Love and narcotic jihad exists in Kerala: Catholic Bishop

A Catholic bishop on Thursday triggered a controversy, saying that Christian girls were largely falling prey to "love and narcotic jihad" in Kerala and wherever arms cannot be used, extremists were using such methods to destroy the youth belonging to other religions.

Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, bishop of Pala in Kottayam district under the Syro Malabar Church, made the controversial remarks during a church-related ceremony the other day. He also referred to a recent statement of Kerala former state police chief Loknath Behra that sleeper cells are present in Kerala and the state has become a recruiting place for extremist outfits.

Kallarangatt said that for jihadis, non-Muslims have to be destroyed. "They are resorting to many modus operandi to achieve this objective. Two such are 'love jihad' and 'narcotic jihad' that is widely being discussed."

He elaborated that 'narcotic or drug jihad' refers to the practice of destroying the life of non-Muslim youths by making them drug addicts. "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.

Alleging that jihadis were trained in trapping and brainwashing girls belonging to other religions, Kallarangatt noted that it was Christian and Hindu girls from the state who had been converted and sent to the terrorist camps in Afghanistan recently.

The matter should be examined seriously how they had been converted and reached the terrorist camps abroad, he added.

"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 said that those, who try to establish that 'love and narcotic jihad' does not exist in the state, were just 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.

Various Christian churches in Kerala have been alleging 'love jihad' in Kerala and the BJP had also backed it. Even during the recent Assembly election campaign in Kerala, the BJP leaders had raised the issue in a bid to woo the Christian vote banks of the state. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath even asked why the Kerala government was not bringing in law against 'love jihad'.

(With PTI inputs)

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