Kerala: Battle Lines Drawn Over The So-Called "Narcotics Jihad"
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2021-09-14 10:31:28
About the Author
What is happening in Kerala is dangerous. Muslim and Christian groups are taking out processions against and in support of a controversial statement by an influential Catholic bishop which has caused deep fissures in the two minority communities and has also allowed the BJP to meddle in the issue. The bishop has alleged that a "narcotics jihad" was being waged by Muslim groups targeting youth from other communities. He also alleged that Muslims were also targeting Christian girls in the state through "love jihad". The last allegation was also made by the Catholic Church some years ago.
Kerala is the most religiously diverse state in India. Its population has 54.75 percent Hindus, 26.5 percent Muslims and 18.5 percent Christians. The fight between the two sizeable minority communities has offered the BJP a golden opportunity to promote Islamophobia and demand a Central law to deal with the twin menace of love and narcotics jihad. While the Catholic Church is being backed by Kerala Congress (M) (a constituent of the ruling LDF government) and the influential Nair community's Nair Service Society, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, leaders from the Congress and civil activists, including Catholics, have criticized the bishop and the church for supporting him.
The way the battleground is being readied, it seems that the social fabric of the state will be shredded and communal peace and harmony will be disturbed. Religious communities in Kerala have historically displayed exemplary restraint and have not indulged in unnecessary confrontation. But this issue threatens to change that and Christians and Hindus seem to be ganging up against the Muslims who are being painted as villains. But the matter is not so simple.
If indeed drugs are being sold and Muslims are selling them, the government needs to crack down on the peddlers as well as cut off the supplies. But to give it a religious colour and term it as jihad is wrong. Drug peddlers have no religion. If peddlers are Muslims, their suppliers could be Hindus and Christians and the manufacturers could again be from any community. Further, to say that Muslims are peddling drugs solely to endanger youths of other communities is to argue that drugs are not being sold to Muslim youth, which is wrong. Drug dealers and peddlers have profit as their sole motive and calling it "narcotics jihad" is unnecessarily giving it a communal colour. The administration must crack down on the drug trade and nip the mischief in the bud.
