Prakash Karat alleged that the BJP-RSS alliance is focusing its attention on Muslims (FILE)
Thiruvananthapuram:
Senior CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat on Friday accused the BJP of creating a communal divide in Kerala by promoting Islamophobia and urged Catholics, whose bishops have accused the southern state of love and drug jihad.
Referring to a recent speech by the Bishop of Pala Diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Mr. Karat said that this widespread allegation has raised alarm and suspicion in Kerala society.
In an article written in party mouthpiece Desabhimani, the CPI(M) politburo member said that the alleged jihadi conspiracy across the political spectrum was exempted, the BJP came forward to support the bishop’s stand and called on the central government to bring it up. . A law against the activities of alleged jihadists.
“For the BJP, this seemed like a good opportunity to create a rift between the Muslim and Christian communities and allay Islamophobia,” he wrote.
He said that as far as the alleged love jihad in Kerala is concerned, a few years back there was a disturbing incident of 21 people leaving their homes and families to go to Afghanistan to join a terrorist organization ISIS-Khorasan.
Given that two of them were Christian women who had converted to Islam and joined their husbands to travel to Afghanistan, one of them had actually married a Christian and both had converted “The jihadi network was behind these recruitment. People and their involvement in extremist ideology,” said Mr. Karat.
He said the concern of the Catholic Church about these two young women being affected by conversion and extremism is understandable.
Mr. Karat said, “It was also right on his part to warn his congregation against falling prey to such extremist influences. However, these were isolated examples.”
He said the investigation by both the state police and the NIA did not show any organized attempt like alleged love jihad to woo non-Muslim women.
Mr. Karat alleged that the BJP-RSS alliance was focusing its attention on Muslims and was cleverly trying to woo the Christian clergy in its favour.
“The Catholic Church, which is the largest denomination among Christians in Kerala, should be aware of the true character of the BJP-RSS. Hindutva forces are running a relentless campaign against religious minorities – be they Muslims or Christians.
“As per a report on ‘Persecution Relief’ from 2016 to 2019, there were 1,774 cases of hate crimes against Christians across the country. There has been an increase of 59.6 per cent in such crimes since 2016.”
The senior CPI(M) leader also accused the Sangh Parivar organizations of presenting a distorted version of the 1921 Malabar Rebellion.
Mr Karat claimed that the Malabar Rebellion was directed against British rule and the zamindar system, which oppressed Muslim farmers.
The CPI(M) leader said, “This was the main character of the revolt despite some attacks on Hindus in the last phase, when the rebellion broke out after being brutally repressed by the British armed forces.”
He further alleged that the RSS has sought to project the Malabar rebellion as not only anti-Hindu but anti-Christian in view of its renewed sympathy for Christians in Kerala.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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