Massacre
In Marad
By N.P. Chekkutty
Communalism Combat
May 15 2003
Marad is no longer a warning
signal. It is the reality. This small village near the ancient port
of Beypore in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, is a reminder of the
way this state is being converted into a communal cauldron despite its
great tradition of multiculturalism and secular, democratic politics.
Today, it is the volunteers
of the Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh who control every street, every
bylane in this village populated by both Muslims and Hindu fishermen.
The 500odd Muslim families who lived side by side with their Hindu
neighbours in this small area have all left and there is no immediate
likelihood of their returning home.
This is the second time Marad
has become the centre of communal clashes after the AK Antonyled
United Democratic Front government came to power in Kerala. Last year,
on January 3, 2002, communal clashes between Hindu and Muslim extremists
started in the afternoon and by morning there were five dead, and several
injured. This time it was a calculated onesided attack by the
Muslim extremist groups who came in four groups, armed with lethal weapons,
at around 6.30 p.m. on May 2, 2003. Within just halfanhour,
when the police came on the scene, there were nine dead bodies and over
a score severely injured men and women on the beach.
The government has acted
swiftly and a judicial inquiry has been ordered into the communal violence
in Marad, after the CPMled Opposition made such a demand, supported
by the Congress party faction led by veteran leader K Karunakaran. The
police have arrested more than 50 persons involved in the crime; some
of them were taken into custody from the Muslim Jumaath Masjid situated
in Marad, as the criminals took refuge in the mosque after the carnage.
Searches have been conducted in the whole area, a large number of weapons
have been seized, and the Jumamasjid complex has been taken over
by the revenue authorities under special provisions in the Kerala Police
Act since it was a centre point for the conspiracies that led to the
carnage.
It is too early to pass a
judgment on the nature of the conspiracy behind this incident; the Kerala
DGP said that it was a retaliatory attack carried out by the kith and
kin of a person who was killed in the last conflict. But there are other
indications too. It is now evident that the mosque and the mosque committee
was involved, since discussions on how to retaliate for last years
losses took place there and the biggest cache of weapons seized by the
police came from the mosque premises, showing a wider communal conspiracy
here.
But what is more alarming
is the fact that even members of secular forces and parties were actively
involved in the conspiracies and attacks, a tendency that became evident
even in the January 2002 clashes in Marad. Among those arrested in connection
with last years incidents were members and activists of parties
like the Congress, the CPI(M) and the Muslim League, the three mainstream
parties in the state. This time too, supporters of all these parties
are known to be among the criminals who perpetrated the attack.
According to the state intelligence
department, of the 52 persons arrested so far, 28 belong to the Muslim
League, 23 have CPI(M) links and at least one person has Congress connections.
This is the major problem
facing Kerala today: The infiltration of communal and divisive forces
even into mainstream secular parties who are unable or even unwilling
to check the tendency and the political support such criminals have
been enjoying from their masters. It is a horrifying scenario, of the
rapid communalisation of a secularminded people. The vulnerability
of a political system thriving on the support of criminal gangs instead
of political activists and the emergence of lumpen elements dealing
in cash transactions, widely known as blade companies, in most of the
sensitive areas, is proving to be the best recipe for the growth of
communalism.
The recent growth of Hindutva
forces in Kerala is astounding, both in terms of their moneymuscle
power and the political clout they wield demonstrated by the
increasing support they gain in elections. Unlike in the past, when
the intelligentsia almost entirely supported leftwing and secular
ideas, a sizable section of Keralas writers and middle class intelligentsia
today support the RSS and its support organisations such as Thapasya,
a cultural outfit of the sangh parivar.
The sangh parivar has always
been outside the political power structure in Kerala, as they found
themselves trapped between the two powerful fronts led by the Congress
and the CPI(M). But this gave them a different image, a comparatively
less corrupt and more idealistic one, an image which they capitalised
on due to growing fears of Muslim communalism inaugurated by the Mahdaniled
Islamic Swayamsevak Sangh, which later became the Peoples Democratic
Party, and the recent rise of the National Development Front (NDF),
a barely concealed Muslim communal outfit.
Keralas ruling fronts
have had their own limitations in dealing with the rising communal trends
of both varieties. On the one hand, the Congress and its UDF allies
maintained an open friendship with the sangh parivar to beat the left
parties, soliciting their support even in the last elections which made
Antony chief minister. On the other, they retained the Muslim League
as a front partner. The League has been facing pressure from its own
ranks about their leaders RSS connections and naturally, it is
now the extremists and their sectarian agenda who carry much clout within
the party. The League, or at least a sizeable section of it, is now
being practically controlled by such forces at the grassroots.
The left parties, too, have
their own problems. There has been an erosion in political values and
there are many instances where CPI(M) cadres were known to be in the
company of communal forces while one section within the party has been
making efforts to woo the Muslim League. They did make covert alliances
with the League in many places, rendering their present criticism of
the League leadership for their surrender to the Muslim extremists a
bit weak and insincere.
Take the case of arms seizure
from mosques. In Nadapuram, again in Kozhikode district, Muslim League
workers and the CPI(M) had been involved in clashes. These clashes in
fact took a HinduMuslim communal colour and in a recent incident
some weapons were seized from a mosque. But, halfway through,
police inquiries into the incident were frozen under political pressure.
Now, the police find the same kind of weapons and the same style of
attack operations in Marad,raising serious questions about the political
asylum these hoodlums enjoy.
Again, the police failed
to even file a chargesheet against those who were involved in the last
carnage in Marad, which took place one and a half years ago. The inquiry
was practically abandoned, as secular parties took out processions to
police stations protesting the arrest of their own cadre, helping the
criminals escape.Some of those involved in the last incident have now
been arrested in connection with the May 2 attacks.
All these point to the vulnerability of the so-called secular forces
which ruled the state. Last weeks incidents at the government
guest-house in Kozhikode, where the chief minister and four of his ministers
were camping, gave ample evidence of how weak this administration has
become. The ministers were not allowed to proceed to the site of the
carnage because the RSS flatly refused entry to the Muslim League ministers.
The chief minister had to plead with their top bosses for his own visit,
and he left behind his ministers at the guesthouse as he proceeded
to Marad, after negotiations with the sangh parivar to ensure a smooth
visit.
In addition, his police force
is now facing criticism from the press for the way they have been working
in cahoots with the RSS cadres who roam the place. All the Muslim families
have left their homes or were driven out. The police have only carried
out searches in the mosque and the Muslim homes, while the huge amount
of arms stashed by the sangh parivar remain in safe custody.
Will those who left return?
Not likely now, with the sangh parivar calling the shots as their own
extremists sharpen their knives for the next encounter. But for those
who witnessed the efforts of the common people here over the past 15
months, to heal the wounds inflicted last year collectively rebuilding
the lost houses and bringing both communities together in a variety
of ways, it is a return to dark days.
Today, Marad is a place where
the sangh parivar is jubilantly building a Hindu rashtra, an island
of their ideal, with, ironically, the assistance provided by their Muslim
extremist rivals who unleashed this unprovoked attack. Today, they talk
about ethnic cleansing in a place where people lived together for thousands
of years, practicing their various religions.