Kerala
Government Must Crush
Fundamentalist Forces
By
The moderator, Indiathinkersnet yahoogroups
Much has been said about
the incidents at the Marad beach,Kerala. Whatever has been said and
done ,Kerala is not communalised and there seems to be little scope
of communalisation of the state in comparison to the states like Gujarat,for
several reasons. Interestingly Kerala also has become a national topper
in maintaining law and order according to the recently released India
Today surveys.
Communalisation has become a reality in India and no state may
be immune from it.It would be finer truth if we admit that
communalism has been with us ,even before independence.
The Brits reacting to the post-partition bloodshed,argued that
the division was not caused by the Brits,but the Hindu-Muslim
divide had been there in every village for many years.
Now we see the resurgence of communalism (religion based
sectarianism) .There are several national ,regional and global
reasons for this phenomenon.
Hindutva brand of communalism and the Islamist brand complement each
other.They need each other for survival and growth.Kerala has been one
state where the RSS has had it's greatest growth in the number of shakhas.Recently
VHP launched it's trident distribution programme.The RSS has created
several hundreds of front organisations posing as socio-cultural organisations.
The destruction of the Babri
Masjid caused panic and apprehension about the vulnerability of the
community.The radical Islamist outfits bloomed in this environment.The
RSS shakhas function within the temple compounds and as demonstrated
at Marad, Islamist outfits have found haven in a mosque.The RSS in Kerala
has been involved in bloody political murders all over the state. In
fact one would not be wrong in finding the RSS on one side of every
political murder or violence.The Islamist radicals
of Marad were seen to be heavily armed.The RSS in Kerala
has a fine reputation of being involved in bomb making and
improvised explosives.
Not much is spoken about the incidents that shook Marad an year ago
or so.At that time,it was the Hindutva radicals at work.The Chief Minister
refused to visit Marad at that time.This time around he dashed to Marad.Following
the violence last time around,the government set up relief camps based
on religion,something uncharacteristic of Kerala.This was strongly protested
by activists like the former justice VR Krishna Iyer and the leftists.The
launch of the trishul diksha programme by Ashok Singhal was an
indication that worse was to follow. Islamist fundamentalists
were readying for a show down.
Marad violence has been a boon to the Hindutva fundamentalists
who were desperately looking for means to expand their constituency
in Kerala.Reportedly the hindutva hartal on May 3rd
had some elements of Moditva in that the hartalists (strikers)
in Calicut asked the religions of individuals.
The present government sadly ensured that none of the strict
anti-fundamentalist policies put in place by the former government
are in operation.The leftist government at great odds with both the
RSS and the Islamist outfits promulgated an ordinance which
made registration (with the police) and permission to function
compulsory for any organisation imparting any form of physical exercise.Mr
AK Antony saw that the ordinance lapsed and that no new law is enacted.Mr
Antony reportedly received help in the elections from both the RSS and
the PDP (of Abdul Nasser
Ma'adni).The CM does not intend to ban the trident distribution
programme and he considers it a religious function.Praveen
Togadia showered praises on him.
The Hindutva media also refers
to incidents over an year ago that
happened in a small hill-town of Pathanamthitta.This town had no past
or even present history of communal violence or division.There was some
violence which attracted national attention.It started with the RSS
sticking posters celebrating the destruction of the Babri Masjid. It
has been found that the violence was stage managed not necessarily by
Islamists but vested interests which belonged to mainstream political
parties.There had been some business rivalries between a bus fleet owner
who is believed to be a benami of some SNDP leaders (and other big shots)
and competitors.His buses were burned not as part of communal tension
but as part of business rivalry. The brand new BJP office which was
located in the heart of a Muslim colony was burned down.The reports
are that it was not the locals but outsiders who were involved.There
have been no further reports of any sort of communal tension or polarisation
in the small town .However the Hindutva media talks of it as if there
was Godhra type incident.These exaggerations are part of the propaganda
war to incite Hindus to take up arms and go communal.
There are those who see vested interests ,including business
interests (linked to tourism around the Marad beach) who wanted to cleanse
the place of the wretched fisherfolk. The effects of globalisation on
this poor beach is now debated hotly.One strong reason for attraction
of youth at Marad (as may be elsewhere in Kerala) to fanatic outfits
is loss of jobs and unemployment.People tend to overlook such important
aspects as the analysis is done with communal goggles.
It may not be wrong to assume that both the Hindutva and Islamist outfits
are fortifying themselves.The Hindutva forces have been waging propaganda
war.They are looking to elements in the Hindu community of Kerala who
formerly supplied men to the then native armies.They are reminded of
their past-lost glory and their bright future under a Hindutva regime.
The RSS shakhas teach that the Muslims are linked to the ISI and they
are going to create mini-Pakistan in Kerala. The RSS has also taken
up the issue of religious conversions. At the same time the Islamists
are banking on the growing resentment in the Islamic world post Babri,post
Guajrat and post Saddam.They have been reportedly stockpiling
weapons too.
These being the facts,the
Kerala society as a whole has not turned communal .However there are
elements who would want Kerala to go the Gujarat way.The demography,
history,economics and political empowerment of different sections make
it difficult for any one section to impose domination.The forces of
Hindutva are desperate to break even in the state.The weakening of the
left,the (near) death of the rationalist movement and the advent of
the godmen and godwomen have made their job much more simpler.
The government must crush the Hindutva and Islamist forces in the state.Their
shakhas and camps must be shut down. Any sort of physical training for
cadre must be contained. The criminal gangs must be contained.The propaganda
machinery of the Hindutva and Islamist forces must monitored closely
and they must not be allowed to spread their lies and hate.Finally the
people of Kerala must not allow their souls to be sold to the forces
of communal fascism.