Thiruvananthapuram, April 5 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, state Congress President K. Sudhakaran and others on Saturday slammed the mindset of the RSS even as it withdrew an article that appeared in their mouthpiece about the land holdings of the Catholic Church and the Waqf Board.

No sooner did the article appear than the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said that after Muslims, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to go after Christians.

The Parliament had, this week, passed the Waqf (Amendment) Bill after a heated debate. Incidentally, during the debate in both houses, the opposition MPs had stated that with this legislation, the government is targeting the Waqf properties and subsequently, they will shift the focus towards other minority communities, including Christians.

Vijayan, who is busy at the ongoing 24th Party Congress of his CPI-M in Tamil Nadu's Madurai, took to his X account to express his opinion. "The article in the RSS mouthpiece @eOrganiser about the Church's ownership of land, published soon after the Waqf Amendment Act was passed, lays bare the Sangh Parivar's deep-rooted antagonism towards minorities. Though later withdrawn, it reveals a deliberate, step-by-step attempt to target and isolate minorities and their institutions. Secular forces must unite in resistance", he wrote.

Sudhakaran, in a statement, said it is strange that the RSS mouthpiece is coming out with baseless articles and is nothing but spitting communal venom.

"The article points out that after the government, it's the Catholic church which holds the maximum land and fixed assets, and then only the Waqf assets come. This mouthpiece is one which puts out utterly baseless reports, and there was one which said that Congress MP Benny Behanan has resigned in protest over the Congress opposing the Waqf Bill. Fail to understand why such baseless reports are put out," asked Sudhakaran, who is also the Lok Sabha member from Kannur.

Congress General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal said the 'article' in Organiser is very clear in showing that after Muslims, now it's going to be the Christians.

"It has reached a stage where 'vested interests' have a game plan to see that the Hindus, Muslims, and Christians in Kerala take on one another. Just see what has happened to the Empuraan film, when nothing happened to those who were behind films like Kashmir Files and Kerala Story," said Venugopal, referring to the ED raids at the residence and office of "Empuraan" co-producer Gokulam Gopalan.

The Catholic Church, meanwhile, has preferred to remain silent on the article.

/IANS