By TCN Staff Reporter,
Thiruvananthapuram: The Love Jihad hate campaign and allegations of forced religious conversions against the Muslim community in Kerala received a serious setback as the state Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stated that the phenomenon is not yet a threat in the state, and there is no forced conversion here. He was responding to a query by KK Lathika, MLA in the Kerala Assembly.
Chandy said that there are no pending complaints regarding forced religious conversions in the state. Taking into account the number of conversions since 2006, the CM noted that the rate is comparatively less compared to other states. Most among these conversions are associated with intercommunity marriages and this is not prohibited by law in the state. There are even organisations working to promote such intercommunity marriages, CM observed.
Chandy assured investigations and strict actions against the ones disrupting the communal texture of the state by making religious conversions an issue. Kerala has been good at maintaining communal harmony and this has been its strength since times, so the government is committed to preserving it at any cost. Until now there are no such threats of forced religious conversions and there are no evidences of any external forces working towards such a goal. He said that the government will take strict measures against religious extremism.
Responding to the CM’s explanation KK Lathika demanded strict actions against forced religious conversions before it could turn a social menace. CM responded to this saying that the issue of religious conversion is bringing in unnecessary controversies into the social life of Kerala. Chandy observed that there are attempts to harass the Muslim community through campaigns based on ‘Love Jihad’ and ‘Moral Policing’. As most of the religious conversions are based on love marriages, it is not right to campaign against and victimise a particular community, he said. The government will take a note of attempts from the part of religious extremists for forced religious conversion, if any, he asserted.
The CM’s statement in the Kerala assembly is a serious blow to the Hindutva sponsored ‘Love Jihad’ hate campaign against Muslim youths that surfaced again after a brief lull. There are attempts and even conspiracies to hide the number of religious conversions to Hindu/Christian communities and to hype this numbers with regard to conversion to the Muslim community.
It is the home ministry department that submits factual reports regarding the religious conversions to the Kerala govt. The saffron minded bureaucrats in the home ministry seem to be focussed in taking an account of the religious conversions to Muslim community solely and this is an obvious attempt to create communal tensions as the Sangh influenced media sections in the state are waiting to publish such reports to support their hate campaigns against the community, by quoting these figures as home ministry and intelligence reports, whereby they too would turn a blind eye towards conversion to Christianity/Hindu religions.
Within past two months the Kalakaumudi weekly had twice published hate campaigning reports against the Muslim community and their claims regarding ‘Love Jihad in Kerala’ seems to have received a serious set back with the CM’s statement in the Kerala assembly last day.
The Home Ministry’s report submitted to the Kerala govt says that since 2006, 2687 ladies got converted to Islam, out of which 2195 are Hindus and 492 are Christians. The report submitted to the govt didn’t mention anything regarding conversions to Hinduism and Christianity during 2006-09. The report has reference on 79 ladies converted to Christianity and eight ladies converted to Hinduism through the Arya Samajam located at Thiruvananthapuram from 2009-12.
The reports and numbers submitted before the govt well prove that the Home Ministry department is submitting details of conversions to Islam before the govt on a monthly basis and the govt is not receiving any such exact reports regarding conversions to Christianity/Hinduism as the officials turn a blind eye towards such details.
Related links in TwoCircles.net:
1. http://twocircles.net/2012jun23/muslim_youths_again_targeted_%E2%80%98love_jihad%E2%80%99_hate_campaign_kerala.html
2. http://twocircles.net/2012jan15/love_jihad_hate_campaign_kerala_police_lodges_case_against_hindutva_website.html