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Centre will call meeting of Christian leaders over ‘narcotic jihad’ row: BJP MP Suresh Gopi
The BJP was first to support the bishop when he said on September 9 that Catholic girls and youth were targeted by elements behind ‘narcotic jihad’. His statement triggered a war of words between different communities and opposition parties urged the government to call an all-party meeting
Thiruvananthapuram:
A day after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan rejected the opposition demand for an all-party meeting to discuss the situation arising out of the controversial ‘narcotic jihad’ statement of the Pala bishop, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Suresh Gopi on Thursday said the union government will call a meeting of Christian leaders soon to discuss their concerns.
“The union government will hear Christian leaders patiently. It is not fair that the bishop is singled out and attacked by all. Whatever he has raised the state government will have to look into it,” the Rajya Sabha MP, who had called on Pala bishop Joseph Kallarangatt a couple of days back, told reporters in the state capital. He denied speculations that he was shortlisted for the state party’s president’s post.
The BJP was first to support the bishop when he said on September 9 that Catholic girls and youth were targeted by elements behind ‘narcotic jihad’. Later many party leaders called on him. His statement triggered a war of words between different communities and opposition parties urged the government to call an all-party meeting. But the CM said there was no need to call a meeting to discuss what he said a “non-existent issue.” He said attributing crimes related to narcotics to a particular religion is wrong.
Meanwhile, Syro-Malabar church, strongest among church denominations, rallied behind the bishop and said his statement was a warning against certain evil tendencies, such as growing narcotics use, and that it was not meant against any community. The church said the ‘narcotic jihad’ was a term coined by the European Foundation for South Eastern Studies in 2017 relating to the growing narcotic trade in Afghanistan.
The bishop’s statement triggered a raging debate in the state. “Wherever arms are not used, narcotic drugs are being used and Catholic girls turn victims. Some groups are functioning in the state to support them. To understand this, one needs to analyse how women from other religions landed in the Islamic State camps,” he had said. The bishop was referring to 21 people from north Kerala who reportedly joined the Islamic State in 2016.
