Fri Aug 01 06:31:15 UTC 2025: **Headline: Congress Accuses BJP of “Hate Politics” in Nun Arrest Case**

**Kannur, August 1, 2025:** The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing the ruling party and the Sangh Parivar of deliberately stoking religious tensions for electoral advantage. AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal made the accusations during a visit to the family of Sister Vandana Francis in Kannur, Kerala, following the controversial arrest and subsequent delayed release of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh.

Venugopal questioned the BJP’s celebrations following the nuns’ release after eight days in custody. “If BJP leaders in Kerala truly cared, they would have acted on the day of the arrest itself,” he stated, criticizing what he sees as performative concern.

He condemned the Chhattisgarh government, led by the BJP, for pressing what he described as “baseless” charges of human trafficking and religious conversion against the nuns. Venugopal argued that the nuns were unjustly denied bail and that the BJP government even attempted to transfer the case to an NIA court.

“The Sangh Parivar’s ideology is inherently anti-minority,” Venugopal alleged, pointing to similar incidents in other BJP-ruled states. He further accused BJP leaders, including those in Kerala, of attempting to “woo” the Christian community with insincere gestures. “They will see through the BJP’s double standards,” he predicted.

The AICC General Secretary emphasized that Congress had acted swiftly in response to the arrests, appealing to the Union Home Minister and the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, launching protests, and sending a delegation of MPs to Chhattisgarh. He noted that former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel even visited the nuns in jail on the AICC’s direction. Despite these efforts, Venugopal claims, the BJP government refused to take appropriate action, highlighting what he calls a pattern of targeted action against Christians.

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