In Kerala, an interfaith marriage sparked political rows and ‘Love Jihad’ angle, when a Muslim activist of the ruling CPI(M)’s youth wing DYFI, married a Christian bride.

As the issue snowballed into a major controversy, the Marxist party on the 13th of April, Wednesday made it clear that there was nothing unnatural in interfaith marriages and the campaign of ‘love jihad’ was a creation of the RSS and Sangh Parivar.  In addition, the relatives of Jyotsna Mary Joseph, a nurse in Saudi Arabia, levelled “love jihad’ allegation after she recently walked out on her family and married Shejin, a local DYFI leader belonging to the Muslim community, without their consent.

A section of the Christian community in Thiruvambady here including nuns staged demonstrations against the alleged ‘love jihad’ in connection with the incident.

However, the CPI(M) district leadership intervened and made Thomas issue a clarification.

Love jihad is a term used by the right wing outfits to claim that Muslim men lure women from other faiths to convert them into Islam.  Dismissing Mr. Thomas’ remarks, P. Mohanan, CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary, said that his party has never referred to inter-religious marriages as ‘love jihad’.

Mohanan also said the DYFI leader could have informed the party leadership about the marriage plan and avoided unwanted controversy.  Meanwhile, the newly-married couple denied the allegations by Jyotsna’s relatives.  Addressing reporters in Alappuzha, where the couple is presently staying, Jyotsna said she has all the freedom to stick to her religion till her death.

Shejin clarified that the marriage is a natural culmination of their love affair and the controversy was ‘unnecessary.’ Retracting his earlier stance, George M Thomas told media today that his words were conveniently twisted by communal forces to suit their version of inter-religious marriage as ‘love jihad’.

The CPI(M) district leadership is organising an explanation meeting at Kodencherry this evening as the controversy over the wedding refused to die down despite the couple denying ‘love jihad’ charges.

Stay tuned for further updates.

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