Muslim businessman takes over Kerala's century-old Catholic daily

Muslim businessman takes over Kerala's century-old Catholic daily
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (UCAN) : Catholics in a southern India state are dismayed that a Muslim has taken over a newspaper the Catholic Church ran for more than 100 years.
M.A. Pharis, a 46-year-old Muslim with business and political interests in Kerala state, has become chairperson of the public limited company that owns Deepika (little lamp), Kerala's oldest Malayalam-language daily. He replaced Bishop Mathew Arackal of Kanjirappally, who had led the company since 2003. Deepika's print line began to carry Pharis' name on July 16, but neither the daily nor its sister publications announced the change in their news columns. Other local dailies broke the news on July 17. The Kerala-based Carmelite of Mary Immaculate (CMI) congregation launched Deepika in 1887 at Mannanam near Kottayam, 2,650 kilometers south of New Delhi. Two priests, Father Nidhirikkal Manikkathanar and Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, called it Nazrani Deepika when they started it. Nazrani in the local language means "Christian," a follower of the Nazarene. Blessed Kuriakose (1805-1871) was a founder of the indigenous Carmelite congregation that follows the Syro-Malabar rite within the Catholic Church. The newspaper functioned under the CMI until 1989, when ownership shifted to "Rashtra Deepika Limited," a newly created public limited company. Laypeople, dioceses and congregations shared ownership of the company that increasingly incurred heavy losses. To help the company, the synod of Syro-Malabar bishops appointed Bishop Arackal as the company's chairperson, and the prelate reportedly brought in Pharis to invest in the company to help it get over the financial crisis. Kuriakose Ellenkiyil, a Catholic of Palai diocese where the newspaper has thousands of readers, told UCA News, "It is sad the Church surrendered its controlling shares in the historic newspaper." The newspaper had stood for the rights of Christians in the state and "made innumerable contributions for the Church's development," the elderly Catholic recalled. But Bishop Arackal told UCA News "the changeover was nothing unusual," only part of executing decisions of the company's board of directors. "I submitted my resignation earlier, but it came into effect only the other day," he said. Even so, Shaji Jacob, a Catholic who had worked for Deepika for 20 years, pointed out to UCA News that the change ends Church ownership of the paper. The paper has been following Pharis' polices since 2005, he added, and the fact that Deepika still has two priests of Kanjirappally diocese working as its managing director and general manager "is an attempt to fool the people." According to Jacob, it is "necessary" for Pharis to keep the paper's Catholic identify so he can keep selling it among Catholics. "The presence of priests in the company helps his business and political interests," he said. Jomon Puthenpurackal, a social activist and Catholic in Kottayam, added that under the new management, Deepika and its sister concerns have lost their image as value-based publications. "It is most unfortunate that the Catholic Church in Kerala does not have money to run the newspaper it managed for over a century and had to sell it to a Muslim businessman," Puthenpurackal said. A journalist working for the company told UCA News on July 19 that Pharis was named director and got most shares transferred to him within a short span. The journalist, who asked not to be named, said that a voluntary retirement scheme Pharis supposedly introduced to lay off excess staff in practice helped remove journalists who resisted his policy changes. "Eventually, the newspaper became a tool in the hands of Pharis," the journalist asserted. Deepika was once Kerala's leading daily, but with a circulation of about 300,000 copies, the paper now trails Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhoomi.