Sunday, April 8, 2012
KERALA CHURCH BACKS KUDAMKULAM STIR
The Latin Catholic Church in Kerala has come out with a total support for the Tamilnadu's Idinthakarai village against the Nuclear power plant in Kudankulam.
The Thiruvananthapuram Arch Bishop of the Latin Church, Rev. Dr. Susai Pakyam said on Friday that it was unfair from the part of the government to suppress the opposition to the Nuclear power plant.
The Archbishop said “We are not against progress. But human life and property should not be threatened in the name of progress. We are installing nuclear power plants (while) they are being abandoned the world over,” He was addressing the faithful after the ceremonial way of the cross procession marking Good Friday in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Latin Church has come in with its total support because it is constituted of fishermen in Kerala to its major part. And the Kudankulam stir has fishermen as its main participants.He also stated the harmful effects of the refusals from the plant to marine resources.The Archbishop added“Nobody has any idea as to what could be done in the event of an accident at the plant,”
He continued, "Nobody gives a clear explanation as to how a tragedy in the plant would affect the people. Apart from that, the hot water released from the plant would kill the fish wealth of the sea. This would affect the livelihood of fishermen of Kudankulam.”
He said that the nuclear plant was a threat not only to the people of Kudankulam and other areas in Tamil Nadu but to Kerala also. “Any accident there will have its effects not only on Thiruvananthapuram but it could extend to several other districts in Kerala,” the Archbishop said.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Food poisoning in a Jesuit run orphanage in Kerala
Food poisoning in a Jesuit run orphanage in Kerala
KOTTAYAM: Thirteen Children were admitted to hospital on Saturday night for food poisoning from a Jesuit run orphanage in Thodupuzha, near Kottayam in Kerala.
The children suffered diarrhea and vomiting after they had consumed biscuits given along with tea in the evening. Those who didn’t have biscuits were keeping fine, nuns in the orphanage said. The children were reportedly given ‘sun feast’ biscuits.
The orphanage Snehabhavan literally meaning ‘home of love’ caters to persons with disabilities. It is registered institution, registered in the year 1990.
Late Fr.Joseph Kannampuzha.S.J a Jesuit priest belonging to Kerala Jesuit province is the founder director of Snehabhavan Charitable Society. The present director is Fr.Sebastian Thengumpallil SJ. Snehabahavan is considered as a place for secure living for the mentally challenged and physically disabled, by the people around the place. Such an incident has never occurred in its history, they say.
According to the director the children get proper treatment in the hospital and soon be well and be back in the orphanage.
KOTTAYAM: Thirteen Children were admitted to hospital on Saturday night for food poisoning from a Jesuit run orphanage in Thodupuzha, near Kottayam in Kerala.
The children suffered diarrhea and vomiting after they had consumed biscuits given along with tea in the evening. Those who didn’t have biscuits were keeping fine, nuns in the orphanage said. The children were reportedly given ‘sun feast’ biscuits.
The orphanage Snehabhavan literally meaning ‘home of love’ caters to persons with disabilities. It is registered institution, registered in the year 1990.
Late Fr.Joseph Kannampuzha.S.J a Jesuit priest belonging to Kerala Jesuit province is the founder director of Snehabhavan Charitable Society. The present director is Fr.Sebastian Thengumpallil SJ. Snehabahavan is considered as a place for secure living for the mentally challenged and physically disabled, by the people around the place. Such an incident has never occurred in its history, they say.
According to the director the children get proper treatment in the hospital and soon be well and be back in the orphanage.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Ex nun Speaks of blind loyalty in Convents
Ex nun Speaks of blind loyalty in Convents
KOCHI: At a symposium organized by the Kerala Catholic Federation at Thrissur, another ex nun spoke against the present condition of convents in Kerala 10 years after her leaving the congregation.
Sr. Regina left the Franciscan Clarist Congregation 10 years back from an Irinjalakkuda convent and she sited the reason for the leaving as the superiors demanding blind loyalty in the name of the vow of obedience. She was speaking at the symposium with the subject ‘The problems faced by nuns.’
She said, “The superiors demanded blind loyalty. They felt that they had been appointed by God and had to be obeyed all the time. This lack of freedom was soul-sapping.” According to her the superiors failed to understand and value a person’s individuality and feelings. She walked out of the convent in 1999 after 20 years as a nun.
The family tried to dissuade her from taking such a step. She adds, “They said that if I had any difficulty I should resolve it through a discussion with my superiors, but I tried that for so many years and it did not work.”
Sr. Regina was a professor of history at St. Aloysius College and had a good salary and she says she managed to survive thus.
Even though many at the symposium asked her if she had any sexual harassment in the convents, she said that she has not experienced anything like that. She admits that it is good that Sr. Jesme spoke out. “I support what she has done.” She said.
