By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, Jan 15, 2020: The Syro-Malabar Church, the largest Christian denomination in Kerala, alleges that Islamic State has lured scores of Christian women from the southern Indian state to be used in terror activities.
“Love jihad is a reality,” asserted the Church’s synod that on January 15 concluded its weeklong meeting at St Thomas Mount, its headquarters at Kakkanad, a suburb of Kochi.
Love Jihad or Romeo Jihad is the alleged effort by Muslim men in targeting women belonging to other religious communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love.
The Syro-Malabar synod, chaired by the Church’s head Cardinal George Alencherry, also accused the Kerala police of not viewing the matter seriously or taking timely action in ‘Love Jihad’ cases.
“There are circumstances in which Christian girls are killed in the name of Love Jihad in Kerala,” the synod alleged.
It is a matter of concern that Love Jihad is gaining grounds in Kerala putting in danger its social peace and communal harmony, the Synod said. “It is a reality that ‘Love Jihad’ is happening in Kerala in a planned manner targeting Christian girls,” it said.
The Synod, referring to a police record, said out of 21 people who were recruited into Islamic State terror outfit in recent years, half of them were converted from Christian faith and it should be an eye opener for the community.
Noting that unofficial accounts say many girls were being used in terror activities through Love Jihad, the Synod said it was a serious matter and such accounts state that Love Jihad is not only “in the imagination.”
The Church with more than 5 million followers all over the world demanded speedy action against the culprits involved in the ‘Love Jihad.’ It also wants parents and children sensitized about the dangers of Love Jihad.
The Synod, however, clarified it was not assessing the ‘Love Jihad’ as an issue affecting the friendship between religions and urged the government to treat it as one related to law and order and not as a religious matter.
The synod statement, issued through the Church’s Media Commission, also referred to attacks against Christians across the world.
The synod statement has elicited mixed responses from other religious communities in Kerala.
The Popular Front of India, an Islamic outfit, denied the charges and questioned the “timing” of the synod statement and urged the Church to withdraw it immediately “as it would only help create division amid growing unity among various sections of society against Hindutva Fascism.”
The front, often being accused of playing key roles in alleged ‘Love Jihad’ cases in Kerala, claimed that the state police, after conducting a thorough probe, had earlier submitted a report in the Kerala High Court, stating that there was no cases of ‘Love Jihad’ in the state.
“The Church is raising such a baseless allegation at a time when the minorities including Muslims and Christians and the people of Hindu community are in a joint fight against the Fascist government at the Centre,” it added.
The Church’s “untimely statement” would only help divert people’s attention from the key issues affecting society, the outfit’s Kerala president Naziruddin Elamaram said.
“I don’t know their interest in making such a statement at this juncture,” he said and claimed no Muslim community has held ‘Love Jihad’ to increase the number of Muslims in Kerala.
He also pointed out inter-religious marriages in Kerala where Muslim girls married Hindu and Christian boys and Hindu and Christian girls selecting partners from the religions of their choice. “Such marriages cannot be termed as ‘Love Jihad,’” he asserted.
Meanwhile the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP, world Hindu council), a rightwing group, welcomed the Church statement and called for a united fight against ‘Love Jihad’ in Kerala society.
Former VHP president SJR Kumar claimed that ‘Love Jihad’ exists in Kerala society.
He alleged that Kerala has centers to “convert Hindu and Christian girls who are being lured into the trap of love by youths with criminal backgrounds”.
“We have brought this issue into the attention of the Kerala society much earlier. But nobody listened to us.
Now, we are happy that the Bishops have realized the threat of Love Jihad. It is the time of a joint fight against this menace,” Kumar said and alleged that Muslim men trap Hindu and Christian women into marriage and forcing them to convert to Islam.
“The converted Hindu and Christian girls are being used in drug trafficking and terrorism,” Kumar alleged.
This is not the first time that the church has leveled the love jihad allegations.
The concept rose to national attention in India in 2009 with alleged conversions first in Kerala and subsequently, in Karnataka.
The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council had in 2009 alleged that around 4,500 girls had been targeted in the state. The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (Front to awaken Hindu people) claimed that 30,000 girls had been converted in neighboring Karnataka state.
In September 2019, Father Antony Thalachelloor, the then secretary of Syro-Malabar Media Commission, had termed as a cause of great worry that Christian girls were most targeted lot.
On September 26, 2019, George Kurian, vice chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah, asking for a probe by National Investigation Agency into cases of ‘love jihad’ by Islamic radicals. “The spate of organized religious conversions and using the victims for terror activities by trapping them through ‘love jihad’ has shown the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals,” he alleged.