BJP state general secretary S Suresh defends party leader Shone George's criticism of a Malayalam daily, Deepika, alleging its misuse for political interests ahead of the Kerala Assembly polls. The BJP maintains it respects all religions and aims for equal justice, denying any communal stance.
The BJP has defended its leader Shone George's criticism of a Malayalam newspaper, Deepika, alleging it was favouring the UDF ahead of Kerala's Assembly elections. The party claims it respects all religions and aims for equal treatment.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has accused the BJP of attempting to intimidate bishops and church leaders in Kerala to gain their support, asserting that such tactics will not succeed in the state.
"We should understand how secularism gives birth to extremism by looking at the growth of conservative racist movements in the West. The situation of India will not be different if we fail to accept Indian secularism in its literal sense," the Bishop wrote in Church's mouthpiece Deepika.
The Kerala Police on Monday registered a case against Catholic Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt on the basis of a complaint that the priest through his "love and narcotic jihad" remarks, committed the offence of promoting feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion.
George stated that a girl should be married off by the time she is 22 or 23 and that such decency should be maintained.
The KCBC, in a statement, said that even the United Nations reports have made it clear that money earned from drug trafficking is being used for terrorist activities.
The verbal duel between the Congress and BJP over the controversial 'love and narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, intensified on Sunday with the former saying it does not want the Sangh parivar to gain foothold here while the latter claimed that both CPI (M) and Congress were cornering the Bishop over the issue.
With the controversy over 'love and narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt refusing to die down, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday engaged in a fresh round of verbal sparring.
Police had said the nun was subjected to rape and unnatural sex by the accused at the guest house of St Francis Mission Home 13 times between 2014 and 2016.
The clergyman has been shifted to the sub-jail in Pala after completing his medical examination at a government hospital.
Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun several times between 2014 and 2016, is currently out on bail.
His lawyers moved the application, submitting that the clergyman was arrested after a three-day-long interrogation by the probe team.
Cautioning against the presence of Jihadis, who try to cultivate communalism, religious disharmony, intolerance and contempt across the world, in Kerala also, the Bishop said they were using different means to destroy other religions.
The Bishop will have to surrender his passport and his entry to Kerala will be restricted.
The 54-year old Mulakkal was arrested by Kerala police after intense interrogation in Kochi over the last three days.
Reiterating his support to Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, whose 'narcotic and love jihad' remarks had triggered a widespread controversy in the southern state, Gopi said the bishop had not spoken ill of any community.
A recent interfaith marriage of a Muslim activist of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's youth wing DYFI, has stirred up a political storm after the relatives of the Christian bride alleged "love jihad", with a senior left party leader supporting the charge, only to retract his statement later.
'As I watched Mammootty 'try out' Mathew Devassy, I could hear from my theatre seat the ready-made appreciation of the liberal press, their applause for the great actor having flirted with queerness on screen.' 'But it is a flirtation and nothing more, for I could not detect in Devassy any hint of love, not for his homosexual lover, not for his wife,,' observes Sreehari Nair.
The Thamarassery Diocese, under the prominent Syro Malabar Church, has published the book with controversial content for the catechism study of students belonging to classes X to XII.