Kerala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Pala Diocese, while addressing a Church gathering on September 9, said "narcotic jihadis" are spoiling the lives of non-Muslims. The Bishop offered no material proof to support his theory. However, the Kerala Catholic Church Council and several other dioceses supported Bishop Kallarangat's comments.
Earlier, the Church had accused a section of the Muslim community of using love as a tool to lure girls belonging to other faiths into their fold. We should note here that the Union and the state government have denied any "love jihad" in Kerala. Despite this, the Church and the Sangh Parivar organisations have continued to raise this issue repeatedly.
What reasons prompt the Church to indulge in a campaign that could have severe societal repercussions?
Political considerations are the main factor. The Christian community has been the bedrock of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala since the formation of the state. The Congress party waged the infamous liberation struggle against the first communist government led by EMS Namboodiripad, with the wholehearted support of the Church and other religious organisations.
Despite the formation of the Kerala Congress, the Christian Church continued to wield tremendous influence in the Congress party. But with the Congress party weakening, the Church seems to be changing its political preferences. The Church is also sceptical of the increased influence of the Indian Union Muslim League in the Congress-led UDF.
Also read: Only obstacle before Sangh Parivar in establishing Hindu Rashtra is India's history: Kerala CM
These factors might have led the Church to become more pragmatic towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP has failed to consolidate Hindu votes in Kerala. Hence, the BJP sees the disenchantment of the Christian leaders with the Congress as a godsend. It understands the importance of garnering the Christian votes if it breaks the binary in Kerala politics between the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led UDF.
Before the state Assembly polls earlier this year, church leaders met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and, according to media reports, expressed their concerns, including increased restrictions on foreign contributions to churches. The BJP has been consistently taking a pro-Christian stand on a host of issues ever since. But all those attempts failed to bear fruit for the BJP in the Assembly elections.
Responding to the Bishop's allegation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said those in responsible positions should be cautious about stoking societal divisions. The Congress party's VD Satheesan was more forthright. He said the Sangh Parivar is working to create Muslim-Christian sectarianism in the state. But the BJP was quick to seize the opportunity. It asked the Union government's intervention and said it endorsed the Church's position on narcotic jihad.
According to a Lokniti-CSDS survey, the BJP, which got 10 per cent of the Christian votes in 2016, could get only two per cent in the 2021 assembly elections even though the BJP was consistently raising the bogey of love jihad and conversion issues with the Church.
With the Church being more aggressive now, the saffron forces in the state are sure to push their polarisation agenda in the coming days. The saffron party knows the battle is a long drawn one, and it has to keep the Church in good humour.
Apart from the political imperatives, there are other reasons for the Church to take up this divisive issue vociferously.
The Cardinal of Syro Malabar Church, Mar George Alancherry, faced serious charges of financial misconduct, leading to open protests from the believers of the Church. The High Court has recently asked the Cardinal to face trial in the case, denting the image of the Syro Malabar Church. Then there are cases of sexual misconduct involving priests have been that have surfaced recently, and the Church's attempt to protect the accused has come for criticism. It has caused disenchantment among the believers. Some feel the love jihad and narcotic jihad bogeys are attempts by the leaders of the Church to divert the attention of the believers by pointing towards an imagined enemy.
Like in other parts of the country, in Kerala, too, the BJP devised "love jihad" as a plank to target Muslims. The Sangh Parivar has also targeted Christian missionaries, but it seems to have successfully sold its agenda to the Church in Kerala. In the long run, this could have a detrimental effect on the social fabric of one of India's most religiously diverse states. According to the 2011 census, 54.73 per cent of the state's population is Hindu, Muslims constitute 25.56 per cent, while 18.38 per cent are Christians.
While the controversy around "narcotic jihad" and "love jihad" continued unabated, Asianet News published a research report on the status of religious conversions in the state between January 2021 and September 2021. Based on the data from the government gazette, the report stated that a significant chunk of the conversions took place from Christianity to Hinduism and not Islam, as suspected by the Church leaders.
Of the 449 people who converted to other faiths, according to the report, 116 Christians converted to the Hindu religion. Only 45 of those who converted from Christianity chose Islam. Of those 116 Christians who converted to the Hindu religion, the majority are Dalits, laying bare the caste prejudices in the Christian Church in Kerala. These are facts based on official reports. However, those who attempt to take political mileage by pitting one group against another and the ones who fall prey to divisive agenda seldom care about the facts.
Amid such bleak developments came the silver lining a couple of days after the Bishop's "narcotic jihad" comments. On Sunday, sister Anupama Kelamangalathuveliyil and three other nuns, Alphy Pallasseril, Ancitta Urumbil, and Josephine Villoonnickal, boycotted the service when a priest allegedly delivered hate speech against Muslims at the St Francis Mission Home, Kuravilangad.
"Christ taught us to love everyone, to care for neighbours and against communalism. But the priest during the mass said that vegetables should not be bought from shops run by Muslims and asked us not to travel in autorickshaws they drive. He has been making such vitriolic statements earlier also against Muslims. Today we could not help but walk out of the mass in protest," they said. The nuns had earlier come out against the Church when it had tried to protect rape accused Bishop Franco Mulllaikkal.
(The writer is a Kochi-based journalist)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.