Thiruvananthapuram, Monday, February 06, 2012: Labour Minister Shibu Baby John today came down heavily on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for portraying the Last Supper painting in a demeaning manner.

The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with His Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. Speaking to the reporters here on Monday, Minister added that the CPM move was unfortunate and highly condemnable.

The board, depicting US President Barack Obama at a table along with Congress and BJP leaders, was a takeoff on Leonardo da Vinci’s famous ‘The Last Supper’, showing Jesus with his disciples.

CPI(M), however, claimed it had no knowledge of how the board had landed at the party’s state conference at Thirkannapuram near here and said it had no intention “to blemish the values of Jesus Christ or Christianity”.

“The board was put up without the knowledge of any responsible party worker… the party has no intention to blemish the values of Christ or Christianity,” CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said.

“The moment the matter came to the notice of the local party leaders, it was removed from the place by the party itself,” Vijayan said, adding the incident had happened a week ago and the board had been displayed in public for only about 30 minutes.

Vijayan was reacting to the news report in a Malayalam daily about the board, titled ‘The Last Supper of Capitalism’.

The controversy comes close on the heels of the criticism faced by the party over the display of a painting of Jesus along with icons of Communism like Karl Marx, Lenin and Che Guevera at a CPI-M organised exhibition in the city.

The party had defended itself saying Jesus was a frontline soldier for the liberation of the suppressed in human history.

Alleging that there was an attempt to tarnish the image of the party, CPI(M) District Secretary Kadakampalli Surenderan said the party has filed a complaint with the police on the matter.

“The party suspects that there is a conspiracy to soil the image of the party,” he said.

(News agency)