When asked why she kept silence so long she said, “People have asked me to talk about it only now. I want the Church to reform itself. I don’t want the nuns to leave the convents. Instead, the conditions inside should improve, but there has already been a negative fall-out.Fewer girls are opting to become a nun these days.”
KOCHI: At a symposium organized by the Kerala Catholic Federation at Thrissur, another ex nun spoke against the present condition of convents in Kerala 10 years after her leaving the congregation.
Sr. Regina left the Franciscan Clarist Congregation 10 years back from an Irinjalakkuda convent and she sited the reason for the leaving as the superiors demanding blind loyalty in the name of the vow of obedience. She was speaking at the symposium with the subject ‘The problems faced by nuns.’
She said, “The superiors demanded blind loyalty. They felt that they had been appointed by God and had to be obeyed all the time. This lack of freedom was soul-sapping.” According to her the superiors failed to understand and value a person’s individuality and feelings. She walked out of the convent in 1999 after 20 years as a nun.
The family tried to dissuade her from taking such a step. She adds, “They said that if I had any difficulty I should resolve it through a discussion with my superiors, but I tried that for so many years and it did not work.”
Sr. Regina was a professor of history at St. Aloysius College and had a good salary and she says she managed to survive thus.
Even though many at the symposium asked her if she had any sexual harassment in the convents, she said that she has not experienced anything like that. She admits that it is good that Sr. Jesme spoke out. “I support what she has done.” She said.
When asked why she kept silence so long she said, “People have asked me to talk about it only now. I want the Church to reform itself. I don’t want the nuns to leave the convents. Instead, the conditions inside should improve, but there has already been a negative fall-out.Fewer girls are opting to become a nun these days.”
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Kerala has been caught unawares and is at a loss about the dangerous portents of the ‘love jehad’ controversy.
Kerala has been caught unawares and is at a loss about the dangerous portents of the ‘love jehad’ controversy.
THEY may sound silly, the oxymoronic phrase ‘Love Jehad’ and its twin ‘Romeo Jehad’, but within a short time religious fundamentalist forces in Kerala have built a unique playhouse on them and started enacting a highly divisive drama. For sure, Kerala has been caught unawares and is at a loss about its dangerous portents.
Since it was first used, perhaps tongue-in-cheek then in the context of the arrival in Kottayam of Silja, a Hindu girl from south Karnataka who had left her parents to marry her lover Ashkar, a Muslim youth originally from Kannur, the term ‘love jehad’ has become a potent weapon, capable of slicing through the secular fabric of Kerala society.
The proponents of the expression are, in addition to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, representing the Hindu Ezhava community, and the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC). As intended by these groups, it refers to the delicate issue of mostly campus and workplace romances involving young Muslim men and non-Muslim women. It has eventually come to be used as a metaphor for the highly sensitive allegation that “Muslim fundamentalist groups with funds from abroad are using the services of motivated young men from the community to woo non-Muslim women as a religious strategy for forced conversion to Islam”. When Silja’s parents arrived in Kottayam with a group of people and the Karnataka Police in tow, all hell broke loose, with allegations in the local media that “Ashkar had kidnapped her with the intention of cheating her into forcible conversion, as he had done with 22 other women earlier”.
A complaint was filed by Silja’s relatives at the Gandhi Nagar police station in Kottayam, and, notwithstanding the repeated denial of the accusations by Silja herself, the Hindu Aikya Vedi organised a dharna in front of the Islamic study centre at Vaarisseri near Kottayam where the girl, by then living with Ashkar in a rented home, was undergoing religious training. The commotion died down only after Silja convincingly stuck to her stand before the police and at the Kottayam Press Club, where she addressed a press conference on September 8 jointly with Ashkar. She said she was marrying Ashkar of her own free will and no one had compelled her to convert to Islam. But by then an uproar had seemingly begun in Karnataka, with similar allegations being raised by Hindutva organisations there and a habeas corpus petition being filed in the High Court by her father.
Case of two MBA students
The phrase ‘love jehad’ soon acquired menacing overtones in the local media when habeas corpus petitions were filed at the Kerala High Court by the relatives of two other girls who were MBA students at St. John’s College in Pathanamthitta.
The girls, both staying in the college hostel and hailing from Christian and Hindu families in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts respectively, had reportedly grown a fascination for Shahan Sha, the dynamic leader of the Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF, the students’ wing of the Indian Union Muslim League), who was at the forefront of the agitations against the self-financing college management, demanding proper facilities for students. Following this, fellow students began to notice a visible change in the manner, appearance and religious orientation of the two girls, and soon, as the college authorities notified their parents, the girls disappeared, along with Shahan Sha. The former MSF leader had by then reportedly started associating himself with the Popular Front of India, an organisation with close links with the National Development Front (NDF) in Kerala, a radical Islamist organisation known for its aggressive propagation of Islam.
