New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) UDF MPs, including Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex on Monday over the arrest of two Catholic nuns from Kerala by police in Chhattisgarh and demanded their immediate release.
Three people, including two nuns, were arrested at the Durg Railway Station in Chhattisgarh over alleged human trafficking and forced religious conversion, a Government Railway Police (GRP) official had said on Sunday.
The action was taken following a complaint by a local Bajrang Dal functionary, accusing the trio of forcibly converting three girls from Narayanpur and trafficking them, the official said.
A group of UDF MPs, including Venugopal, RSP’s NK Premchandran and IUML’s ET Mohammed Basheer, protested in front of the Makar Dwar steps before the start of the day’s proceedings in Parliament, carrying posters like ‘Stop attacks on minorities’.
In a post on X, Venugopal said, “UDF MPs held a strong protest outside Parliament today against the shocking arrest and harassment of Catholic nuns in Durg in Chhattisgarh. They were targeted by a violent mob despite no wrongdoing.” “By the BJP-RSS ecosystem, all minorities are treated as criminals and lumpen elements are unleashed to intimidate fellow citizens practising their faith. This jugalbandi between Bajrang Dal goons and the police in Chhattisgarh shows the BJP’s real intent towards religious minorities,” Venugopal said.
“We demand their immediate release and justice for the innocent nuns,” he said.
The Congress in Kerala on Sunday had vehemently criticised the BJP and the Sangh Parivar over the reported arrest of the Catholic nuns.
Venugopal and the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V D Satheesan, cited it as the latest example of an attack against minorities in the BJP-ruled states.
In another post on X on Sunday, Venugopal said attacks on minorities have seen a rampant increase under BJP-ruled states, be it Chhattisgarh, Odisha or Madhya Pradesh.
“The latest attacks by Bajrang Dal goons on two Catholic nuns in Durg, Chhattisgarh, point to a tacit support for such hate crimes from the ruling establishment,” he said.
Venugopal has also written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, demanding strict punishment against these culprits and the urgent need to uphold the Constitution so that fundamental rights of minorities are not threatened under their rule. PTI ASK RHL
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