The CPI(M) and the SilverLine semi-high-speed rail project pushed by the Kerala government led by the party have come under scathing criticism from the Catholic church.

The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, in an editorial titled ‘The Mao-line on which no discussion is needed’ in its mouthpiece Sathyadeepam, lambasted the ambitious rail project.

It begins by quoting a 1967 article in the Liberation Army Daily from Peking which flagged “the danger of idolising an individual or politics”.

China, the editorial says, has now become a “single-person” nation, but a CPI(M) ideologue in Kerala recently demanded that we learn from the Chinese example.

Criticising the argument that K-Rail is the last bus for Kerala’s development, the editorial asks why the government is in a tearing hurry to implement the project without any discussion or debate. A noted poet, a Left co-traveller, who questioned this was subjected to cyber bullying by comrades. The editorial compares the government campaign for the rail project to how Chairman Mao’s way of functioning was accepted unquestioningly.

It goes on to flay the government over the amendment brought to Section 14 of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act without a discussion even within the Left Front. Is such a government that tries to avoid discussion on policy-related matters on the floor of the Assembly qualified to criticise the Centre for bypassing Parliament, it asks.

Keeping people in the dark about policies and programmes is a fascist way of establishing power. The belief that goals can be attained by relying on the defence provided by cyber suicide squads is an undemocratic thought. The editorial also criticises the Left government for forgetting the people’s planning programme steered by it.