Corrosive Muslim Communalism Contaminates Tender Minds in Kerala
By
Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam
30 May 2022
The
Equation of Majority Communalism Equals Minority Communalism Is Only a
Discourse Formed In the Particular Political Context of Kerala
Main
Points:
1. A teenage
boy, perched on the shoulders on his parents, was seen punching his hands in
air while hauling unsavoury communal slogans.
2. Kerala has
witnessed recent spike in communal politics.
3. Majority and
minority communalisms, lying on backburner for many years, have recently picked
up brisk space due to multiple social and political reasons.
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A teenage
boy, perched on the shoulders on his parents, was seen punching his hands in
air while hauling unsavoury communal slogans. This happened in Alappuzha,
Kerala, in a march conducted by Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI),
affiliated to Popular Front of India (PFI). The crowd was seen enthusiastically
chanting the communal slogans shouted by the boy. In the video, a boy is seen
raising the vicious and murderous slogan that “Hindus should keep rice for
their last rites and Christians should keep incense for their last rites. If
you live decently you can live in our land and if you don’t live properly, we
know Azadi (freedom). Live decently, decently, decently.”
The video
was shared widely in social media, causing huge backlash from political parties
and civil societies in the state. The state police is groping in the dark to
nab the miscreants and have failed to identify the boy’s parents. District
level authorities of SDPI have been arrested. Through lackadaisical approach,
state police is stoking flames of distrust among peace loving people of the
state.
Kerala has
witnessed recent spike in communal politics. Back to back political murders in
Palakkad district have flung open the lurking scars of communal violence in the
state. Before that two political murders within a short span of 24 hours at
Alappuzha had shocked the state. Majority and minority communalisms, lying on
backburner for many years, have recently picked up brisk space due to multiple
social and political reasons. The growing tentacles of radical elements in
respective societies have virtually caused communal polarization, leading to
communal tensions in the state.
The boy in
the case, shows the extent of communal flares have made into the public fabric
of the society. A teenage boy bellowing stinging communal refrains amounting to
veiled death threats is dangerous enough to send chill down the spines of all
concerned authorities of the state. Even young minds are radicalized with
communal venom, barring them from their intellectual discretion to dissect the
falsehood. Any lenient compromise from the part of government and police
machinery will add stinking manure to the proliferation of hate ideas. The
failure of mainstream political parties to present an alternative to communal
politics give credence to communal narrative, easy to poach the gullible minds
unaware of the mutilation of truths. It is irrational to argue that there are
good and bad communalisms. Every exclusivist hate idea propagating violence is
to be condemned vigorously.
There have
been many studies on communalism in India. One of the most important of these
is Gyanendra Pandey's book, ‘Construction of Communalism in Colonial North
India’ (1997). He argues that communalism flourished in India during the
colonial period. During the pre-colonial period, there were more Sunni-Shia
conflicts than Hindu-Muslim communal conflicts. This attitude of Hindu-Muslim
conflict today was, of course, part of the British strategy. Partha Chatterjee,
a renowned sociologist in India, argues in ‘Agrarian Relations and Communalism’
(1982) that the problem of religious communalism in India is a product of
secularism and rationalism.
Will
Kerala Continue To Be A Haven?
Kerala has
undergone many social changes. Although there are still no major gaps in social
security, we cannot avoid seeing some imminent crises. Social security in
Kerala is due to the fact that Malayalees have largely remained a secular
society. It is now beginning to lose those secular convictions and identities.
That is the first problem.
Mutual
trust between different religious communities is paramount for social security.
That faith is also a matter of self. The situation of losing faith is extremely
serious. And the next degeneration is mutual suspicion. Then people begin to believe
in various hearsays spewing communal venom. Without anyone trying to find out
the truth, we rely on hatred and emotional reactions. It's a great tragedy to
befall.
In his book ‘Communism, Subaltern Studies and
Postcolonial Theory: The Left in South India’ (2021), Professor Nisim
Mannathukaran, a Malayalee professor at the University of Dalhousie in Canada,
attributes the emergence of such a secular society in Kerala to the secular
view of communal parties in Kerala and the presence of the Communist Party in
Kerala. Of course, the presence of the Communist Party in Kerala has been a
strong reason for maintaining secularism here. Secularism is not a political
ideology that is the sole responsibility of a section. For that, the majority
and the minority must be bound by secularism.
Secular
Discourses of Kerala Muslims
Kerala is
gradually falling into communal tinderbox. This is because of some political
issues. The Indian Union Muslim League has played a significant role in keeping
Muslims plural in secular affairs in Kerala. The existence of the Muslim League
in Kerala is a surprise to all political parties in other states. Historian M
Gangadharan has written that the Muslim League stands apart from the rest of
Kerala due to its communal politics but its tolerant and secular attitude. The
controversy over the fifth minister after the 2011 assembly elections brought
about a fundamental change in the Muslim political movement in Kerala.
PFI like
communal organizations are eating into community vote bank held by Muslim
League. Organizations promoting political Islam are increasing their toehold in
Kerala. 22 youths joining the ISIS and the ‘promised Caliphate’ could be
explained only through these circumstances created by PFI's suicidal politics.
The failure of secular traditional parties to address Muslim issues gives these
organization ideological mileage to tarnish the plural beliefs of Islam.
Strong
secularism is studied from its grassroots. Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, founder of
Jamat e Islami denied secularism. It leads to the ingraining of perfect
socio-communal, religious and political discourses within them. Those dry
philosophies are justified by a misreading of the arguments of the eminent
anthropologist Talal Assad. The misinterpretation of political contexts of
Islamic holy books leads to such ideological groping.
Majority
Racism Equals Minority Racism?
The
equation of majority communalism equals minority communalism is only a
discourse formed in the particular political context of Kerala. Therefore,
majority communalism must be eliminated. Minority communalism is also a social
security threat here. Communalism is present in every community in various
forms. To deny this is a political fraud. In any case, the elimination of
minority communalism, or the conversion of all sections of the population into
secular modern societies, will not eliminate the majority communalism that
threatens the very existence of the nation. Indian sociologist TN Madan makes a
similar point in his book ‘Modern Myths, Locked Minds: Secularism &
Fundamentalism in India’ (2009). For that is the nation, We must move forward
with strong rule of law. But minority communalism can quickly turn majority
communalism into an explosive form. Especially when it comes to the sheer
volume of social media available today.
Secularism
Is the Only Solution
India hopes
for only secularism. Other than that, the rhetoric that just creates
smokescreens is closing in on the darkness. In the context of Kerala, Muslim
religious organizations need to conduct introspection into the study of
religious subjects by children. That is, an inquiry needs to be made into the
role of secular politics in the particular political context of India. At the
same time, discussions on religion-modernity and social evolution must be
included in the syllabus.
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Grace
Mubashir is a journalism student at IIMC, Delhi
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/corrosive-muslim-communalism-kerala/d/127128
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