Kottayam: On Thursday, a Catholic bishop sparked controversy by claiming that Christian girls in Kerala were largely falling prey to ‘love and narcotic jihad’ and that extremists used such methods to destroy youth belonging to other faiths wherever the use of arms was forbidden. Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, bishop of Pala in Kottayam district under the Syro Malabar Church, made the controversial comments during a church-related ceremony the other day. In addition, he cited the recent statement of former police chief Loknath Behra that sleeper cells are present in Kerala and the state has become a recruiting ground for extremist groups.
For jihadis, non-Muslims must be destroyed, Kallarangatt said. ‘They are resorting to many modus operandi to achieve this objective. Two such are ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’ that is widely being discussed.’ As he explained, ‘narcotic or drug jihad’ refers to the practice of making non-Muslim youths addicted to drugs. ‘The increasing ganja trade is pointing towards this practice. Ice cream parlours and hotels run by those following extremist ideologies are even using drugs to destroy non-Muslim youths. Details of those being held in connection with rave parties that promote drug use are also vindicating these facts,’ he said while speaking about inter-religious marriages.
Besides alleging that jihadis were trained in brainwashing girls of other religions, Kallarangatt pointed out that Christian and Hindu girls from the state had been converted and sent to terrorist camps in Afghanistan recently. The matter needs to be seriously examined in terms of how they have been converted and reached terrorist camps abroad, he added.
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‘Nowadays, Christian girls are largely becoming victims of such traps… We need to recognise that jihadis, with extreme mindset, have laid the trap in schools, colleges, hostels, commercial establishments and other such public places and institutions with an aim to lure the girls at their tender age,’ he said.
The Catholic priest even stated that people that try to deny the existence of terrorism and ‘narcotic jihad’ in the state are shutting their eyes to reality. ‘The politicians, socio-cultural leaders and journalists, who try to deny the fact, may have their own vested interests to do so,’ he added.
Kerala’s Christian churches have been alleging ‘love jihad’ and the BJP has backed it. During the recent Assembly election campaign in Kerala, BJP leaders raised this issue in order to woo the Christian vote banks of the state. Yogi Adityanath even asked why Kerala’s government did not bring in a law against ‘love jihad’.
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