A CPI(M) leader questioned the worker’s marriage to a Christian woman after her family alleged ‘love jihad’. The party has now stepped in and clarified that ‘love jihad’ is used by the RSS to attack minorities
MS Shejin and Jyosna Mary Joseph got married last week. The bride’s family filed a police complaint and said it was a case of ‘love jihad’.
When a Muslim youth worker of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) decided to tie the knot little did he know that it would become the stuff of national headlines? His marriage to a Christian woman has sparked a row with politicians now involved.
It all started with relatives of the bride alleging “love jihad”. The issue snowballed after CPI(M) leader from Kerala’s Kozhikode district George M Thomas backed the charge while speaking about interfaith marriage.
The marriage and the opposition from relatives
MS Shejin, who is a local CPI(M) committee member and a leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) from Kodenchery, married Jyosna Mary Joseph, a nurse who works in Saudi Arabia, last week. The two have reportedly been in a relationship for months.
Joseph had arrived from Saudi Arabia a couple of weeks ago. Her family had found another match for her and set up an engagement. However, Joseph eloped, married Shejin, and the couple went into hiding.
Protests erupted in Kozhikode district’s Kodenchery area. Some members of the local Catholic community including priests and nuns demanded that the police track down the woman. Her parents had filed a missing persons complaint alleging that it was a “love jihad”.
But Joseph maintained that she had married out of her own will. While the family alleged that she was being pressured, the couple had appeared in the Thamarassery court, which allowed them to live together, according to a report in The News Minute.
How CPI(M) got involved
On Tuesday, the two-time CPI(M) MLA Thomas said that the marriage had disturbed communal harmony in Kodenchery. He said that Shejin was wrong in not informing the party about the marriage and the issue could cause serious damage to the party.
“The party is with the sentiments of the parents of the woman. In the existing scenario, Shejin has adopted a wrong stand. The party will examine it and take action against him,” he had initially said.
When he was questioned about “love jihad”, he claimed that it “existed in party documents” and that “love jihad happens”. “There is no argument that the term was coined by RSS. But we cannot say that such incidents never happened in Kerala,” he said, adding that “educated women in professional colleges and institutions are attacked by these things – love jihad or whatever”, reports The News Minute.
However, since then Thomas has retracted his comments and said that the party always encourages interfaith marriages. “They (the couple) should not have eloped in this manner. This has hurt Christian sentiments in the region,” he added.
CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan told reporters that Thomas had erred and this was against the stand of the party. “It should be considered as a slip of the tongue from Thomas,” Mohanan said.
“Love jihad is a term used by the RSS and Sangh forces to attack religious minorities. The CPI(M) has already made its stand clear on the topic. Marriage is the choice of individuals and the legal system of the country permits adults to get married according to their choice,” he said while talking to the press.
Meanwhile, the DYFI has come out in support of Shejin and Joseph. “The controversy over the marriage of the DYFI leader is unfortunate and unwarranted. It is the personal choice of two adults. DYFI is an organisation that has launched a website to promote secular marriages and encourage interfaith relations,” it said in a statement. “The marriage of Shejin and Joysna is a model for all those who maintain a progressive approach. The organisation will give support to the couple.”
With inputs from agencies
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