‘Non-Muslims are being killed’: Bishop’s address about non-Muslims is inciting controversy in Kerala

In Kerala, a Catholic bishop courted controversy after he claimed that Muslims are trying to destroy non-Muslims with tactics like ‘narcotic jihad’ and ‘love jihad’. The Bishop of the Syro Malabar Church, Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, has alleged that jihadists are using insidious, nonviolent means to convert youth from other religions.

‘They realized that taking up weapons and destroying others isn’t easy in a nation like India. So instead, they are using other means. The aim of their campaign is to promote their religion and eliminate non-Muslims. ‘Love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’ are being used,’ said Bishop Kallarangatt while addressing a congregation in Kuruvilangad, Kottayam district.

According to the bishop, extremists are trying to sow the seeds of communalism, religious disharmony, and intolerance in Kerala to destroy other religions. To achieve their objectives, they were targeting women belonging to other faiths for economic gains and using ‘love jihad’ as a means of achieving their goals, he said. According to Bishop Kallarangatt, Jihadis use women from other religions for misusing, for terrorist activities, or for economic gains through ‘love jihad’. It’s not simply a love marriage. It’s a war strategy.

This isn’t Bishop Kallarangatt’s first time making polarizing remarks. He had voiced alarm over rumors that various groups were conspiring to convert Christian girls by trapping them in love. During his address on Thursday, the Catholic priest said that jihadists were trained in brainwashing girls from other religions and that Christian and Hindu girls from Kerala had been converted and sent to terrorist camps in Afghanistan.

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According to Bishop Kallarangatt, Christian girls nowadays are largely victims of such traps. ‘In schools, colleges, hostels, commercial establishments, and other such public places and institutions, the jihadis currently enjoy laying such traps to lure girls at their tender age’. Further, he said that politicians, socio-cultural leaders and journalists were denial of the realities of ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’ for their own vested interests.