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Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 24: Close on the heels of remarks by Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, president of Catholic Bishops Council of India and Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, that Marxists were a bigger evil than BJP, an influential branch of the church has gone ahead and fielded its own candidates.

‘‘We are annoyed by the attitude of two fronts (CPM-led LDF and Congress-led UDF) in Kerala. They have denied seats to any of our members. So we decided to field our own candidates in Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Idukki and Kottayam,’’ spokesperson of Malankara Orthodox Church P C Eliyas told TOI. Asked if the move wouldn’t be seen as the clergy meddling in politics, Eliyas said, ‘‘The issue is much bigger. Like any other community, we need our representatives to speak on issues of national importance. Both fronts have ignored us.’’

In his biography ‘Straight from the Heart’, contents of which were first reported in some TOI editions on March 19, Cardinal Varkey had called the Marxists a ‘‘greater threat than BJP’’. The book said: ‘‘The greater threat will certainly be the Marxists, because it is much better to live under those who believe in a God of love and mercy than to live under those who don’t believe in God and will do anything to bring about social justice, social equality and destroy all differences of class and caste.’’

He felt that the first elected government which came to power in Kerala under late EMS Namboodripad wasn’t an honest integration of Marxists into the democratic process. ‘‘When they came to power, then they had recourse to some Marxist techniques like rule by the party cadre... There was hardly a semblance of democratic rule then; it was rule by the party... That they will try to do throughout India, and once they get to power at Centre, they will be no different from Mao or Stalin... The Marxist party is definitely a threat to democracy.’’

He was convinced that the laity should join politics. ‘‘They can join any party that doesn’t oppose Catholic principles.’’ But he had warned of allying with the saffron too. ‘‘There is no way they can become a part of RSS or BJP,’’ he wrote.

A week ago, nominees of Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, Latin Catholic, Orthodox, CSI and Marthoma Church gathered to chalk out their plan. Latin Church Archbishop M Soosapakyam’s words left no one in doubt.

‘‘There has been a move in recent times against Christians by the state government in the education sector,’’ he said. The convention called on the laity to vote for ‘‘those who upheld constitutional principles which protected the rights of minorities”.