A day after reports on an interfaith marriage involving a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) leader from Kozhikode district snowballed into a controversy over alleged references to ‘love jihad’, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has sought to “close the chapter” saying it concerned their personal lives.
M.S. Shejin, a local committee member of the party and a DYFI block secretary in Kodenchery, and Joisna Joseph, a resident of Theyyappara, who had been working abroad as a nurse, reportedly went missing on Saturday. The woman’s parents filed a complaint with the Kodenchery police station thereafter. The local parish priest, nuns, and local residents took out protest marches to the station in subsequent days claiming that it was an example of ‘love jihad’, the theory coined by Hindutva organisations to claim that Muslim men lure women belonging to other religions to convert them.
The couple, meanwhile, appeared at a local court on Tuesday and expressed their wish to live together. Ms. Joseph also submitted that she had come out of her house on her own will.
What added to the drama was a statement by George M. Thomas, former Thiruvambady MLA, and a CPI(M) district secretariat member, who told a news channel that the incident could damage communal harmony. He said that the party should have been consulted before the wedding. Mr. Thomas went on to claim that though this might not be “love jihad per se”, the party had warned against instances of girl students being lured by different means in educational institutions.
After the former MLA’s remarks sparked off outrage even among Left sympathisers, CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary P. Mohanan told the media on Wednesday that the two adults, irrespective of their religious background, were free to marry people of their choice. “However, media reports suggest that they had eloped. That they should have avoided and taken their family members into confidence,” he said.
Mr. Mohanan also brushed aside Mr. Thomas’ remarks on “love jihad”, saying the term was a Sangh Parivar ploy to harass religious minorities. “Mr. Thomas made some statements which were not in line with the party policy. He himself has admitted to the mistake as a slip of tongue,” Mr. Mohanan added.
