Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan counters 'Love Jihad', 'Narcotics Jihad'; calls claims baseless

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday while claimed that controversies such as love Jihad and Narcotics Jihad lacked factual backing. CM Vijayan also brought up the topic of Malayalis joining ISIS and spoke on efforts to de-radicalise. CM Vijayan also mentioned during his address that the concern regarding forced conversions from Christianity to Islam in the state was also not true

While speaking on the issue, the Kerala CM also ruled out the demands of the Opposition for chairing a meeting revolving around issues of 'Love Jihad' and 'Narcotic Jihad'. Detailing on it, CM Vijayan said, "Now, there is no need for such a meeting. The political parties can use their respective platforms to spread the message of peace and unity to counter it. There are some with vested interests who are trying to divide society through religious polarisation. Such attempts will fail in Kerala."

'Efforts made towards deradicalising'

While addressing a press meeting, CM Vijayan termed the propaganda concerning girls from other religions who were lured in the name of love and converted to Islam and further champion the cause of terror organisations as baseless. He said, "The government checked the facts. Of the 100 Malayalees who joined ISIS, 72 went abroad for professional purposes and became attracted to IS ideas and joined it. All of them except one Hindu were from the Muslim community. The other 28 were found to have left Kerala attracted by ISIS ideology. Of those 28 who joined ISIS, only 5 converted from other religions to Islam."

On deradicalising the youth of Kerala

While speaking on the de-radicalisation efforts, CM Vijayan highlighted Kerala Police's work in bringing things under control. He stressed that from 2018, the state police were running a de-radicalisation programme targeted towards the youth. CM Vijayan appended, "Some youths who were influenced by ISIS ideas were de-radicalised and brought back to the mainstream. Counter radicalisation programmes are being run through Mahal committees in various districts which are also successful." Although CM Vijayan mentioned that due to COVID-19 the de-radicalisation program had come to a halt in 2020. CM Vijayan mentioned that it will be restarted again.

While refuting claims of Love Jihad, CM Vijayan also brought up the topic of 'Narcotics Jihad' and said that such claims were unfounded. He went on to iterate that the remark of Pala Bishop on Love Jihad and Narcotic Jihad were unfortunate. He added, "In 2020 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), 1985 Act, 4,941 cases were registered in Kerala. Of the 5,422 accused, 2700 (49.80 per cent) were Hindus, 1869 (34.47 per cent) were Muslims and 853 (15.73 per cent) were Christians. The ratio does not suggest that drug trafficking is based on any particular religion. Also, no cases of religious conversion by forced drug use have been reported."

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image Credits - PTI)