The latest allegations made by the Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) George Kurian and the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP)’s Vellappally Natesan have fuelled the conversion debate in Kerala. According to Kurian, more than 50% of interfaith marriages take place to recruit terrorists. Apparently, Christian missionaries were converting more people in Kerala than the Muslim groups. George Kurian had called for legislation to stop marriage recruitment to terrorism. It is known as ‘love jihad’, George said, adding that many recruits to the Islamic State (IS) were married by fraud.
‘It was a recruit to terrorism and not a real marriage. That is why we ask the government to pass appropriate legislation to curtail these activities,’ he said. George Kurian said, ‘The situation is such that in Kerala it will explode at any time. Religious leaders are suspicious, and recently the Pala Bishop [Joseph Kallarangatt] called on the government to stop ‘narcotic jihad’. Narcotics are distributed freely in Kerala with no control from the higher ups.
Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt recently claimed that Christian women were falling victims to ‘love jihad’ and ‘narcotic jihad’. Non-Muslims were also subjected to narcotic-jihad in Kerala, he claimed. On Monday, religious leaders met to discuss communal harmony after his allegations sparked a huge controversy.
SNDP is attacking Christian missionaries.
SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, however, slammed Christian missionaries, claiming that they were responsible for more conversions than Muslim groups. The SNDP leader objected to Father Roy Kannanchira’s claim that Ezhava youth are luring Christian women. Asserting that priesthood should not be a license to say whatever they like, Vellappally condemned the priest’s statement.
MEETING OF RELIGIOUS LEADER REQUESTED
Natesan Christians act as an organized vote bank. On Monday, members of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church gathered together under the leadership of Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, the Major Archbishop of that church, to discuss the ‘narcotic jihad’ remark made by Pala Bishop. At the meeting, a proposal was made to form local committees with different religious leaders as members. Such issues could be discussed at the local level by these committees, according to the religious leaders.
After the meeting, Cardinal Cleemis and Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal, the Kerala Muslim Youth League president, spoke to the media. In Kerala, the Muslim and Christian communities are getting a little bit distant due to expressions of mistrust. Cardinal Cleemis said that the communities are not ‘so divided’ but the meeting was intended to prevent this from happening.
HARMONY FORUM
As a forum in inter-religious harmony and as a member of the universal Catholic Church tasked with inter-religious dialogue, I thought it was our responsibility to meet. Cleemis said, ‘This is not a permanent structure of a permanent forum. We have been praying over this theme. I found it very meaningful that we could discuss the many aspects of living together as one community. The delegates know our people in Kerala, which is known for its secular credentials as well as its religiosity and a sense of belonging to one another as a nation. They have welcomed it positively’.
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He added, ‘We have also come together to promise our countrymen that we will work together to eradicate hatred, distrust, and separation. In our secular India, the meeting focused primarily on promoting inter-religious dialogue and living together harmoniously as countrymen. The priority was to live in villages as one family as brothers and sisters, and in every place where we were able to live as one flock expressing our faith in different ways,’ said Cleemis.
During the meeting, Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal said, ‘We had a very productive discussion. We all expressed our views and concerns. It was a productive and hopeful meeting. We don’t want any controversy or dispute. It was a positive meeting for the community. If there is any pain in any community, we will deal with it through healthy discussion. We did not discuss the statement. The discussion was on strengthening our communal harmony’.
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