In response to the petitions filed by their parents, the girls appeared before the High Court on August 21 seeking its permission to live with their “husbands”, Shahan Sha and Sirajudeen. The latter was a bus conductor who had seemingly (and rather spontaneously) “married” one of the girls following her “conversion to Islam”. But as the High Court found that the marriages were not registered properly, it turned down their requests and asked them to be with their parents until the next hearing on August 18.
However, at the next hearing, held two days in advance at the behest of the two men, the girls made a dramatic volte-face. They told the court that they had indeed walked into a trap of religious indoctrination, forced conversion and eventual marriage with the men. Both the girls then said that they did not want to go back with the men and instead wanted to live with their parents.
Kerala was perplexed as to what to make of their sorry tale. For a section of the media and several non-Muslim organisations, however, it seemed to be the cue that they had been waiting for to launch a widespread campaign to back their claim of “large-scale forced conversions”, which they alleged were “being undertaken in Kerala by Muslim fundamentalist groups” using such “love jehadis” as motivated agents.
Church position
The most unexpected statement came from the Church, which itself had often been the target of Hindu fundamentalists for growing evangelistic activities in the State. The KCBC’s Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance made the startling allegation that a survey conducted in all the parishes under it had found that 2,866 Catholic women had been converted to Islam by the ‘Romeo Jehadis’. It also gave a detailed break-up of the women who converted to Islam in each of the 14 districts of the State. Similarly, the SNDP Yogam alleged that the Ezhava community, too, was being targeted by such forces and that nearly 500 women had been converted to Islam in recent years. According to leaders of the RSS and the BJP, “nearly 4,000 non-Muslim women have so far been tricked into conversion by such ‘love jehadis’”.
An impression soon gained ground that an organisation by the very name ‘Love Jehad’ or ‘Romeo Jehad’ had started functioning in Kerala and that it was receiving funds from abroad. There were also wild, unsubstantiated accusations that young Muslim men were being offered money, bikes, trendy attire and other support systems “to woo several non-Muslim women into marriage and beget children” and that these women were later being forced into illegal activities, including “drug trafficking, smuggling, and terrorism”.
It is a reflection of the competitive communal atmosphere sought to be created in the State through the ‘love jehad’ controversy that an excerpt from an editorial in the NDF organ Tejas was promptly quoted in a subsequent article in the pro-BJP Janmabhoomi, arguably to raise the ire of its own loyal readers.
The Tejas editorial was quoted as saying: “If young men embrace Islam, it is for terrorist activities; if young women do it, it is for ‘Love Jehad’. This propaganda is part of a well-planned secret strategy. Here, the police, certain sections of the media, even the courts are becoming tools in the hands of certain vested interests, for implementing their secret agendas. It is part of an evil design indeed that when Islam embraces, it becomes the singular cause for restlessness for some sections and they try to put an end to it. Muslims are mere victims of Hindu fascists. Even then, we are portrayed as the aggressors. Our aim is only to defend [ourselves] against aggression by Hindu fascists. The religious conversions undertaken by us are similar to those carried out by other religious sections. But Hindu fascists are hunting down and attacking those who come to Islam. World over, those who embrace Islam after studying its tenets in depth and being convinced about their higher value are on the increase. The enemies who have understood this fact are the ones who are generating such baseless reports.”
The Janmabhoomi article, under the title “The victims of love jihad” and carrying a byline “Sayed Muhammed”, then went on to exhort its readers to stay clear of the new trap being laid for them by Muslim fundamentalism and the untruths that it was trying to propagate. It also said provocatively that the late novelist and writer Kamala Das, who had converted to Islam in her later years, was also a victim of ‘love jehad’ in Kerala.
With their activities suddenly in the spotlight, fundamentalist Muslim organisations such as the NDF and the Popular Front of India (PFI) launched a counter-offensive in Kerala through public statements, articles, posters and seminars and generally asking the question, “What is wrong with religious conversions?” At many places in Kerala, a poster offensive launched by the PFI defending religious conversions met with a counter poster stream appearing on behalf of the RSS, leading to isolated incidents. Police officers said there were signs that such continuous sparring could lead to trouble soon in the State.
It was in the context of all this that, while hearing the anticipatory bail application of Shahan Sha and Sirajudeen (in the cases filed by the girls’ parents), the Kerala High Court asked the State’s Director-General of Police to submit a statement providing answers to the questions it had raised on the alleged ‘love jehad’ activities.
DGP’s report
In the report filed before the court on October 18, DGP Jacob Punnose said that no organisation or movement called ‘Love Jehad’ or ‘Romeo Jehad’ “is so far identified as working in Kerala”; “there is no clear evidence regarding the operation of such an organisation”; “it is not established that any particular organisation is actively engaged in such compulsive religious conversions”; and that there is no clear evidence regarding “financial support from abroad” for any such organisation, or “connection between ‘Love Jehad’ movement and counterfeiting, smuggling, drug trafficking and terrorist activities”.
