'National’ concern over Kerala

The Vijaya Dashmi address of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on September 30 at the group’s headquarters in Nagpur as part of the anniversary celebrations of India’s most prominent paramilitary organization, deserves analysis.

Its normal for the approaches put forth by the chief of RSS, the parent organization of the party the rules the country, to influence the governance. The live broadcasting of the Bhagwat’s speech by the government-owned Doordarshan is itself proof to what extent the Central government is subservient to RSS. He spoke about wide range of topics have during his annual address. His statements regarding Kerala are what is being analysed here.

The RSS Chief alleged that Bengal and Kerala were under the influence of anti-national forces and jihadists and that the respective governments were extending support to them. ‘The situation in Bengal and Kerala is known to all’. The jihadi forces are active here. Although the people are fighting them back, the governments fail to perform their duties. ‘The state governments and ‘their systematically politicised administrative systems’ are not only apathetic to this serious national crisis but also lend a helping hand to the anti-national forces for petty political interests’, he said. They are not mere statements of the RSS Chief during his Vijaya Dashmi address. Bhagwat has accentuated the campaigns rampantly carried out by the Sangh Parivar and some media about Kerala at the national level.

Certain English news channels have been constantly spawning fake news about Kerala being a hub of jihadists and holding nighttime discussions on such stories by ‘mentally sick’ anchors for quite some time. There is no limit in generating news stories diluted with lies and half-truths in several issues such as Love Jihad, compulsory religious conversion and human trafficking to Syria. An English news channel recently presented the naming of a street in Kasaragod district as Gaza by the locals as an evidence of jihadists conquering the streets. A video from a street play performed by the DYFI activists in Malappuram, protesting the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was broadcast by a Hindi channel calling it a ‘gory murder of a RSS Hindu woman by Kerala’s Leftist Muslims’. Discussions related to Kerala is a norm on ‘national’ channels at least once a week. It can be comprehended that deliberate attempts are being made to tarnish the reputation of Kerala at the national level. The decision of the BJP to hold a foot march called ‘Janaraksha Yatra’ against the growing ‘red and jihadi terrorism’ was part of this agenda. So was the speech of the RSS Chief. In short, the crux of the campaign is that Kerala has turned into a heaven of Left-Jihadi terrorists where Hindus have difficulty surviving.

The Sangh Parivar politics have never been able to gain supremacy in Kerala, unlike the other states in India. The main reason is the peaceful coexistence of different religious communities and cultures. And therefore the Sangh Parivar believes that social atmosphere of Kerala should be disrupted in order to emerge victorious with their politics. What is currently happening is to prepare the ground for the purpose. The campaign that Kerala is a breeding ground of ‘red- jihadis’ has several goals. One of them is to reap political gains by injecting fissures and anti-Muslim sentiments in the state’s majority community. Second is to move ahead uninterrupted with their vicious politics under that cover. RSS is the only party in the state that has been murdering people for converting to other religions. The party still continues its wrongdoings. Even after the LDF government came to power, they killed Kodinhi Faisal for converting to Islam.

It was only last week that reports of Ghar Wapasi centres were women who converted to or entered in marriage with men from other religions were confined and harassed for returning to their faith. The party proceeds with their vicious activities under the guise of such campaigns against jihadists. The tactics of preventing the government from taking actions against such criminal activities are also present behind the campaigns. Incidents show that they succeed to an extent. The government not taking stringent measures against the Ghar Wapasi harassing centres and even the Leftist youth and women’s organisations not intervening in the matter are evidences. In short, the party is moving ahead with the dangerous agenda by pressurizing the state government using such massive campaigns. What is unfortunate is that the state government could only stand helpless before them.