Kerala Bishop's ‘narcotics jihad’ remark creates communal divide in Kerala

A Bishop’s anti-Muslim sermon at a Church in Kerala has caused quite a stir, leading to calls for action against him.

Joseph Kallarangatt of Pala Diocese gave a sermon on Thursday wherein he christened a new phrase— 'narcotics jihad'—an attempt by Muslims in Kerala to lure Christians towards Islam with the help of drugs.

The Bishop said that the Christian community had been facing a lot of issues due to ‘love and narcotics jihad’ and extremists were using such this route to destroy youth and to lure Christian women in particular.

Various religious organisations, both Christian and non-Christian, denounced the Bishop’s remarks. Reformist groups within the Church alleged that the Bishop was making communal statements to appease the right-wing and the BJP for aid. The Bishop was earlier in news for donating money to RSS for the Ram Mandir initiative.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that there was no need to give narcotics a religious colour. Opposition Congress too called it ‘an unfortunate incident’.

Meanwhile, BJP has supported and backed the Bishop’s communal preaching. Further it appealed to the central government to bring legislation to deal with so called ‘narco terrorism’ and ‘love jihad’.