To the question “how many school and college students and youngsters were thus converted to Islam in the last three years?” the DGP said: “Except for the two cases under consideration now, no specific complaints have been received regarding such compulsive love-based conversions” and that in the two cases, “the police have registered cases and are actively investigating the matter”.
The DGP further said that though “certain allegations have recently cropped up indicating that some organisations have devised plans for compulsive or deceitful religious conversions by winning over girls, no actionable information has been received by the police so far to confirm the fact that any organisation is indulging in such activities”.
He, however, informed the court that “a very large number of inter-religious marriages are taking place every year” in the State and that “many conversions are taking place on that basis” even though “the exact details or the exact numbers of such marriages are not readily available with any police agency”. Significantly, then, the police chief went on to say in conclusion: “At the same time, there are reasons to suspect that there are concerted attempts to persuade girls to change their religion after they fall in love with Muslim boys. There is also unconfirmed source information received by the department that some groups are actively working among youngsters encouraging conversions by such techniques; that young men who are engaged in such pursuits are said to be receiving funds from abroad directly or indirectly for purchasing clothes and vehicles and for availing legal help etc; and that they have links with other places in India also.”
The two parts of the DGP’s report seemed to contradict each other. Indeed, the High Court said that it was “vague” and that “there is no reconciliation” between the statements. The court has asked the DGP to file another report with supporting evidence and has sought reports from District Superintendents of Police and others by November 11, when the case next comes up for hearing.
Despite the apparent inconsistency, the DGP’s “preliminary statement” seemed to have been drafted carefully and was perhaps deliberately left vague in order to reflect the complexity of the situation on the ground ever since the ‘love jehad’ allegation came to the fore and mainstream political parties retreated from the scene to avoid burning their fingers on a sensitive issue.
As the controversy has proved now, several sections of mainstream Kerala society are yet to reconcile themselves to the radical changes that have been happening on the campuses in the State, especially with the mushrooming of self-financing professional colleges since the early 1990s (a strict no-no in frequently Left-ruled Kerala earlier) and the advent of more resources, mobile phones, computers and other high-tech communication tools that have changed the outlook of an entire generation of students. There are ample opportunities for a multi-religious, multifaceted student community and for young professionals at workplaces to get acquainted, stay in touch with or even fall in love with their campus mates or colleagues.
However, along with such a transformation has come a worrying trend of de-politicisation of campuses. In recent years, in the context of frequent agitations affecting the academic atmosphere in schools and colleges, the courts have been imposing several restrictions on political activity by students and have even allowed private college managements to ban student unions. But the vacuum left by mainstream student unions is now increasingly being occupied by organisations of various fundamentalist hues.
On the campuses of many colleges in Kerala, including those of government colleges, the Students Federation of India, the student wing of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and until recently the reigning organisation, is being offered a stiff challenge by emerging groups such as the Campus Front, with their umbilical links to a non-secular and fundamentalist ideology.
This tendency has coincided with the decline of secular organisations of many other mainstream parties that were once very active on campuses, and the rise of a new generation of apolitical, educated and skilled young men and women. Many of them are from communities that have long been in the shadows in terms of educational, vocational or social opportunities and are now rallying themselves behind adamantly non-secular and divisive religious forces.
“Inter-religious romances leading to conversion and marriage could be on the rise in the State. But we have no reliable statistics to show how many, or whether there is an increasing trend, or from which community to the other and so on. But wherever religious fundamentalist groups are active on campuses or where these youngsters come under the influence of such forces outside the campuses or workplaces, there are reports that they do face informal compulsion, especially on issues like marrying out of their fold. It could be happening in a few cases, or a few more. In certain instances, over-enthusiastic individuals take things a bit far, when informal compulsion takes the form of coercion. That is it. There is no discernible pattern in all this. And we do not really know what happens to the women who change their religion for love, whether they are living happily ever after or how many of them return to their parents and so on, until there are complaints. And complaints are rare. The allegations being raised now are definitely not based on facts and are highly exaggerated,” a senior police officer told Frontline.
The mischief is out of the bag. The effort of the forces on both sides of the ‘love jehad’ divide is to create such conflicts by promoting fundamentalist positions, projecting isolated incidents as the norm, distorting facts and events, and presenting rumours and falsehood as the truth. It is in fact a ‘loveless jehad’ that civil society is now witnessing, and it could turn worse rapidly if secular discourse gets submerged and the communal cause wins the stage.
by
R. KRISHNAKUMAR
THEY may sound silly, the oxymoronic phrase ‘Love Jehad’ and its twin ‘Romeo Jehad’, but within a short time religious fundamentalist forces in Kerala have built a unique playhouse on them and started enacting a highly divisive drama. For sure, Kerala has been caught unawares and is at a loss about its dangerous portents.
Since it was first used, perhaps tongue-in-cheek then in the context of the arrival in Kottayam of Silja, a Hindu girl from south Karnataka who had left her parents to marry her lover Ashkar, a Muslim youth originally from Kannur, the term ‘love jehad’ has become a potent weapon, capable of slicing through the secular fabric of Kerala society.
The proponents of the expression are, in addition to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, representing the Hindu Ezhava community, and the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC). As intended by these groups, it refers to the delicate issue of mostly campus and workplace romances involving young Muslim men and non-Muslim women. It has eventually come to be used as a metaphor for the highly sensitive allegation that “Muslim fundamentalist groups with funds from abroad are using the services of motivated young men from the community to woo non-Muslim women as a religious strategy for forced conversion to Islam”. When Silja’s parents arrived in Kottayam with a group of people and the Karnataka Police in tow, all hell broke loose, with allegations in the local media that “Ashkar had kidnapped her with the intention of cheating her into forcible conversion, as he had done with 22 other women earlier”.
A complaint was filed by Silja’s relatives at the Gandhi Nagar police station in Kottayam, and, notwithstanding the repeated denial of the accusations by Silja herself, the Hindu Aikya Vedi organised a dharna in front of the Islamic study centre at Vaarisseri near Kottayam where the girl, by then living with Ashkar in a rented home, was undergoing religious training. The commotion died down only after Silja convincingly stuck to her stand before the police and at the Kottayam Press Club, where she addressed a press conference on September 8 jointly with Ashkar. She said she was marrying Ashkar of her own free will and no one had compelled her to convert to Islam. But by then an uproar had seemingly begun in Karnataka, with similar allegations being raised by Hindutva organisations there and a habeas corpus petition being filed in the High Court by her father.
Case of two MBA students
The phrase ‘love jehad’ soon acquired menacing overtones in the local media when habeas corpus petitions were filed at the Kerala High Court by the relatives of two other girls who were MBA students at St. John’s College in Pathanamthitta.
The girls, both staying in the college hostel and hailing from Christian and Hindu families in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts respectively, had reportedly grown a fascination for Shahan Sha, the dynamic leader of the Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF, the students’ wing of the Indian Union Muslim League), who was at the forefront of the agitations against the self-financing college management, demanding proper facilities for students. Following this, fellow students began to notice a visible change in the manner, appearance and religious orientation of the two girls, and soon, as the college authorities notified their parents, the girls disappeared, along with Shahan Sha. The former MSF leader had by then reportedly started associating himself with the Popular Front of India, an organisation with close links with the National Development Front (NDF) in Kerala, a radical Islamist organisation known for its aggressive propagation of Islam.
In response to the petitions filed by their parents, the girls appeared before the High Court on August 21 seeking its permission to live with their “husbands”, Shahan Sha and Sirajudeen. The latter was a bus conductor who had seemingly (and rather spontaneously) “married” one of the girls following her “conversion to Islam”. But as the High Court found that the marriages were not registered properly, it turned down their requests and asked them to be with their parents until the next hearing on August 18.
However, at the next hearing, held two days in advance at the behest of the two men, the girls made a dramatic volte-face. They told the court that they had indeed walked into a trap of religious indoctrination, forced conversion and eventual marriage with the men. Both the girls then said that they did not want to go back with the men and instead wanted to live with their parents.
Kerala was perplexed as to what to make of their sorry tale. For a section of the media and several non-Muslim organisations, however, it seemed to be the cue that they had been waiting for to launch a widespread campaign to back their claim of “large-scale forced conversions”, which they alleged were “being undertaken in Kerala by Muslim fundamentalist groups” using such “love jehadis” as motivated agents.
Church position
The most unexpected statement came from the Church, which itself had often been the target of Hindu fundamentalists for growing evangelistic activities in the State. The KCBC’s Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance made the startling allegation that a survey conducted in all the parishes under it had found that 2,866 Catholic women had been converted to Islam by the ‘Romeo Jehadis’. It also gave a detailed break-up of the women who converted to Islam in each of the 14 districts of the State. Similarly, the SNDP Yogam alleged that the Ezhava community, too, was being targeted by such forces and that nearly 500 women had been converted to Islam in recent years. According to leaders of the RSS and the BJP, “nearly 4,000 non-Muslim women have so far been tricked into conversion by such ‘love jehadis’”.
An impression soon gained ground that an organisation by the very name ‘Love Jehad’ or ‘Romeo Jehad’ had started functioning in Kerala and that it was receiving funds from abroad. There were also wild, unsubstantiated accusations that young Muslim men were being offered money, bikes, trendy attire and other support systems “to woo several non-Muslim women into marriage and beget children” and that these women were later being forced into illegal activities, including “drug trafficking, smuggling, and terrorism”.
It is a reflection of the competitive communal atmosphere sought to be created in the State through the ‘love jehad’ controversy that an excerpt from an editorial in the NDF organ Tejas was promptly quoted in a subsequent article in the pro-BJP Janmabhoomi, arguably to raise the ire of its own loyal readers.
