Thiruvananthapuram, 03 August(HS) : In a major political development in Kerala, the Christians and Muslims have buried the hatchet and became strong friends following the arrest at Chhattisgarh of two Catholic nuns engaged in evangelization and religious conversion.

Preethi Mary and Vandana Francis, the two nuns from Kerala who were into forced religious conversion in Chhattisgarh, were taken into custody from Durg Railway Station with two teenaged girls by the local police. Since the nuns could not give proper answers to the queries of the police about the purpose of their mission to traffic the girls and the subsequent statement by the victims that they were being taken to Agra for religious conversion, the police arrested Mary and Francis for violating the Religious Freedom Law in Chhattisgarh and sent to prison.

Though no untoward incidents have been reported from Chhattisgarh, the arrest of the “brides of the Jesus” created a furor in Kerala and leaders of the Church came out in the open challenging the Government of India and blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the arrest. The agitated Christians staged massive rallies across Kerala demanding the immediate release of the nuns and quashing the charges against them. “Evangelization and religious conversion have been granted to us by the Constitution of India and we will continue with the evangelization,” declared Archbishop Baselios Cleemus of the Syro-Malabar Church, a person who always spits venom against the Hindus.

The rallies and demonstrations became an instant hit across Kerala as the banned outfit Popular Front of India, its political arm SDPI, the Jamaat E Islami , Muslim League and other Islamic extremist organizations like Welfare Party and PDP extended support to the Christian brethren with whom the Islamists had a running battle over Love Jihad and Narcotics Jihad.

The rallies saw thousands of Islamic fanatics joining hands with the Christians to express their solidarity with the arrested nuns. The nuns were released on bail late Saturday evening by the NIA Court in Chhattisgarh. The Christians and Muslims in Kerala were fighting it out in the open as many Christian girls had fallen victims to the evil designs of the Islamist Romeos as the latter promised the girls with a princely life, kidnapped them and sold them as sex workers to the dreaded IS.

Those Christians who were professing open alliance with the BJP for the last few years have made a U-turn in their policies and have become strong critics of the BJP following the arrest of the nuns. A Jayashankar, political critic and author, said that this was an interesting development. “It is certain that the BJP would not get even a single Christian vote in the upcoming elections to local bodies and the legislative assembly. Chances are that they would cast their votes the Congress and the CPI(M) which are vying with one another to appease the minorities,” said Jayshankar.

Former Kerala Police Chief T P Senkumar welcomed the new found bonhomie between the Christians and Muslims. “The evangelists appointed by the Church should visit Muslim homes and proselytize the members of the Muslim community. It will be a new and refreshing experience to the Christians,” said Senkumar.

It is an open secret that Christians and Muslims do not like the Hindus anywhere in the country. The relations of the arrested nuns were heard telling in TV channel news that they do not like Prime Minister Modi. A top BJP leader in New Delhi told the HS that a Kerala BJP leader joined the party only after 2014 and rose to a prominent position in the organization. “We all known him as the masseur of late P Parameswaran Ji, former chairman of Bharatiya Vichar Kendra , who was suffering from back ache. This man by giving free massage to Parameshar Ji infiltrated into the BJP and now rubs shoulders with the Prime Minister as well as Hime Minister,” said the BJP leader on condition of anonymity.

Fauzik Mohammed, a community leader at Kalady had told this reporter that even if the BJP leadership offers to shower the Muslims with gold, not a single member from the community would vote for the Hindutva party. “There are some Muslim leaders in Kerala who have joined the BJP. But they found themselves unwanted in other parties and the BJP was the last shelter for them to stay afloat,” said Fauzik.

Joseph Pamplani, the handsome Arch Bishop, who is a heart throb of Christian women and who is known as th Casanova of Thalassery is the Church’s version of Fauzik.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti