On Wednesday, Joseph Kallarangatt, a bishop of the Palai diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church claimed that the “narcotic jihad is the activity of spoiling the life of non-Muslims, particularly youths, by making them addicted to drugs.” His claims were met with criticism from the C.M. and the Congress.
“Various types of drugs are being used in ice-cream parlours, hotels and juice corners run by hardcore jihadis. They are using various types of drugs as a weapon to spoil non-Muslims,” he said.
While he was speaking at Marth Mariam Pilgrim Church in Kottayam district, he also made a reference to “love jihad” – a conspiracy theory that had so far widely been espoused by Hindutva activists, according to which Hindu women are forcibly converted by Muslims through marriage.
Although two years back, in February 2019, the Centre had told Lok Sabha that no case of “love jihad” had been reported by any of the central agencies, Kallarangatt claimed that the youth in Kerala were facing an unprecedented crisis due to “love jihad” and “narcotic jihad.”
He also said that many people had lost their jobs and left studies after becoming drug addicts due to “narcotic jihad.”
The bishop alleged that “jihadis” were using “other weapons” as they could not destroy the non-Muslim communities by using arms in a democratic country like India.
“When the agenda is spreading religion and eradication of non-Muslims, the ways for attaining that agenda get manifested in different manners,” he said.
He expressed his views against interfaith marriages although he did not cite any evidence to back his claims.
The Hindu quoted the bishop saying, “To ask what’s wrong with a man and woman from different communities loving each other is a simple question.”
“But how such marriages are taking place and what happens to them afterward is indeed a grand question. Women are seen to directed towards compromising faith and then to terrorism. Our objection lies in here,” he added.
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On Friday, the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders criticised him Catholic bishop for making these dubious claims.
As reported by The Times of India, the C.M., Vijayan said that the problem of addiction to narcotic substances did not affect any particular religion.
Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, also condemned his comments.
The Congress leader said in a Facebook post that community and spiritual leaders should not make statements that could affect peace and mutual trust among people in Kerala.
“It is a grave mistake to count the number of crimes on the basis of caste and religion and blame any particular community for the same,” he said.
Reportedly, a Kottayam-based organisation called the ‘Mahallu Muslim Coordination Committee’ has asked for police action against the bishop under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, the provision pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups on basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc.