boars destroy crops of farmers and the satellite survey to demarcate buffer zones which was conducted by the Pinarayi Vijayan government.

While the Left and the Congress have criticised Pamplany’s remarks, the BJP has welcomed them.

Reacting to criticism from the Left and the Congress, Union minister V Muraleedharan said that the two parties oppose any Christian leader who spoke in favour of the union government.

Kerala BJP state president K Surendran said that the victories in the Christian-majority north-eastern states could have an impact on the state. He added that the party will take up the matter with the Centre.