“To be  or not  to be’    gold, crown offered by  BJP leader to Our  Lady  of Lourdes  Cathedral    here  on Jan 15.

By  our religious Correspondent

Thrissur, March  07  (IVC)    The crown offered by the  noted cine  star  and BJP’s  candidate from the Thrissur Lok  Sabha  Constituency  in the ensuing  elections to the 19^th Lok Sabha, to  Our  Lady  of Lourdes  Cathedral  has become  a great   controversy  whether it was gold or copper. 

                It  is the question, to  be  or  not  to be  gold,  asked among the people here. According to  media   reports,  the corban offered  by  Gopi   to the  deity  of the Lourdes  Cathedral  was   not of gold  but it  was  overlaid  with    forty  grams of gold over the crown  made out  of copper. 

                The   crown was  offered by  Suresh    to  the  deity  of the Loudes  Cathedral  on January  15  on the eve of Suresh  Gopi’s daughter’s grand marriage  at Gurvayur   in  which   the Honourable  Prime  Minister of India, Narendra Damodar Modi  had attended the wedding and blessed  the couples  besides spending hours with the wedding.

                The  controversy  erupted immediately  after presenting the  crown to  the deity   as  it  fell down  and broke into pieces. The  pessimists  propagated   that it was an ominous sign and not  an auspicious one for it fell down and broke. It  had national  and international  media coverage  as it was a Hindu  BJP  leader presented a crown, whether it was gold or copper, to  the deity  of  the Church

                The  social  media reported recently  that  the crown weighed  666  grams , of  which   only  six  grams  gold  and the remaining was copper. 

                When  contacted, the Church sources said that the church hierarchy was not skeptic of  the quality  and quantity of the crown.  It  was not  proper for the Church  to screen  the objects of corbans  received by  the church. The  sources  said that the church has no ground at all that a man of Suresh Gopi’s  status and  dignity would hoodwink  the deity  of the Lourdes  Cathedral,  by  offering  a copper crown  and publicise it as gold crown.

                The  Cathedral was  the appropriate authority   to say the crown offered by Gopi was of  god or copper. It  was not  the  practice of the Church  to screen each  and every   article   received  it  as corbans   as it  would have adverse effect. The  Church  sources said that it was the cheap  political strategy  of the opposition  to  tarnish  the  image of Suresh  Gopi  to a great extent  for which  the Church  would not  be a party at all.

                When contacted the goldsmith  who  made the crown for Suresh  Gopi said on anonymity  said that the cine star   had entrusted with him some  gold  directing him  to make a beautiful  and   attractive crown   and he returned the remaining gold to  Gopi after the work of crown was over.

                It  was  difficult  to  believe that some quantity  of  gold  was  handed over  to the  goldsmith   without ascertaining the exact  quantity of gold.

                The  mystery  was  surrounded  over the quality  of the crown   as neither the Church  nor the Suresh  Gopi  specifically  stated  the  crown  was   with gold or copper. The  fresh controversy  came up  in public   when a UDF councilor of the Thrissur   Corporation put  forward  a question in the parish  meeting about  the  quality  and quantity  of the crown  offered by Suresh  Gopi  to  the deity  of the Lourdes  Cathedral  on Jan 15.