Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Sunday lambasted Congress Working Committee member and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram for his comments on Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, the Bishop of Pala who had alleged that Jihadis were resorting to drug peddling for wooing girls from the Catholic community.
Chidambaram, had alleged in his weekly column in an upcountry newspaper that while love and narcotics were real, to attach the word jihad to love and narcotics revealed warped thinking.
K Sudhakaran, KPCC president, while addressing the media on Sunday termed Chidambaram’s comments as unwanted and out of place. “We have a well organized Pradesh Congress Committee to look after the repercussions if any of the comments made by the Bishop. Outsiders need not aggravate the situation by making unwanted comments,†said Sudhakaran, who is on a mission to smoothen the ruffled feathers arising out of the reported comments made by Kerala Leader of the Opposition V D Satheeshan who had condemned the Bishop in the strongest of words.
The new KPCC chief had met all Christian and Muslim leaders in the State calling for restraint. Leaders of various Islamic outfits had expressed their anguish over the statement made by the Bishop while addressing a religious congregation in Kottayam district.
Chidambaram, who is the main ideological leader of the Congress party said in his article that the Hindu zealots and the Christians were targeting the Muslims. “There is no surprise in the Hindu radical right springing to the support of the Bishop of Pala. Both target the ‘other’, meaning the Muslims,†he wrote.
Sudhakaran is trying to make a tight rope walking without offending the Christians and Muslims, the main vote bank of the Congress in Kerala. “We in Kerala are struggling to maintain the cordial ties between two prominent communities. Persons sitting in New Delhi are spreading ideas whoch have no relevance to Kerala,†said a close associate of Sudhakaran.
