Kerala home to love and narcotic jihad, says Catholic bishop

A Catholic bishop in Kerala on Thursday remarked that Christian girls are largely falling prey to 'love and narcotic jihad'. Extremists are using such methods to destroy the youth of other religions wherever they cannot employ arms, he said. Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, belonging to the Syro Malabar Church, was addressing devotees during a church celebration at Kuruvilangad, Kottayam. The comment has triggered controversy.

Non-Muslim girls, particularly those belonging to the Christian community, are being converted after trapping them in love as part of love-jihad, he said. They are then exploited and misused for destructive activities like terrorism, he alleged.

Jihadis, who cultivate communalism, religious disharmony, intolerance and contempt across the world, are using different means to destroy other religions in Kerala as well, he said. Furthermore, jihadis are trained in trapping and brainwashing girls of other religions, he alleged. It's mostly Christian and Hindu girls from Kerala who have been converted and sent to terrorist camps in Afghanistan. The matter warrants serious examination as to how they were converted and reached the terrorist camps abroad, he added.

"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.

He further quoted former DGP Loknath Behera and said that Kerala has turned out to be a recruiting centre of terrorists. The southern state is a sleeper cell of extremist groups, he added.

"Nowadays, Christian girls are largely becoming victims of such traps...We need to recognise that jihadis, with extreme mindset, have laid the trap in schools, colleges, hostels, commercial establishments and other such public places and institutions with an aim to lure the girls at their tender age," he said.

The Catholic Bishop further added that those who deny the existence of these 'jihads' were shutting their eyes to reality. He said, "The politicians, socio-cultural leaders and journalists, who try to deny the fact, may have their own vested interests to do so."