CM Vijayan should convene all-party meeting to address jihad row: Congress

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for "playing hide and seek" on the Catholic bishop's controversial statement on "love and narcotic jihad" in Kerala. The party demanded that things be brought under control by calling an all-party meeting to discuss the issue.

In a statement to the media, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan claimed that while the Sangh Parivar forces are waiting for tensions between two minority communities to worsen, and claimed that Vijayan and his CPI-M want the current unrest to continue.

"We all heard the statement of state Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan saying soon after his meeting with the bishop, that the issue is a closed chapter and with that being the case, Vijayan appears to have reopened the issue... it's here we want Vijayan and the CPI-M to come clean on this issue. He should call a meeting of religious leaders to easily settle the issue... we want to ask what has Vijayan done in this issue," he said.

"It has been so many days and Vijayan is silent. We have made our stand very clear and it is that we will not do anything to disturb the secular credentials of our state and we will never make political capital out of it, while Vijayan is trying his best to make political gains and all that he does is to make statements. Instead of statements, he should ensure things are sorted out amicably. We, the opposition, have created a very good atmosphere for talks and the government if it wished can use that platform. The need of the hour is both the media and political parties have to handle this issue with caution," he added.

while speaking at a function at Marth Mariam Pilgrim Church in Kuruvilangad in Kottayam district on September 9, Pala Archdiocese's Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangat claimed that non-Muslims in Kerala are subjected to "love and narcotic jihad," which is the spoiling of lives, particularly of young people, by making them addicted to drugs.