Interfaith marriage sparks political row in Kerala

Kozhikode (Kerala): A recent interfaith marriage of a Muslim activist of the ruling CPI(M)’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 the issue snowballed into a major controversy, the Marxist party on Wednesday made it clear that there was nothing unnatural in interfaith marriages and the campaign of ‘love jihad’ was a creation of RSS and Sangh Parivar.

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.

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