The Tejas editorial was quoted as saying: “If young men embrace Islam, it is for terrorist activities; if young women do it, it is for ‘Love Jehad’. This propaganda is part of a well-planned secret strategy. Here, the police, certain sections of the media, even the courts are becoming tools in the hands of certain vested interests, for implementing their secret agendas. It is part of an evil design indeed that when Islam embraces, it becomes the singular cause for restlessness for some sections and they try to put an end to it. Muslims are mere victims of Hindu fascists. Even then, we are portrayed as the aggressors. Our aim is only to defend [ourselves] against aggression by Hindu fascists. The religious conversions undertaken by us are similar to those carried out by other religious sections. But Hindu fascists are hunting down and attacking those who come to Islam. World over, those who embrace Islam after studying its tenets in depth and being convinced about their higher value are on the increase. The enemies who have understood this fact are the ones who are generating such baseless reports.”
The Janmabhoomi article, under the title “The victims of love jihad” and carrying a byline “Sayed Muhammed”, then went on to exhort its readers to stay clear of the new trap being laid for them by Muslim fundamentalism and the untruths that it was trying to propagate. It also said provocatively that the late novelist and writer Kamala Das, who had converted to Islam in her later years, was also a victim of ‘love jehad’ in Kerala.
With their activities suddenly in the spotlight, fundamentalist Muslim organisations such as the NDF and the Popular Front of India (PFI) launched a counter-offensive in Kerala through public statements, articles, posters and seminars and generally asking the question, “What is wrong with religious conversions?” At many places in Kerala, a poster offensive launched by the PFI defending religious conversions met with a counter poster stream appearing on behalf of the RSS, leading to isolated incidents. Police officers said there were signs that such continuous sparring could lead to trouble soon in the State.
It was in the context of all this that, while hearing the anticipatory bail application of Shahan Sha and Sirajudeen (in the cases filed by the girls’ parents), the Kerala High Court asked the State’s Director-General of Police to submit a statement providing answers to the questions it had raised on the alleged ‘love jehad’ activities.
DGP’s report
In the report filed before the court on October 18, DGP Jacob Punnose said that no organisation or movement called ‘Love Jehad’ or ‘Romeo Jehad’ “is so far identified as working in Kerala”; “there is no clear evidence regarding the operation of such an organisation”; “it is not established that any particular organisation is actively engaged in such compulsive religious conversions”; and that there is no clear evidence regarding “financial support from abroad” for any such organisation, or “connection between ‘Love Jehad’ movement and counterfeiting, smuggling, drug trafficking and terrorist activities”.
To the question “how many school and college students and youngsters were thus converted to Islam in the last three years?” the DGP said: “Except for the two cases under consideration now, no specific complaints have been received regarding such compulsive love-based conversions” and that in the two cases, “the police have registered cases and are actively investigating the matter”.
The DGP further said that though “certain allegations have recently cropped up indicating that some organisations have devised plans for compulsive or deceitful religious conversions by winning over girls, no actionable information has been received by the police so far to confirm the fact that any organisation is indulging in such activities”.
He, however, informed the court that “a very large number of inter-religious marriages are taking place every year” in the State and that “many conversions are taking place on that basis” even though “the exact details or the exact numbers of such marriages are not readily available with any police agency”. Significantly, then, the police chief went on to say in conclusion: “At the same time, there are reasons to suspect that there are concerted attempts to persuade girls to change their religion after they fall in love with Muslim boys. There is also unconfirmed source information received by the department that some groups are actively working among youngsters encouraging conversions by such techniques; that young men who are engaged in such pursuits are said to be receiving funds from abroad directly or indirectly for purchasing clothes and vehicles and for availing legal help etc; and that they have links with other places in India also.”
The two parts of the DGP’s report seemed to contradict each other. Indeed, the High Court said that it was “vague” and that “there is no reconciliation” between the statements. The court has asked the DGP to file another report with supporting evidence and has sought reports from District Superintendents of Police and others by November 11, when the case next comes up for hearing.
Despite the apparent inconsistency, the DGP’s “preliminary statement” seemed to have been drafted carefully and was perhaps deliberately left vague in order to reflect the complexity of the situation on the ground ever since the ‘love jehad’ allegation came to the fore and mainstream political parties retreated from the scene to avoid burning their fingers on a sensitive issue.
As the controversy has proved now, several sections of mainstream Kerala society are yet to reconcile themselves to the radical changes that have been happening on the campuses in the State, especially with the mushrooming of self-financing professional colleges since the early 1990s (a strict no-no in frequently Left-ruled Kerala earlier) and the advent of more resources, mobile phones, computers and other high-tech communication tools that have changed the outlook of an entire generation of students. There are ample opportunities for a multi-religious, multifaceted student community and for young professionals at workplaces to get acquainted, stay in touch with or even fall in love with their campus mates or colleagues.
However, along with such a transformation has come a worrying trend of de-politicisation of campuses. In recent years, in the context of frequent agitations affecting the academic atmosphere in schools and colleges, the courts have been imposing several restrictions on political activity by students and have even allowed private college managements to ban student unions. But the vacuum left by mainstream student unions is now increasingly being occupied by organisations of various fundamentalist hues.
On the campuses of many colleges in Kerala, including those of government colleges, the Students Federation of India, the student wing of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and until recently the reigning organisation, is being offered a stiff challenge by emerging groups such as the Campus Front, with their umbilical links to a non-secular and fundamentalist ideology.
This tendency has coincided with the decline of secular organisations of many other mainstream parties that were once very active on campuses, and the rise of a new generation of apolitical, educated and skilled young men and women. Many of them are from communities that have long been in the shadows in terms of educational, vocational or social opportunities and are now rallying themselves behind adamantly non-secular and divisive religious forces.
“Inter-religious romances leading to conversion and marriage could be on the rise in the State. But we have no reliable statistics to show how many, or whether there is an increasing trend, or from which community to the other and so on. But wherever religious fundamentalist groups are active on campuses or where these youngsters come under the influence of such forces outside the campuses or workplaces, there are reports that they do face informal compulsion, especially on issues like marrying out of their fold. It could be happening in a few cases, or a few more. In certain instances, over-enthusiastic individuals take things a bit far, when informal compulsion takes the form of coercion. That is it. There is no discernible pattern in all this. And we do not really know what happens to the women who change their religion for love, whether they are living happily ever after or how many of them return to their parents and so on, until there are complaints. And complaints are rare. The allegations being raised now are definitely not based on facts and are highly exaggerated,” a senior police officer told Frontline.
The mischief is out of the bag. The effort of the forces on both sides of the ‘love jehad’ divide is to create such conflicts by promoting fundamentalist positions, projecting isolated incidents as the norm, distorting facts and events, and presenting rumours and falsehood as the truth. It is in fact a ‘loveless jehad’ that civil society is now witnessing, and it could turn worse rapidly if secular discourse gets submerged and the communal cause wins the stage.
by
R. KRISHNAKUMAR
City Pays Tributes to Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil
City Pays Tributes to Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil
Cochin :
Cochin City on Tuesday (3-11-2009) paid tributes to Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil, the President of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council and the Metropolitan Archbishop of Verapoly. A meeting was at the Town Hall Ernakulam to commemorate the departed shepherd who passed away on October 26th 2009. The meeting was inaugurated by Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi. Addressing the gathering the minister said that Archbishop Acharuparambil had never shown discrimination to anyone. “His concern for the weaker sections of the society was evident when he extended helping hand to the tsunami victims” the minister said.
Kochi Mayor Prof. Marcy Williams, who presided over the meeting, said that the Archbishop was always concerned about the development of the Cochin City. “On an occasion when there was a requirement of land for road widening, the Archbishop was ready release the land owned by the Archdiocese and had the great willingness to demolish the existing parish church” she said and added that naming a road after Archbishop Acharuparambil would be the best tribute to him.
Minister of State for Agriculture K. V. Thomas recalled the personal relation he had with Archbishop. “Though he was attentive of the spiritual life of the community he was well aware of the social issues and was concerned about the development of the Cochin City,” Minister said. Deputy Mayor C. K. Manishankar presented the condolence resolution at the meeting. Fisheries Minister S. Sharma, Minister for Public works P. J. Joseph, Assistant Solicitor General TPM Ibrahim Khan, Verapoly Archdiocesan Administrator Bishop Joseph Karikkassery, Bishop Joseph Mar Grigorious of Jacobite Syrian Church spoke.
Cochin :
Cochin City on Tuesday (3-11-2009) paid tributes to Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil, the President of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council and the Metropolitan Archbishop of Verapoly. A meeting was at the Town Hall Ernakulam to commemorate the departed shepherd who passed away on October 26th 2009. The meeting was inaugurated by Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi. Addressing the gathering the minister said that Archbishop Acharuparambil had never shown discrimination to anyone. “His concern for the weaker sections of the society was evident when he extended helping hand to the tsunami victims” the minister said.
Kochi Mayor Prof. Marcy Williams, who presided over the meeting, said that the Archbishop was always concerned about the development of the Cochin City. “On an occasion when there was a requirement of land for road widening, the Archbishop was ready release the land owned by the Archdiocese and had the great willingness to demolish the existing parish church” she said and added that naming a road after Archbishop Acharuparambil would be the best tribute to him.
Minister of State for Agriculture K. V. Thomas recalled the personal relation he had with Archbishop. “Though he was attentive of the spiritual life of the community he was well aware of the social issues and was concerned about the development of the Cochin City,” Minister said. Deputy Mayor C. K. Manishankar presented the condolence resolution at the meeting. Fisheries Minister S. Sharma, Minister for Public works P. J. Joseph, Assistant Solicitor General TPM Ibrahim Khan, Verapoly Archdiocesan Administrator Bishop Joseph Karikkassery, Bishop Joseph Mar Grigorious of Jacobite Syrian Church spoke.
