‘Systematic persecution of minorities’: Rahul Gandhi questions arrest of Kerala nuns in Chhattisgarh

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the arrest of two nuns from Kerala at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh reflected a “dangerous pattern” of “systematic persecution of minorities” under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

The nuns and a man were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of human trafficking and religious conversion.

Gandhi said that they had been “targeted for their faith”.

“This is not justice, it is BJP-RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] mob rule,” Gandhi said in a social media post. “Religious freedom is a constitutional right. We demand their immediate release and accountability for this injustice.”

However, BJP leader Sanjay Shrivastava dismissed Gandhi’s statement as “pressure politics”.

“This country has a constitution, laws and rules,” The Indian Express quoted Shrivastava as saying. “If he thinks someone has gone against the Constitution then he should approach the court. If anyone violates the conversion law then stringent action will be taken.”

On Monday, MPs from Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front and Opposition United Democratic Front held a joint protest outside Parliament, denouncing the “minority-hate-fuelled” arrest of the nuns on “trumped-up” charges.

The nuns – Preeti Mary and Vandana Francis – are members of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate, a congregation under the Syro-Malabar Church in Alappuzha district’s Cherthala town and were working at a hospital in Agra.

The two nuns and the...

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