Kerala: Xian group helpline to curb inter-religious affairs

KOZHIKODE: Prevention is better than cure in the case of  love marriages also.   Hence some Christian groups are planning to start a ‘Christian helpline’  to avert love affairs between Christian girls and Muslim boys and the consequent conversion.    This is on the lines of  the Hindu helpline floated by the  Sangh Parivar. The urgency for it has arisen due to the recent  incident in which  the High Court annulled the marriage of Akhila, a Hindu girl of  Vaikom,  with  a Muslim boy after she was converted to Hadiya.     Interestingly, the BJP Minority Morcha wing is associated with a section of Christian priests to float the helpline.  Metropolitan of Indian Orthodox Independent Syrian Church, Mathews Mar Gregarious (St Jude Dayara Cathedral, Amayannoor, Kottayam) is the chief patron of the Christian helpline and Malappuram former district general secretary of Morcha, Renjith Abraham Thomas, its general convener.

“We had many discussions with the priests of Mar Thoma Church after the Hadiya incident. Though they supported the cause, they were of the opinion that the girls could be made aware of the consequences through counselling. They don’t want to antagonise the Muslim clergies and offered us support,” said Mr Thomas. He added that when the idea was proposed,  the Christian priests in  Malappuram district expressed more interest.

“We assume  that the Hindu helpline has been successful in thwarting such love-turned conversions,” said Mr  Thomas, who is also the Malappuram zone secretary of Kerala Council of Churches, a group of 14 Christian churches in Kerala.  “Girls from the financially lower strata often become prey to the love jihad. I have been continuously alerting the concerned on this. The girls come to know about the danger only when they get into it,” said Mathews Mar Gregarious. The local-level committees under the helpline are being formed.