Catholic Federation of India Announces Pope John Paul awards
Catholic Federation of India Announces Pope John Paul awards
KOTTAYAM: The Catholic Federation of India selected Mr.P.C Cyriac, a former IAS officer and Dr. Tharsis Joseph, principal of the Devmatha College, Kuruvilangad as the winners of the fifth Pope John Paul award instituted by the Federation.
P.P Joseph the Catholic Federation President and two other leaders informed the press that the award would be presented to the winners at a function to be held in Kuruvilangad on December 4 2009. They said that the award is comprised of a cash prize of Rs. 25,000, a citation and a memento.
The Catholic Federation leaders also made an appeal to the state and central governments to implement a Haj model subsidy for pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the holy land, where Jesus was born, lived and died.
KOTTAYAM: The Catholic Federation of India selected Mr.P.C Cyriac, a former IAS officer and Dr. Tharsis Joseph, principal of the Devmatha College, Kuruvilangad as the winners of the fifth Pope John Paul award instituted by the Federation.
P.P Joseph the Catholic Federation President and two other leaders informed the press that the award would be presented to the winners at a function to be held in Kuruvilangad on December 4 2009. They said that the award is comprised of a cash prize of Rs. 25,000, a citation and a memento.
The Catholic Federation leaders also made an appeal to the state and central governments to implement a Haj model subsidy for pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to the holy land, where Jesus was born, lived and died.
Archbishop Dr.Daniel Acharuparambil passes away
Kochi, Monday, October 26, 2009: The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) President and Verapoly Archbishop, Dr. Daniel Acharuparambil passed away at Lourd Mission hospital at Pachalam today morning. He was hospitalized yesterday morning following high fever and having suffered multiple organ failure he was put into ventilator, though his condition improved by evening soon his health worsened by midnight.
Archbishop, Dr. Daniel Acharuparambil’s body would be kept at the Ernakulam St. Francis Cathedral for public to pay homage.
Dr. Daniel Acharuparambil, was a member of Discalced Carmelite Order, Manjummel Province, Kerala, India. He was born of Rocky and Monica Acharuparambil in Palliport, in Kerala, India, on May 12th 1939.
After his School-Leaving Examination he joined the Carmelite order at Ernakulam in May 1956. He completed his philosophy and theology courses at St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Alwaye and was ordained priest on March 14th 1966. He acquired a bachelor-degree in Economics, Licentiate in Philosophy and a Master-degree in Indian Philosophy from University of Kerala, Pontifical Athenaeum in Poona and Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi respectively.
In 1972 he started teaching at Pontifical University of Urbaniana (P.U.U), Rome. He was awarded a Ph. D from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome in 1978.
In 1986 he became Dean of the Faculty of Missiology at P. U. U. From 1988 to 1994, ie for two terms, he also served as rector magnificus at P. U. U.
He had been consulter of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue for 5 years since 1990. He was also consulter of the Congregation for Evangelization of the Peoples. Presently he is a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Diologue.
He was nominated Archbishop on August 5th 1996 and was consecrated at Ernakulam on November 13th 1996 by His Eminence Josef Cardinal Tomko, the then Prefect of Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Rome. The same day he received the Pallium.
He was the President of Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council,President of Metropolitan Archbishop, President of K.C.B.C, Chairman of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, President of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and Arch Bishop of Verapoly.
Archbishop, Dr. Daniel Acharuparambil’s body would be kept at the Ernakulam St. Francis Cathedral for public to pay homage.
Dr. Daniel Acharuparambil, was a member of Discalced Carmelite Order, Manjummel Province, Kerala, India. He was born of Rocky and Monica Acharuparambil in Palliport, in Kerala, India, on May 12th 1939.
After his School-Leaving Examination he joined the Carmelite order at Ernakulam in May 1956. He completed his philosophy and theology courses at St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Alwaye and was ordained priest on March 14th 1966. He acquired a bachelor-degree in Economics, Licentiate in Philosophy and a Master-degree in Indian Philosophy from University of Kerala, Pontifical Athenaeum in Poona and Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi respectively.
In 1972 he started teaching at Pontifical University of Urbaniana (P.U.U), Rome. He was awarded a Ph. D from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome in 1978.
In 1986 he became Dean of the Faculty of Missiology at P. U. U. From 1988 to 1994, ie for two terms, he also served as rector magnificus at P. U. U.
He had been consulter of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue for 5 years since 1990. He was also consulter of the Congregation for Evangelization of the Peoples. Presently he is a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Diologue.
He was nominated Archbishop on August 5th 1996 and was consecrated at Ernakulam on November 13th 1996 by His Eminence Josef Cardinal Tomko, the then Prefect of Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Rome. The same day he received the Pallium.
He was the President of Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council,President of Metropolitan Archbishop, President of K.C.B.C, Chairman of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, President of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and Arch Bishop of Verapoly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)