Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
A day after Kerala's catholic church bishop triggered a controversy saying Christian girls were largely falling prey to "love and narcotic jihad" in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said those in responsible positions should be cautious not to make religious division in society.
Speaking on the matter, Kerala CM said, "Pala Bishop is influential and a religious scholar. We're hearing the term 'narcotic jihad' for first time. Problem of narcotics doesn't affect a particular religion alone, it affects society as a whole. We are worried about it."
The chief minister continued and said, "We're strengthening legal action. Narcotics don't have colour of religion, its colour is anti-social. Not clear what he meant, not understanding that in what circumstances he said it. Those in responsible positions should be cautious not to make religious division in society."
The Bishop on Thursday said that wherever arms cannot be used, extremists were using such methods to destroy the youth belonging to other religions.
Muslim outfits protested the statement of Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, alleging that it was meant to create a communal divide in Kerala society.
Addressing devotees during a church celebration at Kuravilangad in this district, the Bishop said as part of the "love jihad", non-Muslim girls, especially those belonging to the Christian community, were largely being converted after trapping them in love and being exploited and misused for destructive activities like terrorism.
Cautioning against the presence of Jihadis, who try to cultivate communalism, religious disharmony, intolerance and contempt across the world, in Kerala also, the Bishop, belonging to the Syro-Malabar Church of the Catholic Church, said they were using different means to destroy other religions.
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"Two such means are love jihad and narcotic jihad. As jihadis know that it is not easy to destroy people belonging to other religions using weapons in a democratic country like ours, they attempt other such means to achieve their target," Kallarangatt alleged.
Quoting the recent statements of former state police chief Loknath Behera, he said Kerala had turned out to be a recruiting center of terrorists and a sleeper cell of extremist groups was present in the southern state.
Alleging that jihadists 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.
ALSO READ | Christian girls falling prey to 'love and narcotic jihad' in Kerala: Catholic Bishop
